Yet another example of playing major 3rds over minor chords, and others, where the major 3rds just don't fit. In the first couple of minutes or so, when this chord progression goes from D to E, and back to D, etc., they are playing 7 draw, which is Eb, over the D chord. I think it's mainly John because he does it again starting around the 4:27 mark. Sounds like LD switched to minor tuned harp in some places.
That being said, I do think both of them are great players overall. And of the two, I think LD is a much better player.
Since John Popper says he is "arguably one of the best in the world," I would say LD puts the argument to rest at 5:04, when he switches back to a major harp, and quite frankly makes Popper look sick. I actually felt sorry for John at that point.
Lyle totally agree with that analysis, but overall it makes me go all warm and speacial. I really think LD Miller is gonna take harp playing to a whole new level I first heard him playing with Joe Bonamassa on the track Your Funeral My Trial and I was awe struck and then I read the sleave notes and found out that the guy playing the harp was a 12year old boy! well I nearly shit! and boy has he got better and the bugger can really sing as well, what a Git!
It might seem odd for me, of all folks here, to say this, but this sounds like to very competent players trying to sustain beauty on velocity alone. At these accelerated vistas, the notes become less distinct and loose impact. These leaves me wanting to hear Sugar Blue, Howard Levy, Jason, players who blaze and are still musically coherent. Popper and Miller have both pleased and thrilled me to varying degrees in the past. This, however, is not among them. ---------- Ted Burke http://youtube.com/watch?v=-VPUDjK-ibQ&feature=relmfu
http://ted-burke.com tburke4@san.rr.co,
Last Edited by on Jan 25, 2013 8:23 PM
Thanks for posting this, Georgie. I think it's great playing.
@HarpNinja and Theo: I don't blame you for putting down what LD and Popper are doing. Both of you are speedsters. It must be hard, hearing guys who do it so well. Standing in your shoes, I'd have exactly the same negative response. But later, off line, I'd reconsider. I'd decide that life is too short and the world is too small to spend too much time putting down really fast harmonica players who approach their art slightly differently than I do.
One thing must surely be clear: both these guys are having big fun, and neither of them cares the slightest bit whether we're feeling negative feelings towards them or not.
I love what they're doing. They're genuinely exploring. I respect Popper greatly for being willing to invite onstage a guy who can run circles around him. LD forces him to raise his game.
I'd like to know what Isaacullah thinks of all this.
I think we might all benefit from remembering Aristotle's Poetics, with its talk about how each art has its characteristic ways of proceeding, and how each art is unlike each other art. These guys are inventing their own version of contemporary high-energy harmonica. Rock harmonica, if you will. Jam harmonica. It is what it is. It's not trying to be something that it's not.
It's definitely not a white boy trying to sound like blackness from 60 years ago. LD is trying to sound like who he is right now, and his body makes that clear. He's muscling through. He's not a kid anymore. The testosterone is flowing. After he's come and gone from the stage, he changes the way we hear Popper. Popper sounds so 90s. It's amazing that LD was able to do that. Still, Popper has a style and it is his style. LD needed to battle him, pay his respects, in order to take his place in the order.
Last Edited by on Jan 25, 2013 8:03 PM
I wasn't putting down either Popper or Miller, or at least that wasn't the way I wanted to come across. I admire Popper's speed and fluidity over all and consider LD Miller an extremely fine player who is on the brink of his real genius. It is this jam, though, where much too much of what they're doing is lost in a muddle. Neither Popper nor Miller bring their best game to this , I don't think. I am well aware that these two are in a vanguard of a new way of blues/rock/fusion harmonica playing and know the joy both as player and listener rapid improvisation can have. Context, though, is everything in execution,and this jam meanders rather than ventures to the undiscovered country. I'll continue to pay attention to these musicians, praise what is brilliantly executed, express disappointment in what falls short of what I see as their full expressive potential. It's a balanced approach, I believe. ------H--- Ted Burke http://youtube.com/watch?v=-VPUDjK-ibQ&feature=relmfu
http://ted-burke.com tburke4@san.rr.co,
Last Edited by on Jan 25, 2013 9:31 PM
I like the video, I like the playing of both. LD is overeffected, too much reverb (or delay), so he sound not so clear. Both are very expressive. Chord progresion of this sort allows to play almost any notes, so I don't feel JP plays some notes off.
I respect fast playing and I like to listen to fast players. And I wish to play faster (altough I'm already enough fast). Sometimes I feel it's necessary for expression. ---------- Excuse my bad English. Click on my photo or my username for my music.
