flourishes. I use them in magic for misdirection. some say its a more subtle wah wah... maybe. some argue that it has to do with cutting down the shrill sounds of the higher notes in a mic, but in this clip, i disagree. it also could be to reposition or to be certain of position of the harp in the mouth... i dont think so. IMO its just showmanship, no doubt he sees the camera aimed at him. he does a similar move at the end too. ---------- Kyzer's Travels
kyzer i agree. i've seen videos of sonny boy 2 on youtube where he does wierd things with his fingers on the back of the harp too and i'm sure its just to confuse people ---------- conjob
ive seen sonny boy do that too thats why i asked the question, i dont think this move has much stage flourish.value i think repositioning the harp is more like it. big walter and sonnyboy didnt have a lot of teeth in their mouth could be like adjusting false teeth or maybe certain hand sounds can be acheieved bertter wuth the harp played forward or further back in the mouth. Misdirection and confusion is also a possibility . james cotton moves his thumb on a diatonic on note changes so it looks like hes playing a chromatic and depresses the slide.
maybe switching embouchures from LP to TB. if you push the harp back a little with your fingertips when you make the switch you can be in a slightly better position for tougue blocking for a deeper tone.i dont know if thats applicable in this case
I think it was all part of defining a look that was yours. Showmanship was high and little things like that make you stand out. Look at all you guys wondering about it! Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " No one can control anyone, but anyone can let someone control them"
Use of hands to help shape the sound is something far too many players neglect to learn, and just moving a single finger alone can do that, some of it being extremely subtle, and some quite dramatic. When I used to see BW in Boston back in the 70's, he used to come around as many as 4 times a year and I watched him very intently and that's one of the things I quickly picked up on and it is also quite useful for amplified harp as well. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
I agre Bob! I watched sonny terry do this to. Using the fingers slightly like that makes a big sound difference to the player if they are tuned in. Darn, I was hoping no one would give away the secret to SBW and BW sounds :-) Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " No one can control anyone, but anyone can let someone control them"
i do card manipulation. i met Jeff McBride when i was in my early 20's and his art fascinated me. if any of you are coming to Hill Country, be prepared to be mystified.... a weary, drunken preview of what i do is on the tail end of my youtube vid on gussow 111 improv. just tap kyzers travels below and skip to the last minute or so of that vid. ---------- Kyzer's Travels
IMHO he's just tapping his fingers in time. Just take a clip of yourself when you are playing and see how many strange movements you make when you get carried away. There's not a deepeer meaning to EVERYTHING. Even when you're talking to somebody your hands do all kinds of things unintentionally and reflect your emotions. Don't interpret too much into it, not even that he misleads you on purpose. Look at if from another point of view ... why should he hold those fingers still, when he's playin' and groovin'.
---------- If it ain't broke you just haven't fixed it enough ...
its the part of the vid im least happy with actually... its sloppy and amateur looking, for my standards... too many brews that late late night. i couldve done a much more thorough job
i picked up a harp and did my best to imitate the hand gesture while playing on the lower octave and then on the higher octaves...there is a difference, ever so slight, in the projection of the sound, but its hard to tell, because im the one playing, if it can be picked up listening from an audience. additionally, its so minuscule that it appears even harmonica players such as ourselves cant pin it down, that i doubt the laymen jamming to the groove could discern it. ---------- Kyzer's Travels
Last Edited by on Apr 13, 2010 11:51 PM
We've all watched many of Adam's videos. He has similar random hand gestures, too. It's part of the groove. Perhaps even subconsciously keeping time or tapping to the beat.
I've seen Sonny Boy doing those sorts of things a lot, particularly jamming his fingers into the gap at the back of the harp. I've tried it and it does change the tone a bit. ---------- Nate Facebook
He's definitely NOT using his fingers to keep time at all, as I got to see him do that tons of times up close and personal when I saw him during the 70's live and, as I posted in another thread, the wahwah technique he often used requires a very tight cup and then the wahwah is done by the fingers, using the knuckles as a pivot, and NOT by using the entire hand, where the wrist is the pivot.
I've seen him at least a dozen times during the 70's, and often sat right up front (thank God he was not a loud player and the band made damned sure they didn't play loud behind him either), and I watched him very closely and picked up on this stuff.
BW had extremely long fingers and I have fairly large hands, but with his finger length, they made mine look pretty tiny. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Yo Bro's just a few more tips following from BBQB's post
the wah wah technique often used requires a very tight cup,
this cup should be formed as a rounded ball and not squished flat,
when releasing the sound the top hand should allways remaine a rounded cup shape,
the palms of the hands should remain together as BBQB says the only part of the hands that should move are the fingers on your right hand from the knuckels up,
Exactly, Walterharp!!! Too many players tend to subscribe to the one size fits all approach to everything and often are too scared out of their shorts to try and experiment and if you don't experiment, you're too scared of falling flat on your face, which is part of the learning process, and if you have that fear all the time, you won't learn anything. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
I've been experimenting more lately with the finger wahs instead of the heel of hand wah...very cool stuff, and yes-gotta have a tight cup. BUT, there's a lot to be said for the other method. Case in point: a really cool vid posted a a while back of Dennis Gruenling doing that heel of hand-type wah coupled and synchronized with vibrato, and getting a wicked-sounding 'tremelo'. ---------- Todd L Greene. V.P.
Last Edited by on Apr 15, 2010 12:20 PM
it would seem, that various wah wah's find there way to the forefront, only after youve become comfortable playing. If Im learning a tune, and if it does have wah wah's, i use them sparingly until i know the ditty. when its like riding a bike, wah wah's are much easier to do for me....its no surprise to me that beginners and some intermediates have trouble with these... ---------- Kyzer's Travels
You also combine them with different ways that you manipulate your embouchure as well as the inside shape of your mouth as well, and BW was a master of doing exactly that.
It is very important that you do not allow yourself to get physically uptight and that all muscles are fully relaxed or you wind up making any of these things difficult for yourself to achieve. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
All those tiny hand movements you see from people like Big Walter and Sonny Boy have a huge effect on the sound.
I remember studying Sonny Terry many years ago. He had one technique which drove me nuts trying to figure it out. One day I saw a video of him playing and what his hands were doing. Once I tried it myself that particular technique was then fairly easy to learn.
