Just found mp3 version of an old forgotten record..."Livin' the Blues" by Canned Heat.
It was their first double album - one record had the live version of "Refried Boogie" and the other was a studio recording, including "Goin' Up the Country" and a wonderful semi-psychedelic suite called "Parthenogenisis".
On the studio album, they redid "Walkin' by Myself". I remembered how the harmonica on this cut totally influenced me back in the ol' days, so much that I learned it and played this tune in an ol' jam night house band in Detroit (of which I was a member). The club was upstairs in an old building almost downtown Pontiac and Tue night was jam night. (Wish I could remember the name of the bar).
Anyways, Alan Wilson played many sophisticated ideas on this cut, including outlining an ascending diminished chord as well as my favorite - on a stop time "V" chord, he sustained 2 hole inhale full bend, slowly letting it rise to the half bend (harmonically moving from a +9 to the major third of this "V" chord) before finishing the idea with 1 inhale, 1 inhale, 1 exhale, 1 inhale, solidifying that chord within the notes he chose.
As well, check out the double time during the solo ..
Pure genius from Alan Wilson!
---------- The Iceman
Last Edited by The Iceman on Feb 21, 2016 10:46 AM
From the time I started listening to blues, and harp in particular, as a teenager in the mid -seventies, it was apparent that Alan Wilson stood out. Firmly rooted in blues, yet playing ideas that were just not common in harp vernacular, he might well be among the first 'modern' blues harp players. Thanks for posting the clip.
I must say this guy drove me nuts with 'On the road again'. I'd only been playing 2 or 3 years when I heard this song and set out to learn it. What I didn't know then and only discovered fairly recently was that I couldn't find the top note of the solo on my harp due to AW tuning up 6 draw half a step. I can do it with an overblow on 6 now but it doesn't slide onto the succeding draw notes as nicely.
I'm going to play around with 'Walkin by myself'...sounds like fun and challenging workout.
Last Edited by Grey Owl on Feb 21, 2016 2:28 PM
