the_happy_honker
306 posts
Jul 23, 2018
1:36 AM
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I was in the music shop the other day. The guy filling in while the owner is on vacation is a guitarist who occasionally hosts the local blues jam.
I tell him my main interest is harp, but I need to develop my feel for the groove, so I’m looking to buy a serviceable used bass. He says, “Gee, it’s nice to see you’re serious” and goes on for a bit about how harp players aren’t serious about music (no theory), or the jam setting (no manners). He is especially peeved about the lack of seriousness about the instrument: “They show up with just one or two harps and whine about the song key. They should be prepared to play in any key.” In a moment of wrathful transport, he shakes his finger and declares, “I’ll let it go once, but next time everything is in Db and F#!”
It’s a slow day in the shop, so he hooks up an amp and invites me to jam with him. I’ve got a Bb harp on me, so I say blues in F. After the I chord, things go south. None of his chords sound right, he starts stabbing at notes, loses the time and things falls apart. After some noodling, we try again, same result.
He mutters something about “F is such a weird key” and I tease him about being prepared to play in any key. I turn the knife by grabbing a D harp off the shelf. I turn to him while checking the draw chord and ask innocently, “You can play in A, can’t you?” The look on his face was worth the price of a harp I didn’t need.
Of course, at home in his favorite key, he gives me ye aulde tyme head-cuttin’, but, damn, it was worth it. And I got my bass.
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