This recording blew my mind when I first heard it: Butterfield's comping and soloing. I love the original of this track, w/Junior Wells on harp, but I adore this remake, with Butterfield throwing down fast triplets.
Please share, with or without video/audio, the recording that changed the way you thought about, and/or played, harmonica.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Dec 30, 2016 4:16 PM
One thing that interests me these many days later is the way the track accelerates as it goes. When you get to the 3:30 point, go back to the :12 point. WTF? And these are pros. But they got excited.
This album is incredible. I might even say that Butter did his best playing when backing Muddy. This one and on "Fathers and Sons".
The other crazy thing is that people don't know about Muddy's Woodstock album. I've talked to so many pros that didn't even know about its existence! Why is that? ---------- Marc Graci YouTube Channel
Muddy Woodstock! ....This Albumn is Fantastic. I have it on Origional pressed vinyl. I ve never noticed the speed up ... lol. It is a significant tempo change. Wow.
I havent been playing long. The way I play is still forming and it changes weekly, But recently I have been listening to alot of Walter Horton and He has been drastically changing the way I strive to play and the way I think while playing. How he can play the simplest things, but with such Tone and Texture that it is just jaw dropping. (Something Rice Miller also does very well. He has also been a great influence on me.) Heres a few selections that stand out as teaching me the most. Both of Horton's solo playing and of his comping.
I have to say You have made the biggest impact in my playing Adam. Without a doubt. Nearly everything I play I can trace the roots of it back to something I learned from you, in one way or another. Tradebit Lesson, Youtube, or your albums.
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Jan 07, 2017 4:54 AM
For me, Walter's Boogie is the benchmark gold standard for any blues harmonica hopeful. In my opinion, if you can play Walter's Boogie correctly either by genuine tongue blocking or by simulating the slaps with lip pursing (even more difficult for me), you're a blues harper. Pick a version.
Michelle
---------- SilverWing Leather - Custom leather creations for musicians and other eccentrics.
I could go on for days about songs that influenced my playing. When I learned about how Ronnie Shellist played 50/50 LP/TB .. and i applied it to learning his songs ... that had a massive change in my playing style.
Funny you should say that Michelle. I am actually working on that song right now.
The version on "Cant Stop Loving You"
Anybody looking to learn it ... Dig this breakdown.
Howard, and the first Flecktones album. I went to their live show expecting to see him using pitch shifting electronics. Not the case . . . Saw him at the Denver SPAH show, he just bends the crap out of that thing, doesn't he?
A guitar player friend loaned me this album late last century. Shortly afterward I bought this album and other William Clarke recordings. I had never really noticed the use of octaves in chromatic and diatonic playing. At the time I heard it I was a complete pucker style player with occasional chords.
I liked the sound a lot and starting working on the technique on chromatic and then diatonic. I have used octaves as integral to my playing style ever since, gradually expanding my use of other tongue block techniques and continuing into the present. When I was able to use this skill without hesitation I noticed, and others commented, that my tone had improved significantly.
Becoming bored with what I perceived as "same ol' same ol" blues harmonica stuff in the late 80's, I opined to my local used record store guru. He took me by the hand and led me to a section with the first two Paul deLay records, put them in my hands and said "You Need These".
These were the recordings that changed my opinion, life and re-energized my developing concepts towards individual voice. ---------- The Iceman
Very fine, laid back blues, a brilliant solo, sweet fills, flawless solo, each space and phrase a gem I wished I had thought of for decades. ---------- Ted Burke tburke4@san.rr.com
+1 for On The Road Again - 1st solo to open up possibility of "surprising new notes from harmonica" to my ears.
Years later, it was Lee Oskar Plays Beautiful Melodies cassette. Notes I never heard from the harmonica 2.0. However, in this case, I really didn't know he played altered tunings, so tried for a year to duplicate what I heard on a regular diatonic...learned a lot, but still fell shy. This path led me eventually to Howard Levy. ---------- The Iceman
Last Edited by The Iceman on Jan 01, 2017 8:31 AM
@timeistight: Yes, "Better Days" is one of those perfect gems of inspiration where skill and feel are equal and at their peak. The arrangements are especially inspired, loose but cohesive, raw at the edges but not ragged. Geoff Mulaur was indeed a fine vocalist, powerful, with range, but also with nuance, a rare thing among white blues singers anywhere. What I like about this track as well is the guitar work of Amos Garrett, who has a slinky, jazz-inflected style, a light touch, and who understands the crucial importance of pauses in his solos. His solo hear is a model of creative economy, the kind of forary that gets me out of my chair to play it again. He and Butterfield were certainly perfect for each other. ---------- Ted Burke tburke4@san.rr.com
Well, It was a deep purple song---"Lazy"---Not exactly a "tore it up harp solo' but its one of the first solo's I learned--And it got me heavily into blues harp-so I guess it changed the way I played-
My rack playing 'then', was Dylan - Neil Young-etc---this song got me goin on soloing in blues---which blues is still my favorite music
I would love to say it was LW, sonny boy's , slim harpo-etc they all came later -but not much later--
Another one that changed how I played was Charlie Mccoy 'Orange Blossom Special"-He played the harp like an instrument- not just a blues harp--it intrigued me –it changed how I practiced later in life
i can't remember ever listening to butterfield. not till much much later. if i did hear it, it did not grab me. i have the woodstock cd in my car, not that impressed with it. kind of sounds, how do i say, for lack of a better word, "white"
i was at one time friends with charlie muldaur, if i remember correctly he was the nephew.a and a fine harmonica player himself. when i admitted to him, i just didn't get it, he insisted i come over to listen to the better days record. after hearing that i will have to agree with ted's assement. quite a bit of good stuff on the first 2 records now that i am a more mature adult. i had a chance to take lessons from paul in the 80's but i was too cheap to pay the fifty bucks. kind of kicking by self for missing that now.