I’ve already posted this Video twice on this forum in the past...I thought it was obvious that those guys did EVERYTHING right and was a masterful display of Superb musicianship at every level :)
@Lyle: The part at 5:04 you mention. It sounds like LD is running through a delay to make himself sound faster. If you watch his cheeks, he's only blowing in and out in the upper register. Not to say it isn't impressive to hear, but I bet if you were to slow it down it wouldn't be musically coherent in any real way.
It's all fun stuff and a little showboaty, but from a musical standpoint it's smoke and mirrors.
Last Edited by on Jan 26, 2013 7:49 AM
I just wanted to hear coherent solos instead of trading like early in the song. I think any hatres have plenty of ammo here, although I am obviously a fan of these guys. ---------- Custom Harmonicas Optimized Harmonicas
I don't think it's smoke and mirrors. I think it's exciting stuff. I've heard lots of players of the I-can-do-the-Popper-thing school of puff-and-blow harmonica, and they don't excite me the way L.D. Miller does.
My own aesthetic, although it sometimes stresses speed, is entirely different from what these guys do. But I still like what I'm hearing here, and I respect Popper for being secure enough to invite The Kid onstage with him.
I don't for a moment assume that LD could turn around, as Jason could, and do a convincing deep blues solo on a slow blues, slowing down and stretching out as needed. Taking his time. He might be able to do that, but I tend to think he probably can't. And Popper's sound isn't particularly good and blues on that sort of thing. But judged as what it is, rather than as what it's not, where speed and ferocity and flashly display are the point, this is damned good stuff, at least to my ears. But we've all got different ears.
Hi, great piece, awesome runs, REALLY fast. I have respect for this speed-masters, but... For me speed it's only tool to make good and interesting music. It's nice to have this skill, but in my opinion it's only one of many elements "to be a good musician".
For me that this kind of improvisation seems like breath-patterns, inhale and exhale, up and down. That's it! No melody, no emotions, no intervals, BUT speed. It's really interesting, but for only 3-4 tunes. After this, it could be boring.
Anyway I like this tune and this licks with the speed of light, but it's not my taste.
I've been thinking a lot about solos recently. What are they for, who are they for etc. A whole thread could be made pages long on the subject, but when we get down to it, solos are largely comprised of mechanical repetitions of notes committed to muscle memory which can be recalled at any given moment. I'm beginning to wonder exactly what is the point of them apart from intros, for setting a thematic melody.
Popper actually plays the run out of a solo from his tune But Anyway just before LD goes sucky blowy crazy at 5:04. Even he can't escape what he's imposed on his body to do almost automatically.
I'm not saying I'm not impressed and I'm not saying I don't like it, I do, and I wish I could do it but it's very difficult to be anything other than non plussed as Theo and Mike are when you know exactly how the rabbit comes out of the hat.
(I'm at the stage where I know how it's done, but I just need to practice it, BTW.)
Steve, I used to meet guys on the street in Harlem who would say, "I COULD play the harmonica, if I ever put my mind to it." The devil is in the details.
Some might call master illusionists or magicians fakes--"It's just smoke and mirrors. Hah!"--but not everybdy is willing to put in the work. And many who are willing to put in the work just don't end up having the required ability to execute.
I'll just throw this out there. If you played this back to back with Butterfield's live version of Driftin' and Driftin' which one would move your head, heart, and soul the most?
Last Edited by on Jan 26, 2013 10:43 AM
Oooh this is getting interesting!, John Poppers playing always seems to provoke and to me that's a good thing because at least he gets noticed!and lets not overlook the fact that he has a VERY distinctive voice,By the way Mr P is by no means my favourite player but he often does stuff that gives me a hot flush and that's the magic nugget right there,if you can play something that actualy has a physical effect on your listener then you can be damn sure they are going to remember you. I saw Mr P perform Crash Burn on the Jay Lenno show and I actually started sweating from shear excitment, and LD has done that to me as well, pesonally I can't wait to hear what that young fella does over the next ten years.
