Ok, obviously, it's not perfect yet but I wanted to film it anyways. I'm looking for a title for this thing. All I could think of was Gussow's Jump or Gussow's ho'down. What else could we call it?
Also what would you call this type of harp playing. Is it more down home bluesy or funky or what... I have no idea.
where's the like button? oh thats facebook, my bad...
One of the first tunes I played and was proud of was based off that very lesson... ---------- Kyzer's Travels Kyzer's Artwork
Last Edited by on May 02, 2010 2:05 AM
It's not a jump; a jump is much more uptempo. It's a shuffle of some kind. But whatever it is, I like it! It's strong, interesting harp playing. I can certainly hear the way it derives from some of the riffs I've been putting out there, but you've put your own twist on the timing in a way that makes it yours. Good stuff, though.
There are some things I'd like to critique though, if you don't mind. For one it seems kind of rushed. I'd either do it really up tempo or just a little calmer... The other thing is that there are just too many little riffs and it seems kind of crowded and thus kind of all over the place. Every little variation can have a HUGE effect. You just have to use it well. If you have all those riffs (which are played very precise and with awesome tone - did I mention?) they lose very much of their potential. Let the audience know where you're going first, they must get used to the groove. Then surprise them with little riffs. I.e. start off easy and then elaborate. Make use of a little call response - but scarsce. Be 'cheap' with these variations and give each of them their full value - the bigger will be the effect.
(If at all do it Sonny Terry style... at the end go crazy and put a little clutter of riffs, so that the people think 'what the hell just happened here') ---------- YT
Last Edited by on May 02, 2010 2:58 PM
thanks for the critique. I very much enjoyed reading it. I have to say I agree with pretty much every point you made.
I often play it slower and when I do, I feel I'm much more confortable and in the groove...in fact you can probably hear in the video that it starts to fall apart the second time around because I took it too fast. One problem though is that I naturally speed up as I get into it (I could use a metronome)
I'm also very interested in this philosophy of being 'cheap' with variations and riffs and building it up incrementally. I find you explain it very well.
One question though: how do you manage that without sounding too repetitive. I guess it's a fine balance.
If you don't mind I would like to use your comments to rework the song and post another version of it in a week or two. Perhaps you could tell me what you think of it at that time.
