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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Playing James Cotton over SRV
Playing James Cotton over SRV
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harpdude61
1877 posts
Nov 14, 2013
7:11 AM
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This is a cut from a Wounded Warriors Benefit we did last week.
As much time and money as I have spent on custom harps, learning to overbend, various TB and LP techniques..sometimes the everyday fan is just as happy with the flashy techniques I try to do here.
Both breaks are lick styles modeled after my biggest influence James Cotton (sorry Jason it's close).
I guess the everyday bar fan likes some showmanship and could care less about seeing me bend an overblow up a step on my Buddha GM.
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atty1chgo
737 posts
Nov 14, 2013
7:51 AM
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They like the boogaloo body shaking too! Good stuff.
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chromaticblues
1513 posts
Nov 14, 2013
8:05 AM
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You are absolulty right!
The big thing is understanding it and remember your getting paid to entertain!
99% of the people don't care who you learned it from or how you played it! They only know if you are interesting to watch and wheather or not your music moves them.
Honestly It isn't any deeper than that!
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Michael Rubin
822 posts
Nov 14, 2013
9:35 AM
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Chromaticblues:
I disagree greatly. I view performing as getting paid to perform my music. I play what expresses me artistically. If I don't get paid or get a return gig, then screw getting paid or return gigs.
Luckily I happen to view being entertaining as an art and so do the band members I work with. I enjoy entertaining. However the style in which I entertain has to jibe with me artistically or I am not interested. I may play one or two gigs with a band that doesn't line up with my art to see if I am missing what is great about them, but that is about it.
Whenever I sense a musician is not playing what is in his heart for the sake of selling some beers, it makes me sick to my stomach and want to leave.
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chromaticblues
1514 posts
Nov 14, 2013
10:21 AM
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Michael If you read what I said and don't translate it in your head I am correct!
There is nothing there that is even close to being wrong!
I'm not saying how you feel is wrong. That is how you feel! It's called having conviction and pride in what you believe. That is 180 degrees from my point.
I'm talking about what does the listener think while your playing. I know you can't just do or play what ever people say you should because then you loose yourself, but you "as a pro" have to pay attention to the audiance to observe how people react to the different thing you do. I think we all have to realize,(to certain degree) just because we think something is cool doesn't mean the rest of the world does. That doesn't mean stop what your doing, but evaluate what your doing and try to be entertaining and exciting while still being you!
That's easier for some people than others and I know that, but I don't think saying, "well screw everyone if they don't like my music" is a possitive way to think about it!
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harpdude61
1878 posts
Nov 14, 2013
11:25 AM
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The venue we are in seats 300+. Bands are begging to play here for practically nothing just to get in. The owner has us in once every 5 weeks. Why, because we have a following and we entertain. People dance and spend money. The owner does not care if a call myself an artist or whatever. $$$ is the bottom line to him.
My guys are younger and the $150 +tips each makes at this show is a big deal to them. We had a guy with a wad of $100 bills at a show asking for specific songs the guys did not know. They said we'll do those later on in the show. They spent their 15 minute breaks learning the lyrics and music. They pulled it off. THey poured their hearts into it Michael. I just harped along and wouldn't take a cut.
I also dance thru the crowd with my wireless and pull little ole ladies up to dance with me. May not be art, but they have fun as do I. Crowd gets into it too. Owner loves it.
Is what I do in this song art? Depends on who is listening? We play tunes that take much more finesse, precision, and technique than this one does.
chromatic understood my point. I wail on a 7 overdraw in places. It's very rewarding to me, but it's just another part of a song to the crowd.
Personally, playing SRV, the Doors, CCR, and Elvis, along with Muddy, SWB, and Wolf is fine and dandy. I am having the time of my life and playing all I want.
Michael , if being an artist means what you say, then I'll stick with being an entertainer. If you are an entertainer it ain't about you...it's about making your audience happy.
Maybe I'm living in the wrong part of the world, but around here the more beers you sell, the more money you make, and the more shows you book.
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Michael Rubin
823 posts
Nov 14, 2013
12:30 PM
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I get the idea, and in another moment I would totally agree with you both. I'm just being persnicaty (sp) to that moment.
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1847
1301 posts
Nov 14, 2013
2:57 PM
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if i walked in to a bar and your band was playing
i would pull up a bar stool and have a cold beer.
tip the waitress a buck to boot.
the house was rocking!
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i get a lot of request when i play my harmonica
"but i play it anyway"
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Michael Rubin
824 posts
Nov 14, 2013
6:33 PM
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Harpdude, I want it make it clear my original post had nothing to do with your performance. It was purely a gut response to chromatic.
However, I do believe being an arteest is also not about you. It is about making a true connection to an audience by playing what is truly inside of you and hoping that being authentic will connect with audience members also looking for authenticity. Artistry is just as giving as entertainment and the two things are not mutually exclusive.
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harpdude61
1879 posts
Nov 15, 2013
6:43 AM
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I get your point. I love what we play and have a good time. We do connect with the audience.
Still, I won't give in and play Wagon Wheel!
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Michael Rubin
825 posts
Nov 15, 2013
7:26 AM
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That's basically what I am trying to say. If you enjoy the music that you are playing, you are there. If 51% of your band enjoys some of the music that you do not like, compromise is part of mutually created art and so you are still there.
If you do not like most of the music but are doing it to have a place to play (and are not just beginning to play with bands, at which point take ANY opportunity to play) or if you are doing it only for the money, I am way not into that.
