Frank
4898 posts
Jul 23, 2014
4:46 PM
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Are YOU a '''''Bloooooze Musician''''' ? / ? / ?
And if so...What makes you think that you are?
And if not...Whats holding you back?
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The Iceman
1845 posts
Jul 23, 2014
4:47 PM
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I'm a musician that can also play pretty good blues.
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The Iceman
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Frank
4900 posts
Jul 23, 2014
4:51 PM
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sez who ? I'll be the judge of that...I know you claim you can play the "spoonful lick" but just sayin :)
Last Edited by Frank on Jul 23, 2014 4:59 PM
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Harpaholic
521 posts
Jul 23, 2014
6:47 PM
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Spoonful lick? Your joking right?
Last Edited by Harpaholic on Jul 23, 2014 8:30 PM
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dougharps
688 posts
Jul 23, 2014
9:36 PM
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I LIKE Larry's (Iceman's) answer!
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Doug S.
Last Edited by dougharps on Jul 23, 2014 9:37 PM
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Gnarly
1068 posts
Jul 23, 2014
9:45 PM
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That's my answer too--every time Harmonica John Frazer asks me, I have to tell him no.
But every time I pick up a standard tuned 10 hole diatonic, guess what I start playing . . .
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Ted Burke
80 posts
Jul 23, 2014
10:34 PM
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I am blues musician because I am a professional grade blues harmonica player who plays mostly blues music. I am not a "bluesman", however. That term is covered in so so much mythology and wishful thinking that it has come to represent qualities and essences that are intangible, inestimable, and vaguely metaphysical. That is to say I think the term "bluesman" is a little pretentious when applied to most good, honest musicians who specialize in blues styles. I am a blues musician, verifiable in fact, not dependent on someone else's criteria.
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The Iceman
1847 posts
Jul 24, 2014
6:10 AM
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Ted...what's your definition of professional grade blues harmonica player?
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The Iceman
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Sarge
423 posts
Jul 24, 2014
6:46 AM
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I am not
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Wisdom does not always come with old age. Sometimes old age arrives alone.
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STME58
1003 posts
Jul 24, 2014
7:45 AM
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I am not even sure I am a musician! I like Icemans way of categorizing Blues musician as a subset of the larger category, musician.
I am a person who can play instruments but I do not think I have yet achieved musician status. I am working on it.
The set of skills used by musicians is so large, not even the best professional has mastered them all. How big a subset of musician skills do you have to have before you can be considered a musician? On the "Drummer in you right hand" thread I posted a TED talk featuring Tommy Emanuel in which he admits to not being able to read music, that is a pretty basic musical skill and yet I don't think anyone would say that Tommy Emanuel is not a musician.
Once you have established you are in the group, "musician", what does it take to be in the group, "Blues musician".
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Goldbrick
551 posts
Jul 24, 2014
8:06 AM
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I consider myself a Soul Man actually
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JustFuya
344 posts
Jul 24, 2014
8:37 AM
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I am a musician. I am not a blues professional but I own professional grade blues equipment.
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Diggsblues
1460 posts
Jul 24, 2014
9:52 AM
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Lots of people who say they are musicians can't play blues. Most jazz players think of blues as a form not a style. I want proof you can play blues LOL
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Ted Burke
81 posts
Jul 24, 2014
10:26 AM
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Lets not worry about the words "professional grade". I will simply assert that I am good enough to hold a spot on the band stand and not be embarrassed to be up there.
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Harpaholic
526 posts
Jul 24, 2014
10:38 AM
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what's your definition of professional grade blues harmonica player?
For starters, recognized as a pro by your peers, a current recording contract with a known label, discography, studio work or the very least working as a full time musician, harmonica endorsement,
Can go toe to toe with a top pro without getting your head cut.
Not a requirement but shows you got skills!
