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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Greatness
Greatness
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mastercaster
110 posts
Jan 12, 2015
8:10 AM
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"I threw that ringer in there just to make a point. Shane Speal is a cigar-box guitar player. He's mostly unknown outside his niche circle . . . but plays his homemade axes like nobody has ever seen or heard (what JR is to modern harp, Speal is to modern CBG). CBG players almost universally regard him as great . . "
This is the point .. Shane may not be an international star , however , he does 'move'' a group of folks involved in your CBG passion ... if CBG had a larger following , he'd probably move those folks too ..
imo that defines great .. pro or hobby , you and usually someone else play to ... listeners, musician/player or not .. ... with skill and some luck .. folks are moved, they feel what you play ..
if that happen's consistently and over time .. that defines greatness ..
there are purely technical players that are awesome , however their music lacks heart .. great technicians yes .. this is another facet .. a great technician , but doesn't really Move folks ... Great also ? In my book .. Sure they are, I just won't spend much time listening to them . .someone else will though !
Last Edited by mastercaster on Jan 12, 2015 8:23 AM
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JustFuya
690 posts
Jan 12, 2015
7:30 PM
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@mastercaster - You nailed it. Technical proficiency is a skill and not necessarily easy on the ears. I shared a venue with a Julliard trained flautist. We had a 'discussion' about heart and she blew a perfect "Flight Of The Bumblebee" in my face. I felt the wind but didn't feel the heart.
She was bigger than I, and quite possibly meaner, so that was that. But to this day I wonder how you can leave such a prestigious musical institution and only take perfect notes away with you. (And of course, I still wonder if she could have or would have kicked my butt if I had escalated the conversation.)
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Bass410man
19 posts
Jan 14, 2015
7:28 AM
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I personally don't think anyone can be classified as "Great", there are just to many variables involved. It's all in the ear of the beholder, and personal taste. For example, to me, Rick Estrin to me plays a harp as good as anyone on the planet, but I dislike his singing, same could be said for Kim Wilson, although his singing is better than Ricks, to me and this is just yo my ears, so can they be great, I don't know. Not to me, very good yes, at the top yes, but great??? On the other hand could be the opposite, someone with a perfect blues voice, but maybe not as good on the harp, yet can they be classified as great, maybe, maybe not. I don't believe that one person has it all, they always lack somewhere, but what can make them succeed is being able to overcome where they are lacking, this may classify them as great, if were using that term. I have listened to guy's that I thought were going to be great when I herd the harp playing, then when they sang, I could no longer really here the good harp playing, all I could think about is, this guy should not be singing, and vise versa. It is about a complete package, to me a person that can play mutible instruments at the same time and has a good singing voice for blues, I put higher on the list than say Little Walter, because he has more talent, but I still think LW is at the top of any list. Perhaps the greatest musician/harp player has not been discovered, and never will be, because they are just content playing to there own ears in a bedroom somewhere.
Another way to see this is through me for another example. I have been playing for a couple years and I am not really any good, my older children all think I am horrible, most likey because I am. Yet my 3 year old grandson thinks I am "Great", LOL. So with knowledge comes the ability to judge others, as to what they are, their abilities, there greatness. We are all great players to someone I think.
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