I have seen several threads on the forum about comparing different instruments to harp- but I really don't understand how this could be done due to the different styles and sounds the instruments make. Could some one explain this kind of process to me. For instance I have heard about comparing horn to harp. Something like trumpet. The only good trumpet player I know of is Miles Davis. yet the sounds and style of playing are so different in ways- what other instruments could be compared to harp and any good artist you could recommend I'm hoping this question makes some since.
What you do when you listen to other instruments is listen, adapt, and learn how they phrase, how they use dynamics, how they use space, how they work with the groove, all of which are very important not just for being a good harmonica player, but a good musician in general. Many musicians who play other instruments often listen to other instruments for inspiration as well for all of the above reasons.
For instance, the guitar stylings of jump blues/jazz guitarists like a T-Bone Walker and Charlie Christian essentially adapted lines inspired, even totally lifted fromhorn players, so why is this any different.
The big problem with harp players is that's all they listen to and nothing else, and too often they just do nothing but repeat the same damned cliches and never expand anything because of this and thus they can't get the hell out of their own way.
Even a rock guitarist like Jimi Hendrix definitely borrowed things from horn players. TRULY good musicians are ALWAYS listening, learning and adapting stuff they've learned from listening to other instruments.
From the bandleader side of things, it makes you mor cognizant of what you hear and learning more about those other instruments helps you to understand the language of those instruments in terms communication so that what you need easily comes across and so it cuts down on the amount of unneeded rehearsal time in order to get things done. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Bob is spot on. I find it educational to listen to how other instruments connect with a song, use rhythm and phrasing, construct solos, create counterpoint, etc.
Duane Allman's guitar work is very instructive, and sometimes even harp-like in the Allman Brothers (and playing with Clapton in Derek and the Dominos). Listen to Duane play on various live versions of Stormy Monday.
Miles Davis trumpet playing is really insightful and inspirational.
Ian Anderson's flute playing in the earlier Jethro Tull albums (Stand Up, Benefit, Aqualung) contain some good lessons that transfer well to harp.
In classic 12-bar blues with no harp, you sometimes can hear the piano occupying the role of the harp, with a different approach.
As Bob suggests, some harp players struggle to get out of the "box". Lee Oskar is one who moved beyond the standard harp approach. In War, he played the harmonica like a horn, not a bluesharp... with brilliant results (ie Low Rider, etc.)
Last Edited by A440 on Feb 12, 2016 12:00 PM
I think the best example of producing a horn style on harp is The Deb by Magic Dave Therault. Both the tone and the phrasing are very good. Naturally it gets a little less hornlike as it moves into the high octave.
All of it played in 5th position and not requiring any overblows.
Duane Allman was the other guitar player on Derek and the Domino's Layla. His brother Gregg does play guitar but he is more well known as a keyboard player and vocalist.
Last Edited by timeistight on Feb 12, 2016 10:09 AM
I studied arranging, orchestration and composition. When I'm playing a lot of stuff other than blues I'm usually trying to compose and orchestrate parts on the fly. The opening to this tune is me thinking cello. The harmonica part is improvised.
Yes, of course - I meant Duane Allman. That's my 60 year old brain mis-firing again... Post now corrected.
Last Edited by A440 on Feb 12, 2016 11:51 AM
I like listening to a lot of stuff from the big band era. What the horns are doing. Phrasing etc. Plus what the band is doing as a whole. A lot of that carries over into what I do when I play with my band. I love Blues style harp. But I don't want to be known as a 1 trick pony. I figure that the more versatile I am, then I have more to offer as a musician. I have a CD of Billy Holiday that features Lester Young on the *trumpet. Excellent to listen to for pure enjoyment and as a study piece. The interaction between the two is fantastic.
*Should read sax as timestight caught & corrected below. I left original post as is so as not to disrupt the flow of thread. ----------
I'm workin on it. I'm workin on it.
Last Edited by 2chops on Feb 13, 2016 6:38 AM
I`m still amazed by rahssan roland kirk,the control over a note and bringing out overtones is the bottom of blues.I saw him one night blowing a marine band harp in the middle of a horn solo,he only hit three notes but they were killer tone...1970.
Having recently started to play the trumpet after years of playing the trombone, I am struck by how much more responsive the trumpet is to oral cavity manipulations than the trombone is. By comparison, the trumpet is almost like playing a harmonica, in fact what you do to bend notes is somewhat similar, you can even easily shape the sound with a hand over the bell. There are even diatonic trumpets, they call them bugles and they can be had in most keys.
I actually came at this from the other direction. I'm a guitar player who listened to harp players so:
a) I could play behind a harp guy and get better doing that, and... b) Some of my favorite blues guys were harp players. I listened to the tone, phrasing, etc. and tried to bring some of that into my guitar work--especially my slide playing.
Then...one day, after struggling to find a harp player to replace my good friend who moved to New Orleans, I said to my wife (my bass player), "hell I can't play and I can play better then these knuckleheads," and the next day I bought a harp... ---------- www.bigroadband.com
I've been influenced by listening to Ella Fitzgerald's somewhat obscure blues recording with an organ trio as well as funky ideas from Maceo Parker and melodic lines created by Stanley Turrentine. ---------- The Iceman