Stumbled on to this 20 or so years ago and it fundamentally changed my perception of and my approach to what can be done with harmonica. Not just what is being played, but also the use of the flanger as an electronic effect for harp.
Last Edited by hvyj on Jan 03, 2017 3:15 PM
For me it was initially hearing Sonny Terry live in 1976, which made me go out and buy my first harp and blues albums. But Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller) was my main guru for the first couple of years. I loved his tone and the way every note counted, plus the persona of the man himself. Tracks like 'Help Me' were very influential.
Then I heard Little Walter and, like all of us here, was blown away by 'Juke'. I listened to a lot of his stuff, plus others in that Chicago scene like Big Walter, Junior Wells, James Cotton.
Then I found this record with a tasteless cover by a naff-looking dude called Charlie McCoy, and that really turned my head around. I couldn't believe the speed and precision of his playing, and became obsessed trying to figure out how he did that stuff. ' New River Gorge' was a favourite that I later recorded on my first album.
As with Adam and others here, I loved the flowing lines of late Paul Butterfield, especially on the great 'Father's & Sons' album. I stole some of his licks for sure!
In terms of bluesy diatonic players it was only much later on that I heard someone who really knocked me out again: the modern master Jason Ricci. Don't listen to the nay-sayers, keep playing all those notes man!
Last Edited by Brendan Power on Jan 04, 2017 8:33 PM
Blowin' the Fuses. We got to blow the fuses man, we gotta do it we gotta do it... Hands down the song that got me going. I must have rewound that song a thousand times.
Has anyone ever heard another version of this aside from the recorded one or seen this live?
The original Chess double album "Muddy Waters AKA Mckinley Morganfield" was the one the that started it all for me, (and by the way the "Woodstock Album" features Butterfield playing out of his mind. It's an album that is often overlooked. I'm so glad you mentioned it. ). But when as a young man I had started playing harmonica and performing, the album that opened my eyes to the possibilities of amplified harmonica was "Hoodoo Man Blues" by Jr. Wells. PS I like Brendan's mention of Charlie McCoy. When I first started hearing his playing (as background on the a.m. country music station in Arizona) it was kinda mind-blowing. And I started looking for his albums, yes the ones with cheesy photo on the cover of the "Naff-looking dude"!
The one moment that changed the way I played didn't come from a recording at all but from seeing Big Walter Horton in person. This is a story I've posted a few times over the years, but it's worth mentioning once again.
It was one night at the now long defunct club The Speakeasy in Cambridge, MA where a harp player friend of mine from NYC came up to see Big Walter, who was being backed up by John Nicholas & The Rhythm Rockers at the time. We were watching his every move trying to pick up as much as we could from this great master. I got to know and hang with hi quite a bit during the 70's and I definitely learned a lot from him.
Any way, my buddy came up to him after the show was over with and he had finished packing up his harps for the night when my buddy asked him how he played the intro of his cover of Little Walter's Can't Hold On Much Longer that he did on his Alligator LP.
If he didn't know you, he might just BS you or say not now and that he was too tired but if you knew somebody that he knew, then you were OK (he was actually quite a shy individual) and then he asked if either of us had a harmonica out because he just packed his up for the night. (Remember, this is the 70's and there was NO SUCH THINGS as customized harmonicas, just the stuff you got out of the box in brick and mortar retail store and that was it).
Well, I had a key of A Marine Band on me and handed it to him to play it and he actually played it just like the way he recorded it, and the way most people tended to play it, they usually would play it really hard, but Big Walter played the intro so softly, it was like a whisper and it was just like he recorded it (and having him do that was unusual because he often wouldn't do that for most people at all, except for the fact here was that he knew me and so that was OK).
Later that, I practiced doing it just that way, and it opened up my eyes and ears and then some, and that's when I immediately learned to NOT play hard and it improved EVERYTHING I was able to do a hundred fold and I later went back and tried it out with recordings of my other harp heroes and the big secret was out in the open for me and that was NOT play hard at all or all the time.