So many notes pressed into so little time sustained for long periods.....brain shuts down quickly trying to follow the notes.......all that is left is admiration for speed chops....speed for the sake of itself, but that sure doesn't instill in me a desire to seek these players out for repeated listenings. ---------- The Iceman
Well, that was interesting. Personally, I liked ld's playing loads more than poppers. But as a whole, it sounded really really dated to me. It's like popper and the band are stuck in a time warp where it's still 1998 or something. Probably that's why they haven't maintained as high a popularity as they once had. They are still playing that jam band stoner rock like it's the bridge school benefit at the shore line amplitheater and Bill Clinton is still the president. That music was certainly popular at the time, and is still popular with a small subset of my generation, but it certainly ain't commercially viable anymore, and I'm fairly certain it's not going to experience a resurgence any time soon (I could be wrong, of course, but I haven't seen any evidence of it). IMO, the game is ld's to lose at this point. I've seen some of the clips from ld's college band, and it's basically a throw back stoner rock jam band thing. That might be fun, and you might full a small venue in a college town, but it ain't gonna make for any kind of mainstream success. I think LD can do it, though, and I really hope he does. He's phenomenally talented and has got the chops. I really think it's just a matter of him really figuring out who he is as an artist and really starting to realize that he's a grown ass man now, and that he can do pretty much anything he wants to (musically speaking) if he really puts his mind to it. I really hope he does! ----------
Sorry I couldn't reply earlier. I was out playing. I'm glad too as I did type a quick response and I would've sounded like a complete arsehole.
Just for the record, I erroneously based my comments on the small part slightly before and after 5:04.
I've now listened from the start up to the 7 minute mark (I've had quite enough after listening to 70's funk and soul at 150db all night). I've got some take back to make.
LD is extremely funky. I think Fred Yonnet pips him, but there aren't many harp guys who can drop a groove like that.
It's been mentioned about minor harps. This makes me want to buy a bunch.
To be fair to Popper, LD is his boy. There's no way any artist would let someone up on stage with a bigger sound than them unless they either:
A. had something to prove like Albert King did with Gary Moore on Oh Pretty Woman, proving that nuance trumps sheer power, or:
B. As Muddy Waters did with Clapton, holding back and leaving the audience for his protege.
I'm going with B.
I'm drinking whisky now (nice Islay Single Malt), so I won't be much use for comment soon. Apologies for my previous comments, as they weren't based on the full facts. Although I think I'm going to try to learn and mimic the lick at 5:04, just so I feel that I'm partially right. Heh.
Adam and Mike are both right. Popper and Miller are cutting heads a little. LD is jazzed and Popper is being challenged. But both seem to know a little push like that makes the music better. Call and answer soling is great. Tension and then unity. Another thing that makes it really work and groove is the bass player, anybody else make it to his solo at about 15?
like the guy says at about 8:50 "bad ass mother f&(r, i gotta go get a drink"
This song is like 25 years old, and Isaac's comments illustrate the problem of a small samble size - same reason why the OP wouldn't be the clip I would pick to show how awesome either harp player is.
Lots of comment made about Popper are made out of ignorance. BT's first five albums all charted, and two went platinum seven times total. They've released six albums since their last platinum, and two of those charted including thei most recent.
You can listen to all their music for free on their website. I implore you to listen to JP's solo work as it is all better in regards to harmonica. Zygote, The John Popper Project, and Duskray Troubadors are all amazing albums.
If you listen to the roll of harmonica in just BT since "four", you'd hear a lot of cool stuff, IMHO relative to the early stuff. IMO, they stay close to the original arrangements of the oldest stuff. Their newer stuff is much pop.
They won't be mainstream again, but they've been able to tour and make millions for 25 years. I would argue they are the most famous harmonica band still playing in the world. ---------- Custom Harmonicas Optimized Harmonicas
@Harpninja: I'm really surprised to hear that you "almost never listen to anything from before Bridge"! As a full-time, mostly, lurker here, I know that you admire Popper and the band. I was introduced to them during the Travelers and Thieves tour and saw them for the first time when John was in the wheelchair during that tour. My love affair with the band would continue on through the next ten years, and around 15 shows pretty obsessively. My pregnant wife and I crashed in the front seat of our car on the way home from a Columbus BBQ show in a rest area for the night, and NEITHER of us complained about it! Through this time, I was not a "harp" fan, I had not put a harp to my lips yet at that point, I was a fan of the band, and mostly, a fan of their Songs. Save His Soul is still one of my favorite albums ever. After Bridge, I have felt a steady decline in their ability to write songs that appeal to me, The John Popper Project is probably my favorite since then. I have also seen John back way off in the weight of the harp in their recorded tracks. My skills as a harp player are decidedly below average compared to most on this forum, and I definitely cannot appreciate the advances John has surely made in his skills as a musician the way a player of your caliber can. But to me, that doesn't matter because the songs just aren't there for me anymore. I've felt like a man holding onto a faded lover, hoping that that spark will return, while knowing inside that the thrill is gone.
