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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > Musical LESSONS "learned" from Little Walter
Musical LESSONS "learned" from Little Walter
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Frank
3151 posts
Oct 30, 2013
8:16 AM
Share something you've learned from the study of Little Walter's style?
LIP RIPPER
706 posts
Oct 30, 2013
9:42 AM
The most recent to come to mind is this triplet I was hearing while rolling up the interstate last month. I think it was 2 blow, 2draw bent then 2 draw. He was doing this while working a boogie beat and it really caught my ear for some reason. I can't recall the tune now; that was a month ago and I haven't been back to it.
chromaticblues
1503 posts
Oct 30, 2013
10:12 AM
Good Thread Frank!
I started out lip pursing. So for me I like trying to pick a song that is obvious TBing and just work on a riff or two.
Example: Two nights ago I put on his 2CD essentail LW.
Put CD 2 on and the opening riff of the first song "Hate to see you go" is; TB 3 blow 3/4 draw choked slightly then released then 4 blow.
Now Frank for you that probably seems like cake, but for a TP getting that 3/4 to sound the way he did. I practiced for over an hour and never got past the first song!
From a LP perspective. There are certain things he did that I don't have to learn to TB. Like after the opening riff he plays the 2 draw. Now I don't know how he did it, but I can make it sound damn close to that LP. That is one of those things where there is no advantage for me to play TB, but the opening riff has to be done his way for it to sound "right" (to me).
His use of the 3 draw at the end of Dead Presidents and the opening riff of Temperature. That is a lesson in phrasing and 3 hole use.
I'm trying to do it TB and it sounds like shit, BUT it makes me better at TB when I play "my" way.
I've never TB the 3 draw much before and I don't know why. I have been TB the 3 blow for over 20 years.
The 3 draw bends are VERY tough for a LP to TB. That could very well be it? I'm trying!
The one thing I've noticd is the more I TB the easier it is to LP.
HarpNinja
3566 posts
Oct 30, 2013
10:26 AM
End all of your greatest hits on the 2 draw bend. ;)
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barbequebob
2366 posts
Oct 30, 2013
10:55 AM
What he was doing was adapting the kind of things sax players did to harmonica. Many of the things you may have problems while TB'd is because your lips may not be opened up enough and.or the harp may not be deep enough in your mouth, so essentially you're still in LP mode and you have to be 100% fully relaxed so you can make any and all adjustments needed.

I have no problem doing all three bends either way, but with the TB, like I said, the lips have to be opened up more (but whatever you do, all of these things are very slight adjustments and the natural tendency is to heavily over exaggerate everything).

I'm of the belief that he used both because some of the things he recorded over the years, like the solo in one of the two takes of the Jimmy Rogers tune, Act Like You Love Me, can only be done LP because that's the only way you can hit it because the tongue is beating off the palate, and you can't do that with a TB.

Most players who are teaching themselves this stuff often play everything he does too hard and once you do that, you lose any accuracy in articulation and intonation.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
ridge
461 posts
Oct 30, 2013
10:56 AM
After listening for years I realized learning the side to side tongue sweep was essential.
kudzurunner
4339 posts
Oct 30, 2013
11:22 AM
As an accompanist, he's one of the few players who can play WHILE the singer is singing--i.e., not just between sung phrase, but right on TOP of sung phrases--and yet always add to the quality of the track. This is because he knows how to vary his volume significantly--bearing down, then lightening up. Because of his mastery of the tonal variations that amplified playing made possible, variations that weren't possible to anything like the same degree when playing acoustically (with the exception of a few geniuses like Big Walter), he was able to make little background yelps when Muddy (for example) was singing, then blat out a big explosive "waaaah!" in the space between phrases. What he does is a great lesson for amped-up harp players who work with singers.

Dirks and Glover claim that his secret is that he cranked the amp way up, right to the feedback point, then spent much of his time playing lightly rather than forcefully--putting the pedal to the medal only when he needed to.

Last Edited by kudzurunner on Oct 30, 2013 11:26 AM
tmf714
2158 posts
Oct 30, 2013
11:33 AM
"Dirks and Glover claim that his secret is that he cranked the amp way up, right to the feedback point, then spent much of his time playing lightly rather than forcefully--putting the pedal to the medal only when he needed to."

All about breath force and control-bottom line-Rod,Kim,Rick and Dennis all subscribe to the theory. Let the amp do the work for you.

Last Edited by tmf714 on Oct 30, 2013 11:34 AM
barbequebob
2368 posts
Oct 30, 2013
11:34 AM
Adam, many years ago Kim Wilson essentially said the same thing by letting the amp do the heavy lifting rather than playing so hard and loud, and most harp players tend to play at the same breath volume 24/7, and that allowed him to adapt techniques used by horn players and better breath control allowed him to stay out of the way and not step all over everything, which most harp players NEVER learn.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
MP
2976 posts
Oct 30, 2013
12:29 PM
Let's see here...hmmm

1.innumerable ways to play a turn-a-round.

2.third position chromatic- which paved the way for my third position diatonic, and dorian minors on major harps- once i realized a similar note set up from 4 draw up. this was an extremely valuable lesson. i could now play in any minor key providing it was a dorian blues minor.

3. the response part of call and response- whether w/ vocals or other instruments. this was so important when i was learning Rice Millers incredibly seamless style.

