Ten years ago I posted a message in this forum entitled "I like to play pretty". ( https://www.modernbluesharmonica.com/board/board_topic/5560960/637150.htm ) It included a clip of me playing harp in the old song "Merry Christmas Baby".
I apologized because the clip was not innovative, advanced, adventuresome, technically difficult, arresting, amazing, or modern. People basically said, "We like pretty, don't apologize".
So, here's an even older clip of me playing pretty, on Fats Domino's song "The Big Beat". Warning-- this clip is definitely lo-fi. It was recorded in a small pub in 1993 with a cassette recorder placed on a table in front of the stage. If you want to skip the 1950s dance scenes, and go straight to the harp solo, it starts around the 1:50 mark. Tell me what you think!
What’s great about this is that it sticks to the groove, embellishes the tune without getting in the way of it, and doesn’t fly off on an irrelevant solo - I really like it! It’s also a good reminder that a solo doesn't have to be about showing your entire bag of tricks - it’s often good to dance around the melody. ---------- jodanchudan
I enjoyed that! The pictures and the music. Your playing was on spot in this song. ---------- Wisdom does not always come with old age. Sometimes old age arrives alone.
I would agree with the folks who encouraged you "no need to apologize". You were asking for feedback.... as I was listening in that mode, my immediate impression was the recollection, and in contrast, was how many TV commercials, little backgrounds clips on commercials (radio, TV, film) and harmonica on records that would be way, way short of how tasty and in the groove this was. So much of what we hear would put/keep the harmonica into being held as a "novelty instrument", in contrast to what Muddy Waters is quoted as saying "the mother of the band". As others shared above, in good taste, in the groove and it serves the song well.