I think chromatic's idea that we are paid to entertain is what really set off my buttons. Although I recognize that the collective concept of music performance is the band is paid to entertain, therefore getting a maximum amount of audience members to drink the maximum amount of alcohol to provide the maximum revenue for all involved, I think it is a terrible idea.
I think musicians should make music that they believe strongly is good music from their hearts and the club owners who like their music should hire them and the audience members to like their music should come. We might have less clubs making a profit, but those that exist will provide a much richer experience.
I make a big effort to produce music as if that paradigm change was already a reality.
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BigSteveNJ
14 posts
Nov 15, 2013
9:08 AM
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Michael Rubin said:
"I think musicians should make music that they believe strongly is good music from their hearts and the club owners who like their music should hire them and the audience members to like their music should come. We might have less clubs making a profit, but those that exist will provide a much richer experience.
I make a big effort to produce music as if that paradigm change was already a reality."
THAT, Mr. Rubin, is called "owning" yourself, your sound, your presentation, all of it. It is what the bands that "make it" do. It is what people who never graduate from the sports-bar scene DON'T do, even as they complain that they play the best version of "Mustang Sally" ever.
Now, I've known bands and musicians that played the same bars and restaurants for 30 years. Yes, THIRTY years, and they never went any further. Why? Because they stayed where they wanted to be, played everyone else's music note-for-note and created a network of places that would hire them over and over.
I just have no sympathy for people that do the above, subject themselves to drink-sales and tip-jar funding, and then gripe about the live music scene.
I enjoyed what the OP did with the tune they played. I've jammed with many people and in front of many people for whom "harp" means going "waaah waaah waaah" on the 4 draw over and over. And that's all it means. In those cases, ham it up, shake what the good Lord gave ya, and have fun. It's a lark, no big deal.
My bands, OTOH, have always gotten bookings based on what WE can do, not what we can do to sound like so-and-so.
Remember, everyone who is trying to gig for money: there are jazz clubs, tiny little rock clubs, even union halls and VFW halls where people get together to hear original music and not just rote covers. You don't have to believe that there's no place "like that" for original music, even in "blues bands". You just have to have that combination of chops, determination and yes, entertainment; then you can make it happen.
Food for thought: Nat "King" Cole, one of my favorite singers, is most popular for "Unforgettable" and "Mona Lisa", the radio versions of which feature almost none of his playing on piano, nor much of his trio. They made their money playing their tails off in the clubs. A little shuck-and-jive entertainment value is fine, but remember what really matters in the end is making the BEST music YOU, not you-as-someone-else, can make.
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chromaticblues
1516 posts
Nov 15, 2013
11:01 AM
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@Michael
Again you are translating what I posted!
I never NEVER said anything about drinking!
Although since you dragged me into that. When playing watering holes, yeah you have to make it fun for them.
There's nothing wrong with being personable.
If that isn't something you or anyone else is into then don't!
If you play a gig and get paid for it. You are expected to provide some type of entertainment.
Depending where you play will depend on what is expected of you!
Micheal I'm telling you stuff you already know!
I don't understand how that could push your buttons.
I'm not saying sell your soul to bar owner.
Nor was I complaining about the music scene.
I was just stating a fact! IMHO
I don't let it affect how I play or what I play.
I too believe we should play music for our own enjoyment first and then hopefully other people will enjoy your take on music.
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1847
1303 posts
Nov 15, 2013
11:22 AM
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I think musicians should make music that they believe strongly is good music from their hearts and the club owners who like their music should hire them
REALLY?
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i get a lot of request when i play my harmonica
"but i play it anyway"
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Frank
3285 posts
Nov 15, 2013
5:06 PM
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Is it humanly possible to play the same songs, note for note, in the same bars for 30 years...that is an incredible feat.
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BigSteveNJ
17 posts
Nov 16, 2013
6:10 PM
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Frank, believe it or not, there have been bands in my area that did just that. A few lineup changes over the years, but essentially the same sets of material over at least 20 years. I'm just assuming about the last ten or so because I don't pay attention to what any of those people are doing anymore.
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jbone
1413 posts
Nov 17, 2013
6:08 AM
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Good work dude and obviously you guys have an attractive thing going if you're booked back.
To me I work to improve my playing a lot and keep learning new material, write new stuff and work it up, and that infuses me with satisfaction. Then I go out live and play what's in front of me whether it's what I want, my partner(s) want, or the audience wants.
Interesting and engaging are key ideas here.
We don't always know what the patrons want to hear but if they want sincerity and a dedication to doing music as well as we can, and if they have any curiosity about where a song is coming from, we give them that.
I have been some sort of attention getter for a long time between harp and vocals. I will wake up a sleepy crowd.
Just the other day I got the word I have to NOT sing for at least 3 months. Beginning vocal cord nodules. Entirely my fault over many years. Regardless of that I have had gigs too where I was "just" the harp man and done very well too.
My dedication to perform and entertain is as big as anyone's I think. When you match that with enthusiasm, try to meet audience requests, and engage with your patrons, it does not matter if you do overblows, draw bends, nose flute, handstands, or what. I have found that a crowd does not care if I use $3 harps or $97 harps, diatonics or chromatics. People want to HEAR some stuff, they don't care how you do it!
We used to- and still do sometimes- play some ragtime stuff which a kazoo fit perfectly. Sometimes I'd forget mine at home. That was ok, I could fake a kazoo easily. Crowd liked it too.
Being on a stage and seeing your customers, feeling their anticipation, and turning that into excitement and joy, is like nothing else.
And by the way harpdude, that's a righteous thing to play at. Hats off to them and to you guys.vmpkqr
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