You can only pick one each. Mine is: Amplified, two hole shake/warble. No other instrument can lay down a backing that simultaneously soft, rhythmic, harmonic.
Trills on a piano come close but that is more percussive, and the pitch is rigid.
Its So Funny that you brought this up. I was just getting ready to start a thread about this Walter Horton song. Its been haunting me.
I dont think i can boil it down to one specific sound, but if I had to try I would say the percussive TB sound that both Horton and Rice Miller seem to get so well. And not just anyone's TB slaps, but specifically theirs. Its so thick, round, a bit muted perhaps which makes it warmer and more bassy sounding than its LP counterpart.
Im not really describing it very well. But have a listen to this song. Im gonna learn to play this atleast half as good as horton or im gonna die tryin ... lol. It starts out with a segment from Walters Boogie, which i know how to play already .... so i have that part covered. (Althought its still not great yet, I'm still working on cleaning up part that goes from the -2-3-2. There's some bends and tricky footwork in there that you have to land just right or it doesn't sound right. Infact most pros that play walters boogie often skip this part. RJ Mischo does. Rod Piazza does. But i think it's one of the best parts of the boogie.) Anyhow have a listen at the sound Horton gets here. It just has me in Awe.
Sorry, i don't have time to imbed. So for now .. here's the link.
Dangit MTG .... you suck, you UK folks always have issues with videos ... lol.
Theres no specific part of the song. You can hear it throughout. Its something he does alot. Rice Miller also does it.
A friend of mine described it as "Sounds like hes got the harp sealed up with teflon tape .." because the sound is so Solid and Low. Normally when you would play something like this you would get alot of higher frequencies ringing in the chord/note and it would sound a bit more airy aswell. But when they do it .. the sound is so low. Its almost muted, like a horn mute. But also a very solid sound ... all at the same time. Maybe Compression is the word in looking for. Its very compressed. But not only that its also ..... man its just so hard to describe accurately. Have a listen and tell me how you would describe it.
Specifically on the 2 Draw Slaps.
Here is another clip. This is the full album of An Offer You Can't Refuse. This is one of my favorite albums of all time. I loved this the second I heard it. Infact when someone posted this on Facebook, i didn't even listen to a whole song before I went on Amazon and Downloaded the Albumn. Hortons tracks on here are Absolute Gold in my book. I have it on Wax now too. It sounds SOOO Good on vinyl ... my god i just can't even stand it sometimes. Its just THAT good to me.
Anyhow, check at around 12:45 for WestSide Blues.
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Jan 26, 2017 9:51 AM
Thank you. It's OT but that song contains one of my fav Walter Horton V-IV phrases. At about 14m10s on your vid there:
(V chord) 2' 3'' 4 (IV chord) 1+ 2+ 2 4+ (I) 3' 2
Anyway - I'm afraid your entry doesn't count because it's got to be a general harmonica sound/technique that anyone with decent skills could do - NOT the particular sound of your favourite artist(s).
I've just added that rule. Anyway it's a positive, you get another go :)
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Jan 26, 2017 10:05 AM
Simple. For me it's just the sound of a slow bend. It's what makes the harmonica so unique to my ears, that way it can grab a note and pull it down. Like guitar but sustained. I say slow bend cos so much of my early experience of harmonica, as a child, would have been in westerns.
Im going to classify that one as the "Amplified Tongue Block Slap".
I would have to say second Runner Up would be ....
Probably the same as Ian. Theres nothing like the sound of Bends. Especially a good run dancing in and out .. Amplified throught a warm dirty tube amp Done just right with a bit of throat vibrato thrown in. I know that's technically more than one sound, but ..... quite often MANY techniques go into forming one whole sound. Right?
So im only "kindof" cheating. 8^)
I tried to go and listen to various albums by all different artist .... and pick my favorite parts. Its always the tricky little runs with various bends in them. Some bends just a Dwah inflection into a clean note .. some bends really leaned into ... and adding the warm amplified sound just makes it perfect.
That is a good lick MTG. But im surprised that you pick that simple riff out of all the killer stuff goin on around it. Thats interesting.
My god. Ive got the album on because I was listening for the lick you were speaking of ..... I just can't even put into words how much I love this albumn. If there is a heaven ... they ve got this LP on loop. Atleast the A Side ... lol.
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Jan 26, 2017 7:25 PM
Killa, re that phrase, the reason is that a while a go I did a conscious trawl of harp music to create my own library of phrases. Looking both for the commonly used ones and the unusual ones. Most are shared many times over, quite often recycled in different forms for quite different grooves. But you don't hear too many people using that V-IV-I phrase. When I found a possibly unique one, that was a red-letter day!
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Jan 27, 2017 4:40 AM
Ahh yes. It is very unique. That's what i love about horton. He surely had his own flavor. Some of It can be a bit of an aquired taste because its sometimes not as pretty or "easy listening" as say .. Little Walter or whoever, but man ... for my money Horton is what its all about.
I grow tired of that west coast canned blues that you hear so much of these days.
Horton gets straight RAW sometimes. I love it. And its original. Mostly.
I agree it's a different thing, and it's raw, that's a good way to put it. Naturally a lot of people copy Walter Horton, especially the well know things like Easy and Walters Boogie. But I don't hear too many copiers of some of the characteristic things he does, like hanging on a single note for ages or playing a simple phrase with a kind of rough energy.
Maybe people regard it as sounding too simple, and the pressure is on to play lots of notes or display finesse of technique.
I agree. I you hear LOTS of people copy the glamor phrases of Walter Horton, but i don't find many people (if anyone) really gets his core playing style.
Even when people copy him they pretty it up.
I agree that alot of folks try to fancy things up and may not be too inclined to play things very simple. But as you put it the other day (talking about V chord licks), I think that's rookie stuff. Because I used to think the same way ... that everything i played had to be fancy, but really it was my own insecurity and lack of Tone.
Now that my tone is somewhat decent and I'm becoming more comfortable with my skills. .... im finding alot more enjoyment in the simple things. Probably because I can actually hold a note and make it sound relatively good.
I think alot of people don't focus on Tone. They focus more on gear and being able to play in 12 positions. To each his/her own, But for me Tone is king. If you hear someone like Horton or Steve Guyger HOLD a nice 2 draw ... or ANY note really ..... it just doesn't get much better than that.
But if you have Tone AND can play a bit of fancy stuff .... well then your cooking with gas. 8^)
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Jan 27, 2017 12:40 PM
