didjcripey
907 posts
Jun 21, 2015
4:19 AM
|
At a gig last night from one of the 'punters':
'that was great, mate; you're the first harp player I've heard that wasn't really annoying'
Cool. To paraphrase Buddy Guy:
You don't have to be the best around,
you just got to be the best till the best come to town.
(not too hard in a town where the bar is set so low!)
----------
Lucky Lester
Last Edited by didjcripey on Jun 21, 2015 9:23 PM
|
dougharps
948 posts
Jun 21, 2015
8:14 AM
|
Last night I sat in with a singer/guitar player visiting town who also plays harmonica in a rack in his shows. He was the same musician who encouraged me to resume playing out more way back in the '90s. At that time I had not played out since the '70s. I have come a long way since the '90s, and he has often invited me to join him onstage, frequently commenting on my improved playing after we finish.
After playing a set with him (that the crowd really enjoyed, as judged by their listening and applause) several people complimented me. One went on for a while about how much he enjoyed our set, and then he brought up the issue of other players whose harmonica playing he DOESN'T enjoy so much.
This has become a common occurrence after playing. Some audience members seem surprised to enjoy harmonica, and often approach me after I play to share their surprise. They always mention that my playing is not annoying like others they have heard.
Harmonica has a poor reputation in general, and I think it is our job to improve that reputation by continually improving and always playing the best we can: musically, not just blowing to blow.
You must have done this last night, too.
I like the paraphrase!
----------
Doug S.
|
Bilzharp
74 posts
Jun 21, 2015
10:53 AM
|
"Ya'll are as good as somma them that's on the radio!"
I've never forgotten that one. Also heard my share of "I usually don't care for harmonica" "complements", often from other musicians. I'll take what I can get. I used to be quite pleased when other musicians would refer to my playing as "tasteful" until I figured out that it's basically a euphemism for "At least you know when to shut the hell up!"
|
The Iceman
2527 posts
Jun 21, 2015
11:06 AM
|
I've gotten a lot of "I never knew a harmonica could sound like that!" s.
----------
The Iceman
|
Danny Starwars
254 posts
Jun 21, 2015
12:34 PM
|
"Chur, bro ... where'd you learn to play the kazoo like that??"
Smh.
----------
My YouTube Channel - Any Likes or Comments appreciated. :)
http://tinyurl.com/muchtcc
http://givealittle.co.nz/cause/help4danny
Last Edited by Danny Starwars on Jun 21, 2015 3:53 PM
|
mastercaster
175 posts
Jun 21, 2015
1:16 PM
|
Sat in last nite at the Blue Note on Beale St ...the band's 'director' a gal who called herself Queen gave the ok ... She nor the band knew me , and didn't ask to hear me play beforehand ..they were just being very very cool and took the risk ....
Later on into the song and .... also after a big applause ...the band members were giving big smiles and compliments ... For me , didn't need to hear any words .... Was able to make folks including the band and Queen smile , she invited me back Anytime , Anytime ... the smiles , invitation to return and compliments ... Sat. nite on Beale St. mind you ... said all : )
|
harmonicanick
2253 posts
Jun 21, 2015
2:39 PM
|
I don't know about funny compliments but who gets females coming up to give a kiss after playing??
It is embarrassing if you are married...
|
didjcripey
909 posts
Jun 21, 2015
3:55 PM
|
Yeah, hard times.
----------
Lucky Lester
|
Danny Starwars
255 posts
Jun 21, 2015
4:21 PM
|
Yeah, lucky bastard.
----------
My YouTube Channel - Any Likes or Comments appreciated. :)
http://tinyurl.com/muchtcc
http://givealittle.co.nz/cause/help4danny
|
Dr.Hoy
67 posts
Jun 21, 2015
4:57 PM
|
Mine is a good one. I was playing a New Year's Eve gig in a club, and at one point while we were playing "Saints Go Marching In" a pretty girl ran right up to me and put a what turned out to be a ten-dollar-bill down my shirt.
|
BronzeWailer
1713 posts
Jun 21, 2015
6:05 PM
|
A lady at the harmonica club gave me a peck on the cheek and asked for lyrics to one of my songs; she said it described her to a T.
My wife got hit on on the way to a gig, and I got hit on at the same gig.
At the other end of the spectrum, a man (geezer) told me I was ruining his life once when I was busking. I argued that a lot of people like my music, and he said, "it's not music." I felt a little ouchy but you can't please everyone.
BronzeWailer's YouTube
|
garry
579 posts
Jun 21, 2015
7:31 PM
|
I had a keyboard player tell me once that he really liked that I knew when *not* to play. When I'm playing at a new jam, or with folks who don't know me, I can see them cringe when they see a harp player being called up. I get a kick out of the surprised looks I get when they realize I actually can play. Almost as surprised as I am, but that's another tale.
