I was watching the Jason Ricci 'How to play harmonica fast' series of lessons and this guy popped up on the right hand side. Really nice player. Does he post here?
Sorry, I'm bumping this as I'm not sure if it got lost on the '1 post thing'.
The guy's name is Theo Burke, from SF.
He's doing some really fast Popper / Jason Ricci stuff here. It is complete overkill, but I think he's making a demonstration rather than offering this as a piece of music.
What impressed me was that he isn't a young kid, but he's demonstrating all the chops of a young player. Another thing is that he appears quite nonchalant about it, with very little movement or physical expression. Many players would be bearing down or using exaggerated movements to play up their part. Part of playing harp live is the physical appearance, but Theo isn't playing that game here.
I'm interested in this fast stuff as I've yet to put any fast runs in my playing. I'm not suggesting it's something I'd want to hear or indeed play all day, but capping off a solo with a nice indecipherable blur of notes would be a handy little thing for the trick bag.
I understand the guy is perhaps illustrating a point but personally the whole over the top 120 mph Ricci/Popper style of playing has always left me cold. It's rather like the Steve Vai/Eddie Van Halen school of guitar playing. I fully appreciate the skill and the labor it takes to play like that but it often becomes the end goal. The "See how many notes I can play in the shortest space of time!" like they're getting paid by the note. How can there possibly be any emotional content in that? Again, to use the guitar analogy, there are country pickers who play at an incredible rate of knots but there always seems to be melodic content in there or even some humor but there comes a point where it;s just notes for the sake of notes. I can get more excited by one long note full of tone and heart and meaning from someone of the likes of Jerry Portnoy than I can from 5 minutes of musical masturbation. ---------- LSC
There is no way I'd sit through a gig with someone playing 120mph the whole time.
However, here's John Popper and Ziggy Marley doing No Woman No Cry. Popper starts his solo at 4:30. At 6:05, he really lets rip. The solo is for the most part very musical and very tasteful with the odd fast inflection, but the focus is clearly on the music.
The flurry at 6:05? I'm not even sure it's actually musical, it's that fast, but it's just something to leave people's jaws on the floor.
It's entertainment and there's nothing wrong with having that skill if you apply it correctly.
Edit: Just as a point of note, I just watched it again. The audience was lapping that sh1t up!
Last Edited by on Feb 06, 2012 3:41 PM
@Stevelegh: Thanks for the good words, Steve. That particular improvisation was intended of being a parody of the sort of Popper, blurred fury solos that many find so appealing, but it was also a response to a a character named Nicky Shane who claims to be the fastest harmonica player in the world. He even conned some under paid representative from the Guiness Book of World Records to judge him declare him the champ of speed. If you saw his videos, you would think, I'm sure, that his "playing"is jive and that his style is more performance than actual playing. He is very melodramatic, you see. Anyway, the intention was to be relentlessly fast and raw. I can, however, play in slower, more melodic modes.
@clyde: Why would anyone want to complain about a photo of Bob Dylan hanging behind me? That makes no sense. No, I didn;t take lessons from him. Bob Dylan is not a harmonica player, he is a songwriter. I don't like the way he plays harmonica, but I do like a good many of th e songs he has written. I suspect you were trying to insult me somehow. Why? If you're curious, check out my Youtube channel. You'll mind some things more to your liking, I suspect
I found the vid very interesting from a performance (or more to the point 'non performance') point of view.
Aside from some of the really fast stuff, which I found very impressive, it was quite striking the degree of nonchalance you appeared to have. Obviously, you were making a point and I think you made it well. I've checked out you other vids and you're a very nice player sir.
IMO, stagecraft is as much part of a performer's arsenal of tricks as playing fast, expression, note choice etc. I see nothing wrong in any of those things. If you can play a flurry of notes and make it look like you've bust a lung in doing so and the audience is impressed, then you've done your job.
Edit: Although I have seen Nicky Shane and yes, I would agree, He actually is gaming people to think he's something that he's clearly not. Performance gone bad perhaps?
I found a great vid the other day of Fred Yonnet, who's played with Stevie Wonder and currently plays with Prince's band. His stagecraft is wonderful. All the flipping of fingers and bearing down certainly make the performance interesting to watch.
Many thanks for replying to this post and I hope we hear more of you here.