Last Edited by on Jan 26, 2013 11:41 PM
"Chord progresion of this sort allows to play almost any notes, so I don't feel JP plays some notes off."
I'm sorry, but I must respectfully disagree with you. There are examples, very blatant ones, where Popper plays the 7 draw (major 3rd) where it just doesn't fit, unless one likes the sound of a major 3rd over a minor chord. (This song uses a Bm7 chord.) He also plays the 7 draw note, which is Eb, over a D chord. Again, this sounds awful to me, but some people say, "if it sounds good, do it." You'd rarely, or almost never, hear a sax player or guitar player do this, and most definitely not a keyboard player. It's a habit on the harmonica because it's often convenient, but convenience is no excuse for bad notes.
As a side note, I happen to love your playing, Boris.
@Stevelegh
I know what you're saying about delay, but I don't think delay is what we're hearing here on LD's solo. There is a lot of reverb, but I think we're hearing him genuinely play fast. The kid is extremely fast, even in the lower register of the harp. Listen to some of his playing examples on YouTube, even from when he was a little kid, and you'll see what I mean.
@HarpNinja
I, too, like Popper's playing, though he does have bad habits, as do many other harp players. However, I don't have to like everything a harp player does to be a fan. I don't like his arrogance at times, but he is a great player and is richer than I'll ever be. Still, if you're going to make the claim that you're arguably one of the best harmonica players in the world, you need to make sure that what you're playing is correct musically, and you have to be able to live up to that claim. Just because John has become popular certainly doesn't mean that he's one of the best in the world. I think we as harmonica players all know that (I wouldn't even place him in the top 10), and I think his attitude is perhaps part of the reason many harp players don't like him. Of course, that's just my opinion. The example you posted is much more enjoyable to listen to, and all in all, I like his playing and what he's done through the years. He's certainly popularized the harmonica, and is a much better representation of what a harmonica can do than others like Bob Dylan, Huey Lewis, Bruce Springsteen, and Bruce Willis. Not hating on any of those guys, just sayin'. I would definitely agree with you that John and his band are "the most famous harmonica band still playing in the world."
LD is an incredible player, and has great potential to move beyond the John Popper style licks and develop his own sound. He's already done that somewhat. LD seems to be more knowledgeable of what works musically, at least based on what I've heard. It's more than just speed at times. Of course, there are times when it is just about speed, but many times he's choosing good, bluesy sounding notes and patterns. It will be exciting to see how he further develops in the coming years.
To those who think it's just a matter of blowing and drawing, sit down and try to follow what LD is doing. It isn't as easy or as obvious as you think. The stuff he plays in the lower register is almost impossible to do at the speed at which he plays it. I think he's trained himself to play this high speed stuff since he was just a little kid, and has basically grown into it. I think it comes natural for him now.
Last Edited by on Jan 26, 2013 11:11 PM
Do you guys generally find it's easy to jump into a song which is funky or light jazz, at upbeat tempo? I find somehow it's fun because it's easy to find the notes and jump around without thinking too much. A real treat for an intermediate player. But I feel it gives a false sense of mastery.
The video is a good example of how to work with effects.
@Lyle "Still, if you're going to make the claim that you're arguably one of the best harmonica players in the world, you need to make sure that what you're playing is correct musically, and you have to be able to live up to that claim. Just because John has become popular certainly doesn't mean that he's one of the best in the world. I think we as harmonica players all know that (I wouldn't even place him in the top 10), and I think his attitude is perhaps part of the reason many harp players don't like him. Of course, that's just my opinion". My opinion too. Some humility goes a long way. It's just not MUSICAL to me, never was. In 97 I was at the New Orleans Jazz Festival and I had one of my autograph tweed suitcases with me (pic below). It's mostly for harp players but this time I was on my way to a lucky scheduled session to get Buddy Guy's signature. On the way I walked right up to John Popper, just standing by himself. I had a sharpie in my hand, stopped, thought about, and kept walking. I admit that I did feel a bit like a jerk about it at the time. Briefly. Buddy canceled the session that day and it was 12 years later that I got his signature.
