captainbliss
32 posts
Apr 06, 2010
6:38 AM
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@waltertore
I'm guessing what you might call "getting with" and "figuring out with the ear" might be what I call "knowledge about music."
A rose by any other name?
xxx
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Buddha
1551 posts
Apr 06, 2010
6:41 AM
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there are very few original voices in the harmonica world. But there are at least four players of that caliber that grace this board.
I don't know if the music theory stuff what spun from my comments, that has nothing to do with an original voice but it has every thing to being a good musician. Most harp players can't read music and in general are afraid to even attempt some are so stupid they are proud of they fact they don't read music.
"I play by ear"
"I like to play by feel"
Like you have a choice in the matter. A prerequisite for being an original player is know who you are as a person. It's not easy being detached from the general herd as average people tend to spend there energy in knocking down people who are beyond the herd mentality.
Walter is correct when he says you have to have an empty mind when being original. If you TRY to be original then you are not original. That concept is very taoist concept but it's something I live by myself and it works for me.
The first step to being original is to break free from what others are doing. That means you have to toss all of your harmonica albums out the window. If you sit there and try to copy it, then you will never be anything but a pale version of what you are trying to play.
Confidence comes from forging your own path and believing you are right when everybody else tells you that you are wrong.
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"The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are." - Joseph Campbell
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krisalis
17 posts
Apr 06, 2010
8:22 AM
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Buddha - I think most people on here would consider that copying licks is an important part of learning the craft. But you've also know when to put the albums back on the shelf and develop your own voice.
The whole 'original' debate puts me in mind of that great rejection letter:
'Your manuscript is both original and good. Unfortunately, that which is original is not good, and that which is good is not original.'
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Buddha
1552 posts
Apr 06, 2010
8:27 AM
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@krisalis
this is not about a job interview this is about being an artist. A true artist stands his own ground and makes his own music.
Don't confuse learning with being an original artist. However, copying other harp players most of which are not very good musicians simply isn't a productive road to follow IF you want to become an original artist.
My sound comes from listening to everything but harmonica music.
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"The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are." - Joseph Campbell
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krisalis
18 posts
Apr 06, 2010
10:22 AM
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buddha - artists have craft too. go see a van gogh up close.
the blues is to my mind quite a unique and subtle art, because on the surface it seems to be quite rigid in its set of rules (which is why it is easy to play bad, unoriginal stuff), but great blues artists can sound original just playing one note.
for the record, i also play jazz (on piano and guitar), read music and study music theory, but when i'm playing the harp i don't stray too hard from the blues path, not because i get off sounding like someone else, but because i've got a reverence for the tradition
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Diggsblues
262 posts
Apr 06, 2010
10:33 AM
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My great nephew asked me how he could make his song
writing better. I knew what kind of music he played and
listened to. It has a lot of screaming. I told him stop
listening to the music he was playing because it was
inbred and he would get no new ideas there. I said maybe
world music would give him some ideas. I played him some
Ravi Shankar and the talba player flipped him out. He's a
drummer and they got his attentions big time. I showed him Ravi with George Harrison and then played the Beatles song Within You and Without You. He got the
idea big time.
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waltertore
350 posts
Apr 06, 2010
11:10 AM
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I once heard an old time blues guy comment on a techno whiz kid that was on the bandstand shredding on the guitar. He said "that playing is painting by the numbers."
Do you all remember those kits? You get little oil paint containers and each is numbered with the coloring book like picture on the canvas. Most players paint by the numbers. If it turns them on that is great!
I get a kick out of people that take deep stances on what is what with art. I see it as they are so insecure about their own self that they get dug in defending it in fear of finding out who they might really be under it all. Youth is seeped in this way- black and white, right and wrong, sell out or pure. I am just growing out of this stage and I am well over 50! 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.
" No one can control anyone, but anyone can let someone control them"
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continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
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