Last Edited by on Apr 18, 2012 8:52 PM
Ted Burke Rocks! THEO! I was just getting ready to copy this and post it on your FB page. Then I saw you found it...LOL...Missed you in S.D. Dude I met that Nicky Shane guy at NAMM, it was crazy! I forgot all about it till now. Oh my God...Ill tell you later. Any way everyone Ted is a great great writer too check out his blog.
I like the way his longer notes sound, as well as his rhythm and timing and tone. I agree with previous posters, there is only so much of these type of multi-note runs that my ear can take. It's a personal preference really. But I think there is a lot of what Mr. Burke is doing that can improve a player's overall game. I found that I had to watch it more than once to get past the multi-note stuff and listen the other stuff he does. Very good though.
I saw the original Paul Butterfield Blues Band in Detroit, 1966 or 67 at a no age limit folk and blues club called the Chessmate in Detroit Michigan, and this was an event that changed my life forever. I bought my first harmonica soon afterward and have been playing ever since. Detroit is a fantastic town for Black music, with lots of soul, blues, jazz and rock and roll, and the exposure to these kinds of music at an early age influenced my harmonica playing. I listened to saxophone playes like Coltrane and Sonny Stitt and Coleman Hawkins, I listened to guitarists like JOhnny Winter, Clapton, John McLauhglin and Larry Coryell, I listened to harmonica players like Butterfield, Musselwhite, James Cotton, Sonny Boy Williams, NOrton Buffalo, but mostly I just played all the time, all the time, with bands, played to records, played alone, all the time. I played until my lips bled, literally. My parents thought I was eccentrc . I didn't care. I play everyday. I played even at my worst drinking; i have been sober now nearly t wenty five years. I am now trying to figure out the way I play so i can do some instruction videos. I play entirely by ear and really have no idea how to convey my style to others. I would love to read or hear someone describe what is I do. I thank all of you for listening to me and your kind words.
@Stevelegh Fred Yonnet is a very tasty and quick harmonica player, a distinct stylist. His phrases are nice and clipped, like a George Benson's deft thumb strokes on his guitar, and I especially like the flutter=tongue effect he gets at the ends of his lines. It creates a both a melodic continuity and a rhythmic emphasis that keeps his riffs within the chord changes. This is very fine playing,and thanks for posting.
Yeah Theo, I spent some time with our Mooncat guy but didn't see you at the Spring Harp Fest--I am in San Diego, playing at the Cosmopolitan (the old Casa de Bandini in Old Town) on Wed Thurs and Sun from 5-8--drop by and bring a harp or two. Happy Hour goes til 6!
Yes, Fred is pretty awesome. I've only just switched from tongue blocking full time to lip pursing and as a result all this stuff is becoming available to me. I love the bends and the tongue flutters. I'm incorporating a lot of this into my playing.
Edit: Apologies, I had to break off and do some work. Damn job is such a hindrance. Ha!
Theo: You mentioned earlier about not knowing what you do and how to articulate it. The nice thing about here is we have access to some of the best teachers (and players) around. I found the guys who do it best take the simplest approach and talk in '2 draw / 2 draw bend' kind of language. I think you'd come out as a great teacher. Give it a go.
Last Edited by on Apr 20, 2012 6:46 AM
Theo, Teaching is a lot like playing, you have to do a lot of it and experiment to find out what works. I would start giving private lessons. The students may not be able to immediately do what you do, but you will know when you've communicated an idea to them. Keeping changing how you speak and play for them until communication develops.
You can listen to all of BT's music for free on their website. Here are a couple of songs with classic Popper riffs that are really beautiful or generally awesome.
It isn't really about notes and scales...it is about emotion. Some people are wordy, excitable, overjoyed, anxious, frustrated...
What I generally hear as accepted emotional harmonica playing is 1.) power blues riffs while writhing around 2.) cliched playing that includes the "right" notes or 3.) memorized melodies/solos played with dynamics. That isn't to pass judgement on those things as good or bad, it is just the trend I've found.
What I've always enjoyed about players like Popper, Sugar Blue, and Jason Ricci (and Howard Levy) is there ability to express things on harmonica in a different way. I've been a huge enough BT fan to know at least a little bit about John as a person, and I can say the same about Jason. The way they play matches their personalities.
Personally, I have a hard time relating to contemporary traditional harmonica and traditional harmonica. It just doesn't fit my personality. In real life, I can't yell, don't have a very powerful speaking or signing voice, and have a life where self control is very important. When I pick up a harmonica, I can yell, scream, and throw a fit through it without any ill effect. I don't know...I just think a lot of the high end speed playing gels with me emotionally. The excitement and joy combined with the anxious and urgent attack fits who I am. The notion of being able to make the sounds on it that I want to hear is very alluring - overblows, effects, etc.