If JP had said at the start of his series of instruction videos that he was "pretty damned good" at playing harmonica, I suspect few would have taken exception. Popper in fact is a pretty damned harmonica player, and a distinct one at that. That counts for something major: very few diatonic players are as instantly identifiable . He did say , though , that he was "arguably one of the best in the world", and even though he tried to qualify the remark, the snarking continues through the internet on YouTube and other forums. I suspect JP wishes he'd said less grandiose. No matter, though. The man has chops. What he does with them, though, is another matter, and what I look for in super-quick improvisers, from Coltrane to Joe Pass to John McLaughlin , Johnny Winter to Allan Holdsworth to Sugar Blue and our compadre Jason is how well their ideas flow together; even at insanely accelerated levels , structure , form account for something. The improvisor, I think, is still composing something. The musicians I've mentioned , maintain, more often than not, a sense of creating something new and previously unheard , live and in the studio. JP's downfall at times is his tendency to give way to "Alvin Lee Syndrome", a habit of spending the ideas you have and settling on what amounts to a directionless surfeit of rapid lines and phrases that aren't powerful or emotionally engaging but rather sounds to fill in what would other wise be empty space. With JP, I find the results of listening to his work to be roughly 50/50, half inspired, half schtick. ---------- Ted Burke http://youtube.com/watch?v=-VPUDjK-ibQ&feature=relmfu
I just wanted to add one more post here, in partial response to Mike's post about BT's continued realtive success. I want to just say that I realize my earlier post may have come off like I thought BT has totally bit the dust as a band, but that's not what I meant. I know they've maintained a pretty decent viability as a touring act, and that that ain't nothing to sneeze at. I was merely trying to compare their popularity in 1998 vs their popularity now. As of now, I'd put them somewhere in the realm of Phish or Phil Lesh and Friends. Still making albums with a modicum of success. Still filling venues, still doing a good job of "living" as a full time touring musician. But I think marckdc70 really hits the nail on the head with his quote: "But to me, that doesn't matter because the songs just aren't there for me anymore. I've felt like a man holding onto a faded lover, hoping that that spark will return, while knowing inside that the thrill is gone." I have a feeling that BT's enduring success is due to folks our age (early thirties) trying to hold on to a piece of their youth, of their college misadventures (driving all night to see shows, etc.), of that feeling they once had that has started to fade since having to get a real job, having kids, having a mortgage, etc. I have a feeling that if you went to a BT show today, you would be hard pressed to find a person there under the age of 25. I could be wrong. I was never a huge BT fan. I actually really hated the high speedy harmonica stuff that Popper does (and did way more frequently back then) well before it even crossed my mind that I should pick up a harmonica and learn to play it... Perhaps it's a bad association with certain events (My first college girlfriend was into all those jam bands, but I was a punk rocker in those days, so we argued a lot about music. I just didn't dig that fake neo-hippie vibe that went on at those shows), but I still can't get into BT, even though I can recognize their success and even the areas of harp playing that Popper really excels at. Anyway, that's my two cents and my "full disclosure"! :) ----------
I don't think Popper is a very good blues harmonica player, but I also think that he invented a new way of playing the harmonica--a jam band style, if you will--and was, in his time, a brilliant exponent of that style. Although I agree on principle with much that TheoBurke says in his most recent statement above, I also think that JP has created a musical language that not everybody here understands quite as well as they think they do.
I view the advance he made as roughly analogous to the advance that Jack Kerouac made between ON THE ROAD and VISIONS OF CODY. Both styles were mocked and misunderstood; there are some who still don't "get" the Jackson-Pollack-like sketching that Kerouac does in the latter work and that he theorizes quite eloquently in an essay entitled "Essentials of Spontaneous Prose." Popper uses notes to express his musical ideas, of course, but he doesn't use them the way that most of us here do, or hope to do. What I hear when I listen to him at his best--which is to say, on the upper half of the harp, since his tone sucks lower down on the harp--is somebody who has invented a kind of diatonic harmonica equivalent to spontaneous prose. He works in circles, with surging transient intensities cycling up and back three or four notes to little halfway ledges before making higher excursions. He's missing the overblows and overdraws but he simply dosn't care and doesn't need them. He LIKES the sound of major thirds over minor chords. (So did Monk.) He works in fractals; he works in expanded line-lengths relative to more conventional poets. When I've seen him live, he doesn't seem the slightest bit interested in "tone," as blues harmonica players or jazz players conventionally think of that term, not does he have any subtlety in tonal terms.
But he most certainly does have a musical imagination.
It's important to remember here that aesthetic/stylistic advances are almost always greeted by mockery, incomprehension, and other forms of abuse, and that's especially true when they're sufficiently radical that they call into question precisely those things that seem self-evidently central to the guardians of the tradition.
