In case anyone missed this,here is Dan Kaplan playing some of the best TB chugging with melody I've heard. The recording under a bridge with traffic thundering past just adds to the atmosphere. I've shown this to non harp players and didn't get the thumbs up I was expecting! What do you think? Have you got good examples of anyone else playing this sort of stuff.
It really makes me want to put more time into TB work.
I LOVE this stuff. This is the kind of thing I'd love to play if I was asked to show someone that I was a harp player (as opposed to the melody line from some campfire song).
The thing is I can't tongue block and my rhythmic stuff needs a ton of work, hahahaha. I'm not sure if I have the patience to go back to square one on those.
Reminds me of this scene with Hughey Lewis. Harp starts at about 2:25. Nothing cooler than one guy, pulling out a harp and grooving a bunch of people. I can't do it to save my soul hahahaha.
I've heard it also as Old Time style. esp that 1st video. Sarge who plays that style quite well and posts here on occasion. Not a blues player, I think he might also have a web site of that style of playin. I enjoy it quite a bit.
I really like Dan's original work. Great vibrato and feel and he is accomplished on high and low harps. His last output on youtube was 3 years ago but I haven't heard anything since.
The CDbaby site gives a good sample of each track. If you like the video above check out Shuffle & Skip on his Vera Hall CD!! ----------
AppalachiaBlues Agreed! I have always LP and tried to mimic TB but it's not the same. A bit late in the day for me to change but I'm giving it a go and making some progress. It would be nice to be able to use it selectively.
I first heard Huey Lewis playing a song he wrote called 'Bad is Bad'. It was on Dave Edmunds record 'Repeat When Necessary'. Dave Edmunds sang it but Huey plays some deadly harp on it. That version is a straight-up medium fast shuffle blues with little resemblance to the version Huey did when he got famous.
Yes, Huey IS a great player. Great posts Grey Owl and Bobo! ---------- Reasonably priced Reed Replacement and tech support on Hand Made Series Hohner Diatonic Harmonicas.
'Making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time. Click MP for more info. Aloha Mark .
Last Edited by MP on Sep 30, 2017 6:36 PM
The two best at this style of old tyme playing I've heard is Mark Graham (Pacific NW harmonica hero) and Dave Rice (near Cleveland, Ohio - formerly with the Boiled Buzzards).
A search of youtube did not pull up anything interesting. These guys made recordings back in the cassette tape days - worth seeking out. Also, I had Dave Rice at a SPAH in, I believe, 1999 or 2000 - so, there are SPAH recordings of him, although, with the BOD that came in after I resigned, a lot of these valuable videos are I know not where - and it is a shame, too. Wonder if any remember how I also had Curtis Salgado show up for an impromptu midnight show at SPAH in St. Louis - his tour bus was in town and I invited him to come hang, so he did and did a performance - I'm "moderately confident" that someone must have video'd this as well, but would not know where to find it.
Anyways, Dave Rice and Mark Graham were the best I heard at this style. ---------- The Iceman
Last Edited by The Iceman on Oct 01, 2017 9:57 AM
A bit OT, but the reason old SPAH videos are no longer available is that the guy who did the videos - a former SPAH official - got in a nasty fight with one of the other previous SPAH officials -both of them from before Larry's time on the board, and both now dead - and sued SPAH multiple times, nearly bankrupting the organization in the process. These were nuisance suits pure and simple, and eventually a judge put a stop to them, and SPAH recovered. Nothing to do with the SPAH board during or after Larry's time except that they had to fight off the lawsuits. =========== Winslow
The videos mentioned in Winslow's post would cover the earlier SPAH years (at least before 1995) and are mostly of the older chrom/bass/chord trios and other cool archival performances. Maybe included were the on stage interview with Larry Adler and others as well - those were the years when diatonic wasn't really embraced at SPAH...the coolest videos were done after this former SPAH official was on the outs and volunteer folk shot the videos. Starting around 1996, I began having more professional video shoots at the convention - some came out great, some were not done well, but they were all in the SPAH archives. As a matter of fact, we got these videos on VHS and had a pretty good $$ run selling them at the conventions from 1996 thru 2000. After I left the BOD, I have no idea what happened to them. I do know there were master copies used to make the copies being sold... sitting in a taped box in someone's garage, perhaps? ---------- The Iceman
Pity those 2 vids Winslow and BW are not available for me to watch.
ME.HarpDoc
I'm not sure if it's tongue switching or simply keeping a wide embouchure throughout to allow the chugging chords to sound whilst tonguing the melody.
A nice piece by Howard Levy (though not chugging) demonstrates some of the techniques involved in playing melody and backing simultaneously which does include some tongue switching.
What Howard is doing is what I call a variable split. You're playing a split - notes in both corners of your mouth, separated by the tongue on the intervening holes - and varying the width of the split.
I wrote a long series of articles on advanced tongue blocking techniques like this - for chromatic, but the same principles apply to diatonic - for HarmonicaSessions.com a few years back. The articles are starting to disappear, but some may still be available. You can access them via my website at
I feel that the tongue is the most versatile muscle in one's body. Look in a mirror, stick it out and see how many ways you can make it move - thin out, thicken, roll, curl.
It's merely about realizing this, thinking about it consciously as you move it - attaching intent to the movement. The tip of the tongue can be "faux super glued" to the inside bottom of your lower teeth or "attached" to a harmonica comb and the rest of it can still do amazing acrobatics.
Have fun learning about this and discover all the ways it can be applied to your harmonica technique! ---------- The Iceman
Last Edited by The Iceman on Oct 03, 2017 9:23 AM
Dan seems to be chugging on an exhale/inhale but as there are 2 draw notes in succession I'm not sure how he fits the chug in. He does point out in one of his replies that 'Yes, I am tongue blocking and for this piece the lower keys help free up the melodic line while the rhythm keeps moving along.'
Iceman. After some initial frustration I am now making some progress with slaps and pulls and bending on the lower holes, blocking to the left and recently to the right on holes 1, 2 & 3. I've got to the stage with my lifelong use of LP where I am by and large happy with my intonation, but the lowering of the tongue onto the comb for TB has made a subtle shift in the anchor point affecting the arching my tongue for bending. It is improving now and I'm hoping I will become more accustomed to this with further practice.
Dan is doing a blow/draw for some chugs and a draw/draw for others. The difference is subtle, and it's tempting to think they're all draw/blow. =========== Winslow
