Last night several members of the Crescent City Harmonica Club met up at a fellow member's gig for sort of an impromptu harpstravaganza. This a tune I made up on the spot, sitting in with the Rocky Denney Band here in New Orleans.
Thanks, Ridge. Yeah, bad audio, but it's a friend who vids lots of folks and posts them. My friend Harvey has a Q3HD, but forgot it...but he did remember his SuperSonny, so I can't fault him too much! ;-) Somethings' better than nothing. Just wanted to share a bit. I totally improv'd this, and did something similar at a jam a few nights prior. Had a guy onstage who looked liked an overweight Tony Iommi(Black Sabbath)and plays about the same-but also on top of everyone, and too loud, etc. I had a killer funk bass player onstage who wanted to do something funky, so I started telling everyone what we would do, and he launced into what sounded like the riff for HelterSkelter-so we went with it. I improv'd lyrics for it-'This ain't funky, but I know what funky is...', etc. Everyone got a big kick out of it, and it came off okay despite a bizarre start. The Sabbath dude finally left the stage after that, and some more team-oriented players came up and things got much better.
I've been a singer all my life, and harp for the last 22 years. ---------- Todd
Gracias, guys! I'll never be as spontaneously amazing as Walter Tore is, but I feel more comfortable every time I wing it...it opens my options and lets me do my own thing my way. Very fulfilling approach. Everyone should try it. ---------- Todd
Wow..loved the harp and vox on this..your Messin' with the Kid video went out side the usual box too.You have obiviously put the hours in and can now just let it swing..great
Todd: Way to go! Keep at it and you will find that people will really dig it in a way that doesn't happen with pre arranged tunes because they are literally a part of the creation. All their thoughts and dreams are sitting there in front of you. All you have to do is tap into them. Just don't tell anyone, especially the band, until after you are done. Otherwise they might get rattled until they get use to it :-) Only kidding. Really good musicians and listeners love this stuff. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Thanks a lot guys! Walter-even though I know tons of songs, it never fails that I draw a blank when I go to jams or someone invites me to play, either not knowing what to do, or forgetting half the words. I had a Eureka! moment recently and realized, 'hey, I can make shit up on the spot, and it's MY music, not a cover of someone else'. Well, great in theory, and I can hold up the harp end of the deal and sing and phrase ok, but still the words don't always roll right off my tongue(or make a whole lot of sense)...I'd like to say, 'ok, I'll work on it', but how do you work on spontanaety?
Oh, and as for the Messin' With The Kid vid on the other thread-i seldom play that song the same way twice. Years ago I was in a biker bar blues/rock band, and we played the tune, and I played it so many times that I pretty much had a standard solo I'd play, but I much prefer to improvise it. ---------- Todd
Hi Todd: What I have found is the less I think and worry about the words being there and just let the songs take me over, the easier it is. The times I have trouble is in rooms that really could care less if there was music playing. I have learned to avoid those kind of gigs like the plauge. These gigs are not good for spontobeat. The only practice is to keep doing it in environments where good vibes are present! For me this has been my studio pretty much for the past few years mainly because I am not going out on the scene or actively trying to get gigs. If they fall in my lap, then that is a good one. In fact all this stuff is part of keeping spontobeat alive and well. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