But my favorite compliment was after I sat in with a a blues band, whereafter the bass player told me "you some harmonica playin' motherfker!"
----------
|
didjcripey
910 posts
Jun 21, 2015
9:21 PM
|
I've been told a few times that they liked the way I 'played with restraint'
knowing when not to play is a good thing
----------
Lucky Lester
Last Edited by didjcripey on Jun 21, 2015 9:21 PM
|
STME58
1345 posts
Jun 21, 2015
10:39 PM
|
"I never knew a harmonica could sound like that!"
I have gotten that one a few time along with "I didn't know you could play Bach on the harmonica, but my favorite comment was from someone who had heard me play harp, on discovering I also played trombone, "I knew you played the harmonica, but I didn't know you were a musician!"
|
Glass Harp Full
38 posts
Jun 21, 2015
11:00 PM
|
My wife came in while I was practicing recently and said, "that sounds like a proper song". I suppose I should take that to mean I'm making progress :)
Another time I was practicing my infant son said, "Daddy put it in the box". He's already a music critic!
(Sorry if this double posts - the page crashed the first time I tried)
|
Danny Starwars
259 posts
Jun 21, 2015
11:05 PM
|
Threads like this make me wish we had a Like function :P
----------
My YouTube Channel - Any Likes or Comments appreciated. :)
http://tinyurl.com/muchtcc
http://givealittle.co.nz/cause/help4danny
|
BronzeWailer
1714 posts
Jun 21, 2015
11:06 PM
|
A couple of jam hosts have told me they like that I know when NOT to play. My guru hammered this into me again when I made a pilgrimage last week. I was backsliding a bit.
BronzeWailer's YouTube
|
Diggsblues
1859 posts
Jun 22, 2015
3:10 AM
|
A young harmonica player came up to me after playing a chromatic solo on Ain't No Sunshine and said, "That's the best chromatic solo I've heard". I guess he never heard Toots.
----------
|
didjcripey
911 posts
Jun 22, 2015
3:48 AM
|
A very attractive woman once told me my playing
'made her feel all squirmy inside'
----------
Lucky Lester
|
mlefree
316 posts
Jun 22, 2015
9:26 AM
|
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I received this left handed compliment the other day.
I often play at a local mic'. I usually play harmonicas with other bands and musicians. But when the rhythm of a song invites it I also play rhythm bones. This seems to fascinate and delight people, which in turn delights me.
So I met a guitar player with compatible tastes and styles and have been getting together to work up some songs for the OM. It's been going well and we are making good progress.
The thing is, after a few of our private sessions, he kind of sidled up to me and said, "You know, I really didn't consider you to be a serious musician until you whipped out those bones."
He didn't intend it, but he could have just as well hit me in the stomach. I may not be the best musician in the house every night but I can play circles around most of 'em with my harps. Evidently his, and what worries me, other musicians' perceptions of the harmonica as well, is that any Tom, Dick or Harry can pick one up and take some sort of short cut to becoming a "real" musician. Lots of guitar players put on a neck rack and wheeze through a harp and call themselves harmonica players. Sorta like they all seem to think they play blues.
The truth is that I've worked 15 years to get where I pretty much want to be with my harps. It took me only 3-4 to become proficient at rhythm bones. The dude did allow that he has tried several times to play bones and failed. I was tempted to give him a harmonica, but that is for another day.
Anyway, the whole thing left me feeling a bit cold and truthfully, my estimation of him as an overall musician is now lower knowing that he has so little understanding of what it takes to play a harmonica... well.
Thanks for listening.
Michelle
----------
SilverWingLeather.com
email: mlefree@silverwingleather.com
|
Philosofy
709 posts
Jun 22, 2015
1:07 PM
|
I got onstage at Tootsie's in Nashville one time, and we did "Long Train Runnin'" by the Doobie Bros (It cost me $20. Well worth it.) When the song was done and I was getting down, one of the band said "Hey dude, thanks for not sucking!" I guess he meant it, because when I went to go home later in the evening, and I walked by the stage, they pulled me up to do "Last Dance with Mary Jane" by Tom Petty.
|
shadoe42
320 posts
Jun 22, 2015
3:21 PM
|
The oddest "back handed compliment" I have ever gotten wasn't actually about my specific playing but me in general. I was breaking down my area at a faire after my last set and another musician comes up. We were chatting before heading up for the big pub sing last show of the day and suddenly he goes..."I have never noticed but you really are quite short"... I am presuming he then noticed the odd look that passed across my face cause he keeps going with " no no..sorry what I mean is on stage you cannot tell, on stage you are huge!"
