|
Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Accompaniment playing
Accompaniment playing
Page:
1
rene7
1 post
Feb 04, 2012
7:28 AM
|
Hi folks, first excuse my bad english :)
Has Adam ever made lessons to play blues harp with a band. Or did somebody know some good books, cd, Video etc.
Greetings from germany/ Bonn from
Rene
|
Greg Heumann
1466 posts
Feb 06, 2012
10:55 PM
|
To learn what to play for accompaniment - a teacher can't help you much. I'll tell you what my teacher told me. Listen. Listen to others doing it. Not just harmonica but horn sections.
You will hear:
repetitive phrases over all 3 chords
simple - may not even change with the chords
Designed to support - no trills, big bends, etc.
The cardinal rule is "when in doubt, lay out"
if there is a solo, don't play anything for the first 12 bars. Play a simple line for the next 12. If you don't get any dirty looks from the soloist, and there will be another 12, play a different, perhaps slightly more involved repetitive line.
----------
/Greg
|
Joe_L
1714 posts
Feb 06, 2012
11:35 PM
|
I agree with Greg. In order to be a good accompanist, you have to listen to a lot of tunes and absorb the music.
The old guys used to say, "play what fits". If you are playing in a Blues genre, you need to listen to a lot of Blues music. That also means that you have to practice a lot of it. You also have to understand what the band leader wants and play accordingly.
If you are working with traditional players, that means studying the traditional blues harmonica players. If the band leader has a more modern style, then that means adapting to suit their requirements.
Play below the volume of the vocalist. You can play somewhat busy, but you don't want to stomp on the vocalist.
It's highly unlikely that you'll run into this situation, but if someone picks a well known and tells you to play it "Big Walter style" or "James Cotton style", it helps to know what that means. The only way you will know is if you've heard both versions and practiced them.
----------
The Blues Photo Gallery
Last Edited by on Feb 06, 2012 11:36 PM
|
7LimitJI
592 posts
Feb 07, 2012
12:30 AM
|
Good advice above.
Try playing back-beat stabs, staying on the 1 or play the changes.
Listen to the bass lines, play along with, or work a counter melody to.
Play simply, maybe allow a little flourish on the turnaround.
Play call and response with the vocal.Usually best to not play over the vocals.
----------
The Pentatonics Reverbnation
Youtube
"Why don't you leave some holes when you play, and maybe some music will fall out".
"It's music,not just complicated noise".
|
Post a Message
|