Last Edited by Harpaholic on Jul 24, 2014 2:50 PM
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Ted Burke
82 posts
Jul 24, 2014
11:15 AM
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The definition of "professional" is slippery, and perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned it. That is why I qualified my remark with the attending term "grade", meant only to say that I am good enough to be paid for playing the harmonica if I wanted to go that route. Alas , I do not have a recording contract, but the world is full of working harmonica players as good as or better than I who are similarly unattached to a record label. That fact does not diminish their professionalism, nor diminishes their skills as harp players. I would say a professional grade blues harmonica player is knows the changes , knows the key differentials, gets the tone and emphasis right, and is able to fall back, accompany, or lay out altogether when he or she is not taking a solo; this is to say the professional grade blues harmonica player listens to what the others in the band are doing and adds to a quality musical experience, not dominate it. Mostly, though, the professional is paid, and the amateur is not, strictly speaking.
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colman
314 posts
Jul 24, 2014
11:18 AM
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The best BLUES i`ve heard was a lot of old JAZZ horn players.I think many old harp players assimilated licks off of the horn players...also, the folks who say and think delta and chicago is the real deal are missing a lot of dilects of blues language.
two of the many i`ve listened to are,[older] Sidney Bechet,[newer]-rahassan roland kirk...blues you can use.
Last Edited by colman on Jul 25, 2014 6:01 AM
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jnorem
438 posts
Jul 24, 2014
1:45 PM
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@colman: " the folks who say and think delta and chicago is the real deal are missing a lot of dilects of blues language."
Example?
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Call me J
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Ted Burke
84 posts
Jul 24, 2014
2:20 PM
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It's more an issue of having listeners and musicians realizing that there are many different sorts of "real deals" when it comes to authentic blues music. As with jazz, which sprang from blues, there are distinct,vital and different ways to create blues and perform blues music. It's a subtler, more varied, more nuanced music than many of us might think. Some samples
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JustFuya
346 posts
Jul 24, 2014
3:09 PM
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I don't think "professional grade" is a bad term. This is as good a place as any to attepmt to define it. To me, a key ingredient of professionalism comes from experiencing the spontaneity and surprises of live performance with others.
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Harpaholic
528 posts
Jul 24, 2014
3:22 PM
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I edited my last post regarding recording contacts. The minimum requirement for a pro musician is one must be employed as musician full time or on a regular basis, or retired from such, but that alone doesn't make you a pro.
Professional grade is a marketing term used instead of the term commercial grade which is used to compare to consumer grade products.
It's basically a made up term that has no real meaning used to sell more product.
I guess we are all like GMC's "professional grade"
Last Edited by Harpaholic on Jul 24, 2014 3:34 PM
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Goldbrick
553 posts
Jul 24, 2014
6:11 PM
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Your right-"professional grade" is just a marketing phrase .
When I worked for GM in the 80's - only Chevy sold trucks- a high profit item.
GMC was pretty glamourless aimed at the commercial market Pontiac , Buick and Olds dealers wanted a truck to sell so the " Jimmy" came along and then the professional grade phrase- kinda like the "pro pack " of harmonicas
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Gnarly
1070 posts
Jul 24, 2014
6:16 PM
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Ted--The term John uses IS "bluesman", good call.
I'm an old folkie, AFAICT--John Sebastian is my biggest influence on harp.
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nacoran
7880 posts
Jul 24, 2014
7:33 PM
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I got the blues. Kraft macaroni blues.
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Nate
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First Post- May 8, 2009
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boris_plotnikov
986 posts
Jul 24, 2014
7:38 PM
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Not really. I have a pleasure to play blues sometimes and blues was a big influence for me at the very beginning, but I don't feel I'm a part of blues culture. I mostly interested in modern music culture.
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Excuse my bad English.
My videos.
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KCBLUES
68 posts
Jul 25, 2014
7:58 AM
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FRANK -
In my experience, a working musician would never posit such a question... As many here can attest, when one is out working a local, regional or national scene, as well as trying to book gigs, such distinctions bear little weight.
Time for me to get back to practicing...
KC
Last Edited by KCBLUES on Jul 25, 2014 7:59 AM
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Frank
4912 posts
Jul 25, 2014
8:06 AM
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And if not...Whats holding you back? :)
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Barley Nectar
448 posts
Jul 25, 2014
9:29 PM
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NO
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