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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > My favorite harp challenge
My favorite harp challenge
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Noodles
362 posts
Oct 17, 2012
1:34 PM
I suppose we all have at least ONE harp tune that we call our favorite and have worked on ‘til our lips bled. For myself, it was Whammer Jammer (Full House version).

Now, when you break it down into small pieces and maybe even slow it down a bit, each piece is manageable. It’s when you put it all together and try to play it at this tempo that things get tough. Jammer taught me a slew of harp techniques. I’ve listened to it over and over and over to engage the subtleties.

I’ve heard lots of people try it, both amateurs and pros. Yet, I’ve never heard anyone nail it down like Magic Dick.

Why is it so freakin’ tough to master?

kudzurunner
3588 posts
Oct 17, 2012
2:35 PM
Noodles: I agree. This forum is here for you to ask that question because, in the fall of 1974, this song was be played so relentlessly at my school that I decided one Saturday to drive over to the Nanuet Mall and buy a harmonica. I was determined to learn this song.

Here's the song as I played it in public for the first time, age 17 years and three months, at a local community center. It's kind of funny to hear what I got right and got wrong. I'd been playing for nine months at this point. We did NOT have YouTube, iTunes, and forums like this. Whatever I got right, I figured out by copying note for note.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=1184494&songID=11950035
CarlA
139 posts
Oct 17, 2012
2:52 PM
@noodles
It is my personal belief that when someone tries to learn another artists work, it will never sound as good, no matter what the musicians level is. It's almost as if the original musician adds a "piece of his soul" to help join it all together and stamp the piece with his/her originality that no other can match/duplicate
Just my 2 cents!

-Carl

Last Edited by on Oct 17, 2012 2:54 PM
timeistight
863 posts
Oct 17, 2012
8:05 PM
It's Peter Wolf's introduction that makes the track. That's what's missing from all other attempts.
laurent2015
461 posts
Oct 18, 2012
2:02 PM
@CarlA: It's THE mistery of the instrument, since YOU MAKE the sound.

The Kudzu's attempt hits my dream area: How is it possible that a 9 month starter can play: the notes, the rhythm and a lot of subtelties that some of us, up to now, still didn't uncover?
Besides the tongue blocking technique that's not used,
I'd say that Kudzu has: whether got the famous genes we spoke about in an another topic, or he has been somewhat helped by unknown master(s).
AND if I'm wrong...well, congratulations are not enough.

I don't understand why other stiff skilled guys here don't pipe up: maybe, as often, should I pipe down?
The Iceman
491 posts
Oct 18, 2012
2:31 PM
The second "Holy Grail" tune (after "Juke").

I find that it is a lot of James Cotton stuff pieced together with an original spin....love that downbeat sidestep illusion during the intro.

Had to use the studio version to learn this one - live version was just too fast for me. What is cool is that both versions are just about carbon copy of notes - only difference is increased tempo in live version.

Sure made a name for myself in the early 70's playing in a rock band and doing this tune at a pretty good tempo and a pretty good duplication - however, never could really master it completely. Live version is SO CLEAN - every note is well defined.

and that 10 hole exhale bend vibrato....whew
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The Iceman
Jehosaphat
323 posts
Oct 18, 2012
3:21 PM
Always loved that tune,never attempted to try playing it though.Put it into the must learn one day basket...Lol.
Adam did well,after only nine months of owning a harp!

Anyone else notice it is called "Full House" but the cards on the cover only show 3 of a kind?Musta been deliberate surely.Otherwise i'd like to play poker with Magic Dick ;-)
timeistight
866 posts
Oct 18, 2012
4:23 PM
Notice the Queen's wink? I think that explains the title.
laurent2015
463 posts
Oct 18, 2012
4:41 PM
Even the title is mysterious: what means "Whammer Jammer"?
WHAM... as a blaze's noise?
Tuckster
1164 posts
Oct 18, 2012
4:50 PM
For those of you who've come late to the party: Adam does an excellent breakdown of this tune in a couple of his Y-T lessons.
laurent2015
465 posts
Oct 18, 2012
5:46 PM
Does it explain the title?
bonedog569
666 posts
Oct 18, 2012
8:06 PM
Sheeeite - 35 or whatever years later and I'm still trying to get a clean reliable 10 blow bend - forget about the rest of it.
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Jehosaphat
324 posts
Oct 18, 2012
8:03 PM
@timeistight
Left the record years ago at a party..and the OP picture is too small to see the wink..but yeah thinking about it that makes some sense.; wink.
Maybe i'd be better off with a 5$ a corner poolgame.
AirMojo
316 posts
Oct 19, 2012
4:10 AM
I want to hear "Frank" (proveit) play "Whammer Jammer" !
kudzurunner
3592 posts
Oct 19, 2012
4:37 AM
I suspect that the title is a deep-background signifier for mother-f---er.

As in, "That dude is a BAD whammer jammer!" A bad mother-fuyer. Etc.
LIP RIPPER
636 posts
Oct 19, 2012
6:11 AM
This thread has motivated me to purchase the CD. $7.43 new on ebay.
MP
2514 posts
Oct 19, 2012
11:25 AM
Kudzu at nine months old?! that is really good for only 9 nine months- really, really, good.

i played about a year, got nowhere, put harps in a drawer. a year later i pulled them out. played on Continental Trailways buses a lot. odd places like the train track that runs through Gulfport, Mississippi.

i always prefered the smooth studio version of whammer jammer. found the record in an army dispatch shoulder bag along w/ a pound of weed and a Thai pipe in the alley by my house.
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MP
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you can reach me via Facebook. Mark Prados
Noodles
365 posts
Oct 19, 2012
2:56 PM
This thread is bringing back early harp memories of when I 1st began playing in 1971. Like so many others, I heard a bent note, fell in love with harp and have played ever since.

Oddly, I never really knew anything about Little Walter, Big Walter, Rice Miller, Sonny Terry or any other from those eras. I’m sure that I had heard many of their tunes watching live Blues Bands – I just never knew where the music came from.

So, in the beginning it was all about Magic Dick and Paul Butterfield. I worked on both of their styles relentlessly. Today, there’s no doubt of their influences on my playing – particularly Butterfield.

Today, as my interest of the older players mentioned earlier ramps up, their music already seems so familiar. Mostly, I suspect, because of their early influences on Magic Dick and Butterfield who both moved the music of their mentors forward. These two were my conduits to harp traditions and styles of the players of the past.

I guess I’m coming full circle --so to speak.

Last Edited by on Oct 19, 2012 3:54 PM


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