waltertore
2510 posts
Sep 04, 2012
3:46 PM
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As some of you know I have been dabbling with the 1 man band set up for about 40 years starting when I was playing with Wilbert Harrison, who was the most successful 1 man band in the blues vien with a top hit - lets work together. Playing with Wilbert was a wonderful experience. Being just a teenager and having such a guy having me blow harp with his 1 man band setup was a very special thing. As the years went by I gravitated to using a real bassist and drummer behind me. Again I was blessed to have some of the greats of blues and rock in my band.
Those sounds/days are forever in my soul and since I went to pretty much being a full time 1 man band 10 years ago I have been trying to capture the sound of a real drummer and bassist behind my harp and guitar. Tonight I caught 2 songs that for me not only captured the sound of a real bassist and drummer behind me but also the reocrding captured the sound I have been after for years. Teaching myself to record has been as exciting a journey as playing with guys like lightning hopkins was.
It is a great feeling to capture a song just as I hear it in my heart. I could have played more fancy harp licks but for me the song is what it is all about. I can honestly say that more in control one is of their music the more rewarding it is. Learning to make good recordings has been a long journey but well worth it. Also the 1 man band has allowed me to be completely free to create 24/7. Having my recording studio 30 feet from our house is a gift beyond words. I just walk out there, let the tubes on the recording gear warm up, and off I go. Many thanks to Burke T of open door harps for customizing all my harps to play to the way I play. Here they are. Walter
Judy B my 32 year girl
roll me in your love
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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
4,000+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
Last Edited by on Sep 04, 2012 3:49 PM
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JInx
297 posts
Sep 04, 2012
5:27 PM
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um, not sure what to say.... keep up the good work?
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Sun, sun, sun
Burn, burn, burn
Soon, soon, soon
Moon, moon, moon
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Steamrollin Stan
548 posts
Sep 05, 2012
5:41 AM
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Your revvin it up on the boogie woggie one Walter, whee haa!!
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Old Hickory
48 posts
Sep 05, 2012
8:00 AM
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Walter that's some ass kickin harp on Judy B!
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waltertore
2511 posts
Sep 05, 2012
12:43 PM
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thanks for the comments! Learning to get a good sound while playing on the harp rack has been a long journey as has been learning the 1 man band in real time with all real instruments being played. That is getting to be a strange thing nowadays:-) . Playing is getting easy especially with the custom open door harps by Burke T. Life is too with getting in my own groove, and stories flow out without any effort. I am not saying this to brag. I am simply sharing the musical journey of 5 decades that I have traveled that started out on the big stages and is currently taking place mostly in my recording studio. One can never tell how a journey will go if they follow it blindly and this one is at the point of pure musical joy. I have always been drawn to the dragging stuff like Jimmy Reed- dragging, simple, powerful and swinging to all hell to my soul. I guess it was no mistake I mentored under guys of this approach like Louisiana Red, Lightning Hopkins, Cool Papa, and such. I am very thankful to have reached this point. Spontobeat is the thing of the future and I hope I live long enough to see it grow beyond me! Get on the sponto-wagon with your playing- let go of your fears and let the universe sing through you :-) Walter
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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
4,000+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
Last Edited by on Sep 05, 2012 2:11 PM
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opendoor_harps
70 posts
Sep 07, 2012
12:07 AM
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Hi Walter:
Great to hear you make the harps sing, growl, and wail!
I keep thinking I'll come up with a way they play themselves someday, but then there would be no reason for anyone to practice or post anything on MBH right :)
I was working with a songwriter the other day who wants me to help him record and produce some songs. I mentioned your Sponto approach to songwriting and he was very interested in trying something like that for recording some of the songs.
Totally inspired and in the moment is how I would describe your approach.
Your recording quality and studio setup keeps getting better and better too.
Burke T.