I chuckled and thanked him for calling me short :)
I have learned to just smile and say thanks at the "wow never knew you were a real musician" or " whoa harmonica that doesn't suck" type compliments. Most times folks have no idea what they are saying and truly mean it as a compliment
----------
Dr. Rev. Mr. Cheeks Miller
My Electronic Music World
|
STME58
1349 posts
Jun 22, 2015
3:31 PM
|
I contend that there are more bad harmonica players out playing in public that there are bad players of any other instrument. The only instrument more accessible it the voice, but few people will sit on a park bench and sing!
My son gave me the opposite of a back handed compliment a few years ago. He was trying to be insulting but it backfired. I usually play at boy scout campouts and most people seem to like my playing. My son told me that the worst thing about having me at a campout is that other scouts come to him and tell him his dad is cool, and he has to convince them otherwise!
|
Leatherlips
336 posts
Jun 22, 2015
4:36 PM
|
Last Saturday night I played a gig in Byron Bay, NSW Australia and there was one young lady in particular who looked me in the eye and crouched down on the dance floor and passed the fingers of her right hand over the open palm of her left in a stroking fashion. I've got no idea what it meant. It might have meant 'Get off, you silly old man' as far as I know.
|
jpmcbride
91 posts
Jun 22, 2015
10:02 PM
|
Best funny compliment? Came from a very experienced musician about my bass playing at a jam. I had been playing harp for years but was still pretty new to bass.
"Jim's a good bass player because he doesn't know shit".
Yet another variation on the not overplaying compliment :-)
----------
Jim McBride
www.bottleoblues.com
|
1847
2500 posts
Jun 22, 2015
10:47 PM
|
i had some one say to me.....
you make that sound like you just lost your girlfriend
i responded, wait till you here what it sounds like when she comes back.
|
Rubes
954 posts
Jun 23, 2015
3:45 AM
|
I sometimes get.."you remind me of my dad (or grandad)!"
----------
Old Man Rubes at Reverbnation
Dads in Space at Reverbnation
|
gmacleod15
254 posts
Jun 23, 2015
4:33 AM
|
I was attending a mining conference last weekend and brought my harps hoping to play a bit. There was a 8 piece band playing the last evening who found out I was in the audience and asked me to come up. We played Stagger Lee and I thought things went pretty well, thanked the bad members and started to leave the stage when I hear...HEY Where are you going. Being asked to stick around is a nice compliment.
----------
MBH member since 2009-03-24
|
TetonJohn
249 posts
Jun 23, 2015
3:33 PM
|
Chuck Pyle (who is reasonably recognized among folkies out west here) told me:
"You play the sh*t outta that thing."
Should be on my resume!
My friend Greg likes to tell/tease fellow musicians:
"I really like what you were trying to do up there."
A couple of weeks ago a young gal told me my playing was "sexy" -- I reported that to my wife who insists that it is just the new cool word for good -- I hope not!
My favorite in this thread is "squirmy inside."
Last Edited by TetonJohn on Jun 23, 2015 3:46 PM
|
didjcripey
915 posts
Jun 23, 2015
4:35 PM
|
Yeah, I think it was a good thing when she said it, but I heard a learner violin recital the other day that made me very squirmy inside and it was not good.
----------
Lucky Lester
|
Prento
2 posts
Jun 23, 2015
6:59 PM
|
I was told that I'd be a better musician if I stopped playing guitar.
|
Martic
124 posts
Jun 25, 2015
4:32 PM
|
Once I was playing a solo and a woman from the audience shouted "blow my shell!!"
Another funny comment I always get (mainly because I look younger than my actual age) is "when you sat on stage I though 'he's a little kid, what the f*ck is he gonna play?', but when I heard you play I got surprised"
|
walterharp
1645 posts
Jun 26, 2015
7:02 AM
|
i would say the most common backhanded compliment, that people really mean as a compliment is
"hey, you are not bad"
i mean if you think about it that means, well.. you are just ok.. but not bad?.. you could be great too.. but it is not directly saying "you are fantastic"
but people will say it about the very best in the world..
|
The Iceman
2552 posts
Jun 26, 2015
7:18 AM
|
Sat in with old Savannah band "The Bluesaders" a few years ago at a bar with lotsa 20 somethings.
Heard voice from the crowd say "Hey. Look at the old man playing harmonica".
----------
The Iceman
|
marine1896
251 posts
Jun 26, 2015
7:24 AM
|
@Iceman; dunno if that's a funny compliment factual or otherwise!;-)
----------
"Those British boys want to play the blues real bad, and they do"
|
Wendell
43 posts
Jun 26, 2015
7:27 AM
|
The first time I played at one of Howard Randall's blues jam he said to me "you don't have harp-in-mouth disease like a lor of players"
Fast. Forward 20 years Howard asked me "Is that a special harmonica that gets that sound ?"
"No it's a regular chromatic"
"You're a bad man"
----------
No Harm In Harmonica
|