[Edited to add: for the record, I think that our own Scott Albert Johnson has taken elements of Popper's style (including a thin tone), added overblows and more blues feeling, and created an equally original style--far more original than pretty much any blues harmonica player on the scene. Scojo is way ahead of the curve. New styles, genuinely new ones, are always a little hard to digest at first. But the best of them--Monk, Bird, and Dizzy, for example--have staying power. "Blue Monk," "Blue Bird": those guys played blues. But it wasn't the old, familiar form of blues.]
Last Edited by on Jan 27, 2013 1:33 PM
@mojojojo "Do you guys generally find it's easy to jump into a song which is funky or light jazz, at upbeat tempo?"
Don't know about easy as such but it sure is easier than playin' a sloow tune. Even Jason on one of videos says he can start struggling on a long slow number. On a fast tune a bad note doesn't hang around long enough to register like it does a slower pace. Yeah so if i was given a choice when sitting in with an unknown entity it would be ..."pedal to the metal" Just a thought here about JPs' tone at the bottom end..he doesn't appear to be even attempting to cup the Harp!?
Last Edited by on Jan 27, 2013 9:15 PM
Yeah, I like that video better too. The violin player is great and plays the correct notes, with no major 3rds over the Bm7 chord. As for Popper, well...
Oh Wow, Ruby Jayne, what an amazing display of talent and then popper says she's fifteen! I loved that song but I did'nt much care for Mr Poppers playing on it especially right at the start, but i love the guys voice and the song had a really hot Funky groove going on so it stil got the old Goose Bumps out.
Last Edited by on Jan 28, 2013 9:12 AM
What makes a harp player great? Well, all variables have pretty much been covered above, except beeing unique. I can tell it's Popper playing after two notes. You can be an excellent player but with no personal style, you just sound like everybody else. ---------- The tone, the tone ... and the Tone
Sometimes we forget that we are a total minority. The "citizens" (non harmonica players/non musicians) make up the majority - they buy stuff and go to concerts. $ is the grease that keeps the wheels turning.
They seem to like a lot of stuff we don't. ---------- The Iceman
What's your point, Mike? Do you refuse to accept that John Popper is guilty of playing major 3rds over minor chords? It is blatantly obvious that this song is based on a B minor 7 chord, over which he is playing the 7 draw and 3 draw.
Just listen to the chords on the organ, and listen to what the fiddle player is playing. I'm not sure how much more obvious it could be. I even sat down at the piano and played along just to be sure.
The tabs link says:
"Guitar solo in Bm
Ending... I can't tell exactly- whatever is played is masked by the harp riff.. suffice to say each littel line ends on a B."
Is the person who wrote this tab confused about the chords also? Any serious musician with a good set of ears could tell right away that this song is based on a B minor 7. The type of progression used in this song has been used in many other rock songs through the years. It's nothing new.
There is no B in this song, except for a B minor or B minor 7. (It is possible that the guitar player could, in some places, be playing a B power chord, which simply uses the 1 and the 5 of the chord.) John also plays the 7 draw over the D chord, which is an Eb over a D.
That being said, I will reiterate that I LIKE John Popper's playing, and I like what he has done through the years and how he has popularized the harmonica. But since this IS a harmonica forum, I'm simply pointing out that many harmonica players, even the pros, have bad habits of playing notes out of convenience, without really paying as much attention as they should to what notes make up the chords and what notes work well.
When John plays these patterns over major changes, they sound great! But you can't just transpose the same notes over minor chords, unless you LIKE that sound. Apparently he does, as do many other people, especially non-musicians, but I'm making my observations and comments for the sake and benefit of harmonica players.
These types of habits are what cause many musicians to not take harmonica players as seriously as other musicians.
You can get away with just about anything over major chords, thus the harmonica works great for country, pop, blues, or anything in major keys, but when it comes to minor tunes, it requires a little more thought if you choose 2nd position, though nothing too terribly hard. Any notes in the blues scale sound fine over minor chords, and 7 draw isn't one of them, nor 3 draw. 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th positions are also options to consider.
LD Miller also uses natural minor harps in 2nd position, perhaps because he has realized this same thing. I would assume that, coming from a musical family, he has a good understanding of music and chords in general. Not saying that Popper doesn't, I just think he's relying too much on what is comfortable and convenient for his style.
This Ruby Jane kid has a very good knowledge of what works, and it shows in her playing. Having a good set of ears, and being able to listen, is just as important as knowing all the tricks, runs, licks or techniques.
" It is blatantly obvious that this song is based on a B minor 7 chord, over which he is playing the 7 draw and 3 draw." That's really kinda special. Just sayin.. Thank you. Needed that. It's been a long day :)
