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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Shut Up, An Essential Skill
Shut Up, An Essential Skill
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Littoral
864 posts
May 09, 2013
3:22 AM
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Prompted by another thread I figure this is worthy of it's own, at least I think so.
Knowing when to play is easily one of the most powerful techniques available to us. I've been afflicted with the issue so many harp players are ate up with, over playing. I've known better for many years, and I'm mostly cured these days, but for me it's still "one gig at a time".
Part of the issue is that the harp can do so many things and, evidently, I hear lots of voices that want to come out. I believe I can play anything (wrongly) and I'm motivated by it all. Bass lines, horn lines, rhythm, B3, hi hat, kick and the problem one: vocals. I didn't mention guitar because they're mostly just a nuisance -those people get in the way of "my" voices. Kidding, mostly, but I have seriously enjoyed a few gigs without them.
Also, the majority of what we play is made up by us, the parts don't exist in the original tune and we have to (get to!) make them up. So the sky's the limit...? Sure, but that absolutely includes shutting up.
Vocals, I like to follow/accent/answer... vocals, and I/we should -sometimes. One place that is problematic for me is wanting to harmonize or support a chorus. It REALLY can sound great but the appropriateness of that territory is tricky business.
I like to think horns and B3. It's a musical lens that works well for me.
Before I played out this weekend I started to assemble the inside cover of my harp case as an alter of sorts. Things that motivate me. It's just getting started but the primary reason I did it was to hang a bell with a bow tied around it that means one thing,
Shut Up. I see it every time I get a new harp.
Last Edited by Littoral on May 09, 2013 3:27 AM
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S-harp
110 posts
May 09, 2013
4:53 AM
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Excellent topic!
I went through a period of really boiling down, simplifying and slowing down my playing ... it came to the point I felt really comfortable doing absolutely nothing for a whole tune.
After teaching my self that lesson I noticed a couple of things when I started to push my playing more upfront again ... the importance of playing less ( than I did before ) But make every note count ....and the insight that the harp should be the loudest instrument on stage to make this work. When fellow musicians say "Hey, turn the harp down" they are really saying >> U're playing to much<<
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The tone, the tone ... and the Tone
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ridge
413 posts
May 09, 2013
5:02 AM
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You should always leave them wanting more. That's essentially what I aim for.
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Martin
327 posts
May 09, 2013
5:15 AM
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Yes, good topic and I´m much preoccupied by it, one where many harmonicists fail miserably. The problem is that it´s very hard to teach w/o pointing to examples. (I believe I´ve done that on Harp-l a couple of times; and I recommend Butterfield on the live RCO All Stars album from -77 as a good reference point.)
I´m trying to get my ass off the couch and record a few examples (not necessarily blues) of backing harmonica with a singing/guitar playing buddy of mine.
Who knows, it might happen any month now.
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Rick Davis
1791 posts
May 09, 2013
6:27 AM
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Yep, we teach a rudimentary version of that as part of the Soloing Strategies in our Blues Jam 101 Seminars.
In a nutshell: Leave space, don't overplay. Start your solo with a simple theme low on the harp playing mostly single notes, then repeat it. Build tension through the V chord and turnaround by moving up the harp and playing more double stops and chords, carrying that into the next 12 bars.
Don't Noodle! Let the music breathe. Mark out the chord changes. And have fun.
Littoral, I like the idea of a reminder in the harp case. We all get carried away at times, so that is good. We need a stop sign. I'll include that in our seminars.
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-Rick Davis
The Blues Harp Amps Blog
The Mile High Blues Society
Tip Jar
Last Edited by Rick Davis on May 09, 2013 6:36 AM
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The Iceman
858 posts
May 09, 2013
7:46 AM
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I notice that a lot of harmonica players, once they insert harmonica into their mouths, they feel that they must leave it there to hold onto the orientation of where the notes are. Also, since you can inhale/exhale this instrument, these guys just don't want to give up the attachment.
One technique I use in teaching is to have the student play a strong 2 hole inhale, remove harmonica from mouth, circle their head with harmonica in hand and then immediately put harmonica back in mouth and land on a solid 2 hole inhale.
This builds confidence towards learning placement of mouth to hole, breath direction and creating the note they choose.
It goes a long way towards breaking the bad habit of constantharpinmouth.
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The Iceman
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Goldbrick
172 posts
May 09, 2013
11:23 AM
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Its like any conversation-when you have something to say-say it if not shut up and listen
Listen to BB KIng- nobody better at it than him
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garry
401 posts
May 10, 2013
7:51 PM
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@iceman: i have the opposite bad habit. i reflexively move the harp away, even if i'm coming back to it in a few beats. not a huge deal, but i do hit some funny notes coming back on occasion. the flip side is that it does force you to get better at finding a hole directly, vs. relative to where you are on the harp.
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Last Edited by garry on May 10, 2013 7:53 PM
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garry
402 posts
May 10, 2013
8:06 PM
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having come up through the jam scene, jostling for space amongst condescending and/or outright hostile guitarists, i carry some residual scars and defensiveness. it took a while to get comfortable being on stage not playing, and not have it feel like being shut out ("paging dr. freud to the white courtesy phone").
my last band was very regimented wrt the harp parts. i was fitting harp into longstanding arrangements that hadn't had any. we did not jam. so i learned to play sparsely, at the right times. and that it didn't matter how much or how little i played, i just had to make the song sound good.
my current band jams a lot. i have two great guitarists, and when they're soloing, the best thing i can do to make that sound good is lay out. so i spend a lot of time just listening. felt weird at first, but now i dig it. think about it, i get to listen to this great band, from the best seat in the house.
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