Last Edited by on Sep 07, 2012 12:08 AM
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waltertore
2512 posts
Sep 07, 2012
3:27 AM
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Hi Burke T: Thanks! I have always found the things that matter most to my heart. As a teen I found the blues greats in the flesh and they took me in. Then as I branched out on my own I found many of the greats of rock and roll wanting to sit in or be a part of my band. I never wished for fame or fortune. All I wished for was the ability to play my music uncensored/unrestricted/free of outside pressures. I couldn't find that in the music industry. They courted me many times but when I stated my rules they looked at me like I was some kind of spoiled idiot/egomaniac. It was to be thier way or no way. I took the no way!
This part of the journey has been the most testing of my faith. It seemed every way I went within the industry I hit dead ends with Spontobeat. They wanted pure write, rehearse, record, repeat everynight. I refused and it kept me poor and doing manual day labor many days but it attracted some of the best musicians to my sound. Now most of them are dead and the new generation hasn't shown much interest in Spontobeat. But then my recording studio idea came to fruition and now I play just as dreamed of, without interuption from corrupting outside forces, and I couldn't be happier. I also found the inspiration to go to college so as to become a special education teacher. This key component allows me the finacial freedom to have no concerns with making money with my music. I often have an autistic student in my class. They are extremely rigid with what they will/will not do, set routines, patterns. It is so extreme they can go beserk if you change even a small piece of their puzzle.
I see the music industry as being "autistic" in the sense that they will not allow Spontobeat to exist in their universe. For a business that calls itself an art/artistic one I find this funny. Creativety is allowed only if it follows the set in "autistic" rules......... Conversely, I work in public education which is known, in the arts circles, as one of the most uncreative places to work. Yet I have been able to be more creative here than I ever was in the music world. Creating The Smiling With Hope Bakery, feeding thousands of people a week, teaching lifeskills, vocational skills, social skills, to students that have upwards of a 95% unemployment rate as adults has been supported and it all was done via Spontobeat. I make no real plans. I have just let it unfold and it keeps getting better and better, just as my music does (to me at least) and I am accepted by one of the most uncreative systems and pretty much excommunicated by the arts. Go figure.
I look forward to seeing what comes of your session. Share my name/phone with him. I would love to talk. Walter
I look forward to
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
4,000+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
Last Edited by on Sep 07, 2012 8:45 AM
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chromaticblues
1341 posts
Sep 07, 2012
9:43 AM
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@ Walter I liked Jude B. It's got a cool feel to it. It's something I would be able to feel very easily!
Nice vibrato! I know your playing in a rack and that's a whole other ball game, but I don't think you play along with your guitar playing enough.
I know your not asking for my advice, but I felt like the harmonica wasn't changing with the chord changes or moving to the rythem of the guitar.
Your harmonica had a Delta Blues feel while everything else had a more modern feel (to me).
My 2 cents you didn't ask for!
Easy for me to say I can't play the guitar at all!
That being said, I dig the feel of what your doing.
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waltertore
2513 posts
Sep 07, 2012
2:42 PM
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chromaticblues: Thanks for the comments! I play as it moves me- no thoughts of right and wrong. to my ears they all sound right in sync. A bad note, chord, doesn't exist with spontobeat because it is a unconcious flow. So I guess to the trained ear my stuff sounds pretty out of wack alot. I always dug Buster Brown for his primative harp playing/shouting singing backed by a classic 50's R?B sound. I appreciate your honesty! Walter
here are some from today:
woryying never did anyone any good
cycles go on
I don't understand why we hate
love without love
come together people
before you know it
I can't cheat and lie
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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
4,000+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
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waltertore
2514 posts
Sep 07, 2012
6:05 PM
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Here are some from tonight. Walter
just want to do is sing my songs
gonna have to let her go someday
cold midnight wind blowing through mankind
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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
4,000+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
|
waltertore
2528 posts
Sep 10, 2012
5:46 PM
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here are some from tonight. Walter
when the blues get blue
somebody throw me a bullseye
15 women gonna twist this house
live big dream big
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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
4,000+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
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