His lessons or really, a demonstration, took maybe about 1 or 2 minutes at the most, but those few minutes completely changed my life and my playing. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
For 30 yrs or so I was a straight 2P LP player influenced & inspired primarily by SBII and Butter. Country music also influenced me though my basic technique and approach remained as it was - more or less on cruise control.
Later on I became aware of Levy and the use of OB techniques but gave up on mastering them. (My Huang Star Performers did nothing but squeal).
Then the internet came along - and all the wonderful sharing and teaching that has transpired. Instructional vids by our fearless leader, - along with Jason RIcci's (and others) teaching and performance videos.
In 2009 I got myself to the SPAH convention in Sacramento Ca. The following is something I shot at 3:00 in the morning and I'll let it stand as a representative of this new wave of 'Modern Blues Harmonica" - that has inspired me to check out customized harps - and grow my playing beyond my long term safe and easy 'glide path'
is it really just one record that changes the way you play? i remember lifting the needle on this a few times lol.
i could never get this. i never got the memo that said you change harps with the chords.
one day i had the good fortune to meet norton buffalo. what a gracious person. he took 4 harps and stacked them, one on top of the other. my eyes were opened.
Bonedog: Amazing live recording! Whew. I'm glad I wasn't there. I would have been too intimidated to play.
BBQ Bob: That's a great story. I'm sorry that I never got a chance to see Big Walter up close. I've got my memories of Cotton, Jr. Wells, Butterfield, Magic Dick, Carey Bell, William Clarke, Bill Dicey...I've seen a lot of 'em. But not Big Walter, or Sonny Terry, who were just a little bit ahead of my time.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Jan 06, 2017 6:39 PM
i dunno about 'changed the way i play', because i couldn't play at all when i first heard this, but its the record that opened my ears to the blues harmonica. just the one that got there first i guess:
1.bob dylan's greatest hits volumes one and two. this got me playing the harmonica. i learned every song,and found that also gave me the ability to play everything by billy joel,john lennon ,bruce springsteen etc. i had no idea at the time that this was not the pinnacle of harmonica playing.
people kept telling me that if i liked harmonica,i would like the blues. BUT,i heard sonny terry and other acoustic players,and,although i love them now,at the time,they didn't do it for me.
2. james cotton ,live and on the move. i bought this album because i was a teenage boy with raging hormones. i smuggled it into the house in a stack of records,hiding the scantily clad (for the time,you just didn;t see butt crack back then)woman.
wow,i heard james cotton and my jaw just dropped! this was the first time i heard electric blues harmonica. but,i found i could still figure everything out.
back then you sat and read liner notes and credits while the album played.
so,i bought little walter and sonnyboy albums,muddy etc.
i studied this stuff for a good 15 years.
3. slim harpo rainin' in my heart and frank frost ride with your daddy tonight
i had never heard swampy southern blues,with that funky timing.but there was a philadelphia harmonica hero named billy burns(now in florida,i think) who used to call me up on stage for "scratch my back"
so,i bought the albums to learn the riffs(frank frost had an answer song called"my back scratcher"} and
the funk blew me away! it changed everything.
up until that point ,i had only really played chicago blues,not realizing that blues is blues.
once i no longer separated the different area blues,i changed completely!! ---------- www.shakeylee.com
Last Edited by shakeylee on Jan 07, 2017 9:59 AM
First It was Butterfields first album (this vid is from the second album-East West' then it was Three Little Walter records, and next, like Brendan Power mentions, Charlie McCoy w/ his over produced records on the Monument label. SBWII, and soooo many greats that are far too numerous to mention. etc. etc. Have good day. M.A.P. .
Last Edited by MP on Jan 07, 2017 2:59 PM
This is a terrific question for an old guy like me because I heard so many great players in the 60's & 70's! Not one of them influenced my playing because, I was a guitar player. As a musician, I just enjoyed & was fascinated by what they did with that tiny little instrument.
Fast forward to April 2014 and I start to play the harmonica. First I hear this dude named Brandon Santini play: "This Time Another Year" and I wanted to play like him! Next I hear a dude named Kim Wilson play "Gone to Main Street" on Mud Morganfield's album "For Pops" and I wanted to play that Chicago sound! Finally, I see Charlie Musselwhite this summer in Ottawa. He played for 2 hours. He controlled the music for the entire time. I knew I had to settle down and control my playing. I'm still working on that and beyond a shadow of a doubt, control of time, breathing and dynamics improves everything I play. It's a work in progress.
Yeah, I told John Sebastian when I saw him at SPAH (I have gotten to chat with him a couple of times), I had absorbed enough Lovin' Spoonful before I began playing harp that his sound was the one I heard in my head. So his playing is my biggest influence. But Howard turned all of that on its side for me, and made me the harmonica iconoclast that I am today. Why do the same thing as someone else?
Last Edited by Gnarly on Jan 08, 2017 8:38 AM