Yeah baby! My favourite all time harp player. Superb tone, stellar chops and great melodic ideas. They don't come any better than Big Walter and most likely never will.
Oh yes!! Big Walter Horton is the man who send me on the quest ...for the Tone ... The stuff he does isn't fancy, it's quite boiled down and easy stuff really ... I think harp players like him so much 'cause they think "Hey, I could do that!" they can relate... until they discover the depth of BW's tone and frasing ... and realize that easy sometimes mean hard. ---------- The tone, the tone ... and the Tone
Last Edited by S-harp on Jul 30, 2013 12:10 PM
I'll fall down on my knees, raise up my right hand...:-)
well, he didn't play 'That Ain't It' but whatever, it was great, as usual. His signature 'Boogie' is timeless. Check out the uber cool tone of his light airy tongue blocking and the unadorned unbent draw notes, particularly his 7th (the 5 draw.) Most players color the five draw w/ a slight bend. i'm not saying BW never did this but a common lick of his was a bottom up legato draw landing on that gorgeous 7th and holding it briefly.
That does it! I'm getting out my pre-war harps and making sure they are still tuned to 7LJI. ---------- MP affordable reed replacement and repairs.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
click user name [MP] for info- repair videos on YouTube. you can reach me via Facebook. Mark Prados
love madcats interview about 3 lessons from walter....the third lesson he met walters approval and told a bystander that he taught madcat everything he knew....took full credit.....
What a character,madcat interview was hilarious.Dam Madcat you can't play that get back to the woodshed,great motivator,taught that boy everything.
Little Walter's playing across the songs grain,like a sax player,was easier for me to follow.Big Walter mostly plays with the song in his phrasing,but I gave up trying to get him,because of his tone,and knowing every dynamic trick in the book,hell he could have wrote it,very hard to teach.Just now getting back to his brilliance,just picking away at playing simple perfect,never getting very close.Love listening to him playing with Ronnie Earl,who clearly had a great guitar players admiration for a harp player,not very common.MP is right on with the 7LJI comment.
From seeing him dozens of times in the 70's as well as hanging out with him, the biggest secrets to his playing were breath control (something most players lack) plus his ability to manipulate his hands and embouchure. He certainly NEVER was a gear freak and never even bothered messing with tone controls. On this video, he's playing thru the PA. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
And getting a better tone than so many guys who've spent thousands on gear!
One of the best harp lessons going is Walter playing forty one seconds of "John Henry" on the album he did with Hot Cottage. It's an absolute masterclass in timing, tone, phrasing, groove and dynamics. I learnt so much just from that one snippet. It's essential listening for everyone in my book. Here's the link to the album. The piece in question is track 3:Big Walter with Hot Cottage
In this video Walter talks about using his hands and then demonstrates just how it's done. All the while he's getting huge tone and not playing anywhere near hard.
Last Edited by Kingley on Jul 31, 2013 8:42 AM
What's amazing about his playing, is that he plays so effortlessly and has incredible tone. He hits that blue third very well and there is a snap to his notes and chords.
Big Walter is the best in my opinion. He is one of the hardest to sound like to. Being that he never tried to impress you every second. He laid back and grooved and played. It is very hard to play harp and not want to blow all your licks in one song but BW was the master at just givin it to you when you needed to hear it.
One of BGs most beautiful and most studied songs is Jimmy Rogers 'Walkin' By Myself." Like LW he plays under the vocal throughout and then rips into a two progression solo to end all solos. The solo doesn't follow the quick 4 chord vocal verse but instead follows a blistering tutorial tour de force on how to play a 1,4,5 with complete mastery and elan. ---------- MP affordable reed replacement and repairs.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
click user name [MP] for info- repair videos on YouTube. you can reach me via Facebook. Mark Prados
Last Edited by MP on Jul 31, 2013 12:34 PM