4. first position blues in the lower register- i had no idea when i learned hootchie coochie man that i was playing in first position.

it seems i learned things first then had theory people tell me what i was doing. pretty backwards, heh heh :-)

too much more to list here so i'll stop.
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i still have a little Hohner stock for reed replacement in three common keys.
when these are gone i'm out of the biz.
click MP for my e-mail address and more info.

Last Edited by MP on Oct 30, 2013 12:36 PM
Martin
498 posts
Oct 30, 2013
5:43 PM
None of the above, actually, but the insight that you could sound "jazzy" on the diatonic: Fifth chorus on "Off the wall".
CWinter
81 posts
Oct 30, 2013
7:00 PM
The 4th is NOT a tone to be avoided.
Frank
3155 posts
Oct 31, 2013
3:40 AM
Thank you all for supplying some really cool insights...There must be a "TREASURE TROVE" of (ideals)learned from LW that could fill a book.

Wouldn't it be awesome if someone began interviewing players from around the world about what they learned through the study of walters music and put together a book of all these revelations...

And of course, this would lead into doing other books regarding other Powerfully influential Harmonica Giants and the Lessons learned from them.

A lesson I take away from Walter is... Mastering the usage of the pure "un-bent" note is a worthy goal :)

Last Edited by Frank on Oct 31, 2013 3:41 AM
MindTheGap
39 posts
Oct 31, 2013
10:35 AM
When I was first learning to play through the changes, I wrote out all the V-IV transitions in this video of Little Walter's Jump. It's all clear just like a lesson.

barbequebob
2371 posts
Oct 31, 2013
12:05 PM
At the same time LW plays very melodically, he is also playing very rhythmically and even percussively at times and it's a lesson many people do not learn, and that's learning to understand and work WITH the groove and NOT against it, and with all of those combined, you're always grooving AKA in the pocket.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
davew
2 posts
Oct 31, 2013
7:48 PM
Re what kudzu said above I instantly thought of "trouble no more" when Muddy is singing " in your neighborhood" and LW is right behind him with virtually the same line,
on harp, big honk on "hood". Gets me every time.
Kingley
3244 posts
Oct 31, 2013
11:22 PM
When I first started learning, the local music shop only had a sparse blues section, so it was tough getting any blues stuff let alone harp specific so it'd be safe to say that Little Walter taught me a hell of a lot. I spent endless hours with those records lifting that needle back and forth.

Last Edited by Kingley on Oct 31, 2013 11:22 PM
Kingley
3245 posts
Oct 31, 2013
11:23 PM
When I first started learning, the local music shop only had a sparse blues section, so it was tough getting any blues stuff let alone harp specific records. I managed to get half a dozen records though. Those records were the only blues harp records I had for at least five or six years. One of which was The Best of Little Walter. So it'd be safe to say that Little Walter taught me a hell of a lot. I spent endless hours with those records lifting that needle back and forth.

Last Edited by Kingley on Oct 31, 2013 11:24 PM
MP
2977 posts
Nov 01, 2013
2:05 PM
From Kingley-

" I spent endless hours with those records lifting that needle back and forth."

i can totally relate! I bought a double LW album entitled "Boss Blues Harmonica". It was sooo Boss i went right back to Records Hawaii and bought "Hate to See You Go" the very same day.

Every spare moment, and there are a lot of those when you are 16 years old, i spent w/ my record player and harmonicas lifting the needle up and down over and over and over figuring out keys and licks and absorbing. It was not time wasted. It was not a hobby. i was addicted. When asleep I had a recurring dream of playing Juke. I was being educated by the finest player i've ever heard. Even to this day i've heard no one better at blues harmonica than Little Walter. He has no equal.
Like Beethoven or Mozart, Walters greatness still over shadows the generations to follow.
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i still have a little Hohner stock for reed replacement in three common keys.
when these are gone i'm out of the biz.
click MP for my e-mail address and more info.
groyster1
2453 posts
Nov 01, 2013
3:38 PM
yo mark
Ive heard you do LW music.....not surprised at your history....you did a lot of very hard work......which ALWAYS leads to the greatest success....LW is the most difficult to approximate.......he played so many notes
RyanMortos
1465 posts
Nov 01, 2013
4:15 PM
Perhaps, to be innovative and not just copy from everyone that came before you. But then again that's the type of person I am anyway, lol.

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RyanMortosHarmonica

~Ryan

See My Profile for contact info, etc.

BigSteveNJ
2 posts
Nov 02, 2013
10:16 PM
Walter Jacobs taught me that technical skill (which he had) was not the most important ingredient in good harp playing; creativity, musicality and enjoyment of your craft are far more important.

I have to agree with the previous poster. Copping someone else's tone is like wearing a Halloween costume all year long. Good harp players know when all you're doing is recycling somebody else's licks.

Walter taught me that you need to make yourself an indispensable bandmate. Once you let your personal mess get in the way of making the gig and playing right, you can be "Little Walter Jr" or "James Cotton Two" or "Hambone Harmonica Harry" and all you are is a drag.

It's too bad that Walter's story ends as sadly as it does. I learned from that, too, I hope.
Wendell
20 posts
Nov 05, 2013
3:57 PM
Dynamics. The way he would bring the volume way down, creating tension, then blast off to the next verse


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