In a perfect world, I would be a in a band very much like 2000-2010 Blues Traveler. I listen to a ton of music and don't always have a preference for genre. Last night, I went to an Elton John concert, and as a very casual fan, had no problem getting caught up in the performance...I just love music in general. That being said, having listened to all the blues and jazz greats, rock from the 50's through today, etc, BT's Truth Be Told is in my top 3 albums of all time.
The cons to playing fast or on the upper octave are the same as everywhere else. I don't care what the approach is, several minutes of harmonica jamming to a backing track is going to have limitations and should be approached as such. IMO, there are a couple approaches to this sort of playing that are worth considering.
1. Using patterns to get from A to B 2. Using embellishments to add to A to get to B 3. Using patterns to create melodies
Most players end up doing #1. They have power riffs that move them between other riffs or idea. Thing of running up a scale to get from the bottom octave to phrasing on the upper octave. Sugar Blue does a lot of this. In fact, just about every song has a similar riff starting on 8 draw. Essentially, they have a list of fast riffs they use to plug and play. This is very similar to a typical blues approach to harp.
#2 is the idea of tagging on triplets, slurrs, slides, whatever, to a riff. I know I do this all the time. Jason Ricci does this a ton. John Popper sometimes does this - usually with a slide of the harp - whereas Jason tends to tag on triplets, or 16th's, etc to a line. Popper talks about doing this in interviews, but I don't hear it like I do with Jason. Jason's use of holes 4 and 5 and the available bends on songs like Mellow Down Easy would fit this. You add extra notes to a line by using what the harp gives you for note layout. Jason has actually posted several lessons on this.
#3 is more where Popper plays most. Take the songs Run Around and Hook, for example. If you were to look at the sheet music for solos like these, you can actually see where melodic lines are built up around jumps to different patterns. They are actual scale patterns and not just embellishments. I think this is a very difficult approach as you have to learn all the scale patterns and then come up with combinations of patterns that are coherent, etc.
All of these guys jump between all three, often within the same song, but if you asked me where to start with their styles, that's how I'd explain it.
About 8yrs ago, I started taking lessons with Clint Hoover. I brought him EVERY piece of literature on Popper's and Jason's playing to help me crack the code. He caught on right away with their differences. He liked what Jason was doing with embellishments and riffs/melodic lines the best. He wasn't too into the scale patterns as riffs thing. He did teach me a bunch, but they pushed me to find ways of using them more like Popper, where they are part of melodic content and not just riffs.
Super long story short - I became friend with Chris Michalek and he really stressed NOT playing like those guys, which in hindsight, I totally disagree with. It was worth learning what he was sharing, but I lost a lot of ground with what I really wanted to do. In the end, though, it comes down a using some maturity when taking on a tune.
The only harmonica players I studied closely and made a concentrated attempt to sound like, ie copy, are Paul Butterfield and Charlie Musselwhite. Butterfield and Musselwhite were the first guys to introduce me to blues harmonica playing and elements of their respective styles remain in my own style 46 years later. What really helped me, though, was just listening to virtually anything I could get my hands on; in my case it was an ongoing obsession with guitar players. In fact, I picked up harmonica because I couldn;t learn how to play fast like Alvin Lee or Johnny Winter fast enough--I was just all thumbs and no patience. But it was with the harmonica that I found a voice, my voice, and it was with the harmonica that I found myself being able to duplicate riffs and effects from harmonica players and from a good number of guitarists and, especially, many, many jazz musicians, like Coltrane, Bird, Coleman Hawkins. This is not to say that I sound anything like the jazz musicians I just mentioned--their techniques and their vocabulary are certainly more sophisticated than what I currently have--but the point is that giving these guys hard, concentrated listens influenced my sense of phrasing, gave me ideas and notions as to how to skip around during an improvisation and not merely rattle off scales, how to be precise in executing my ideas, in how and where to bend, to slur, to insert chord textures, trills, triplets, octaves. I do tell others who are learning their craft to listen to as much music as they possibly can and to learn as many different styles as possible, to learn riffs from blues, country, swing, classical and to mix them all up, and to practice, practice, practice and after that, practice some more. And more after that. I emphasise practice and playing in live situations because for me this is the most effective means of sloughing the most copy-cat aspects of your influences and moves you toward your own style.
