Notice his whole body reflecting the groove, the Church of the Sacred Hut-tah Hut-tah underlining his groove, the use of 2 hole inhale 1st bend and that hair style! ---------- The Iceman
Another thing this demonstrates is the value of backup players who get the whole idea. This whole cut's about the harp, so they laid down a steady groove themselves, then stayed the hell out of the way. A good reminder for me when I'm doing the backup.
Rick is amazing. And the best showman of any performing harp player in my opinion. Watch some of his live performances on YouTube to see what I mean. The Man has swagger! ---------- ---------- /Greg
Right off the bat I can telly you that rick's time is dead on the money, and too many harp players neglect taking the time to get this extremely important skill together, using the idiotic thinking that it's just the drummer's job, and truth be told, it's EVERY PLAYER'S JOB, and you also have to FEEL the groove and that is so important as well.
Here is an example where he's working WITH the groove rather than just playing over it and even if you erase the bass player or anyone else, you can feel the groove as he plays because this is what players need to learn to do. Iceman hits the nail on the head and too often this NOT going to be something you're gonna learn at the vast majority of open jams because, to be brutally honest, many of the jammers, when it comes to groove and grooving, are often totally clueless.
When you have a great rhythm section laying down a groove, it makes any lead player regardless of skill level play better, but a crappy rhythm section makes any lead player regardless of skill level sound like nothing but a pile of dogs**t, and that's the polute way of saying it. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
I agree with all of the above about Rick. On top of that he is very genuine in his desire to share with others about his approach to harp. I got to be at this workshop. It was an hour with Rick before his show. He had some great stories and a laid back style of sharing his skills and talent. Then he went on stage and came at the Knuckleheads Saloon like a Freight Train!
Glad you're all digging Rick. I agree with every comment about the man. BBQ Bob makes a great point about musicians and groove. Rick talks about that very subject on his DVD.
Orphan - I'll bet that RIck's workshop was worth it's weight in gold.
His DVD is a golden wealth of invaluable information. Whilst many harp players, some true greats, have picked up the harmonica player hoping to impersonate the masters, Rick has clearly lived the blues, having jammed with Muddy Waters at a young age, and being schooled by many excellent songwriters. There's another one on this DVD called the "intentional slop" technique, showing Rick's true respect of swampy guys such as Lazy Lester and Frank Frost, showing how their playing had technique just like legendary Chicago players Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson. it's great! ---------- ------------- myspace.com/mightynightjars
thenightjarsblues@gmail.com
Last Edited by harpburn on May 31, 2013 12:20 PM