Hey all, What do you see as really good examples of chording in modern blues or rock harp? I don't mean just chugging train songs, old style stuff like Sonny Terry, Phil Wiggins, but serious chording that sets the groove to the song.... syncopation, funk, playing the 2 and the 4, setting a groove like John Lee Hooker does with guitar, that sort of thing. Not just a chord thrown in for color in mainly a single or few note solo run, but really playing chords. Who is doing that now? Thanks, Walter
Not sure who is doing that now but Alan Wilson does it a bit with John Lee Hooker on their Hooker and Heat album. Especially on the cut "Burning Hell".
Since more players in the last 15 years have been doing more overblows/overdraws and more players are using equal tuned harps, the use of chords and double stops have dropped substantially from what I've seen and more diatonic players are entering into areas that were once exclusively chromatic player territory, plus playing past 3rd postion is more frequent than it was some 25 years ago.
Is this a sign modern blues harp players aren't into chording anymore?? Good question and ability to play chords with a very strong rhythmic sense is fast becoming a lost art these days. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
John Popper does a TON of chording in his playing. Especially check out the stuff pre-keyboard player. He uses full chords, partial chords, double-stops...especially apparent live. If you can find a live Youtube of Carolina Blues, he does a lot over the guitar solo. The studio version of Brother John also stands out. Oh yeah, Support Your Local Emporer is pretty sweet. If you listen to the John Popper Project, his rhythm chops are in full effect frequently.
When I comp in a non-blues setting, I try to use octaves and play the 3, 5, or 7 rather than the 1. Depending on the arrangement and the position I am in, it is really easy to syncopate with the drums or come up with some cool lines.
One example would be the song "Cocaine". I am sick to death of it, but if you play in 3rd and play the 1 and 4 octave (blow and draw both work) you can pretty much comp throughout the whole song and vary your rhythmic attack.
Personally, I don't like blues chording over non-blues songs and this was my way of trouble shooting. I've tried to learn "power" chords on the harp, but I am not very fluent (currently woodshedding double stops with drones, etc.). I think, even if you ignored all of his soloing, Popper's rhythm playing is a must study for non-blues comping. ----------
I'm sure the juxtaposition between Sonny Terry and "serious chording" was accidental?!
*tongue out of cheek*
That's a really interesting observation / question.
I don't know whether the term "modern" fits him, but Son of Dave sounds like he uses a lot of chords.
Richard Hunter uses chords on all kinds of tunings and if he's not a modern player, I'm a banana.
@barbequebob:
/ability to play chords with a very strong rhythmic sense is fast becoming a lost art these days./
Is that because the role of the harmonica in bands has changed? And the thinking behind that role, too? And the technology (octavers and the like) becoming availble to "fatten up" the sound in other ways? The switch to playing LPed / overblows / positions which don't really lend themselves to chordal playing must have something to do with it, as you point out, as must using ET harps...
@HarpNinja:
If memory serves, the first BT album has some great chordal playing from John Popper, too. Thank you for reminding me! Haven't listened to that for years and it'll be interesting to revisit it...
xxx
---------- I'll be playing with Andy Sharrocks @ The Leicester Square Theatre, London (UK) on Tuesday 18th May. Hokie Joint (feat Giles King on harp) in support.
Details / tickets here:
http://www.leicestersquaretheatre.com/lqt/show/S1269349065/Andy+Sharrocks+%26+The+Smokin%27+Jackets
Last Edited by on May 17, 2010 12:21 PM
@captainbliss - Here is my observation. I think the diminished role in the use of chords and double stops has more to do with people not playing unaccompanied on the harmonica. More people seem to be interested in playing with a band and don't feel being able to play a solo piece is worth doing.
@JDH - I certainly wasn't suggesting it, but I notice a lot less people playing them. It might just be a modern blues harmonica thing. If so, the traditional players are probably okay.
Good, cause I can't overblow, or even play pursed lip. Now that I know it ain't cool to copy the masters, I'm runnin' out of tricks. May start working on playing behind my head though.
I think it's true, even 15 years ago this bass player that joined our band, who had been around a bit, commented that he hadn't heard many guys playing chords anymore. It happened with guitar players, why wouldn't it happen with harp. Lots of young rock guitarists are all over the single note soloing, but can't play rythym worth a $**t!
Last Edited by on May 17, 2010 7:27 PM
I can play lip pursing and tongue blocking. I switch between the two. I tried overblowing back in the early 80's after seeing Howard Levy. I wasn't very good at it, but I kept on trying.
I decided I would never try it again after seeing him sit in with Little Brother Montgomery. He was overblowing his ass off and it just didn't fit with the old school stuff that Little Brother was laying down.
That night, I decided that I loved the old school, down home Blues more than cutting edge harmonica playing. That's the direction I went in and haven't strayed from it.
Some more modern stylists might find what I do boring or even ignorant, but I'm okay with that.
Last Edited by on May 17, 2010 8:14 PM
@cbliss you got me.. of course sonny terry is serious chording, mis-phrased, until the style comes around, it is not modern
popper i had in mind.. just wanted to hear what others had to say. popper is underrated in his chording and his masterful use of harp hooks.. people mostly notice the high fast stuff.
even much of the beat box looping you hear is layers of individual notes rather than chords.
some nice examples so far, any more or is it really, as some of us seem to think, pretty rare?
@ joe Each to thier own, I like the way you play. I used to be able to switch back and forth when I had my real teeth. Can't play trumpet anymore either, with dentures some can, some can't. Fortunately I've always been able to 'U' block, doesn't cover everything you can do puckered, I miss being able to do the tongue slap thing. I can still tongue slap those chords though.
Last Edited by on May 18, 2010 4:30 AM
OK, his chording is serious, but you're saying it's mis-phrased?!
*tongue out of cheek*
(sorry)
@Joe_L:
/I think the diminished role in the use of chords and double stops has more to do with people not playing unaccompanied on the harmonica/
Interesting point.
I wonder if guitarists' use of flatpick / ringing, open-string strumming / bigger guitar sounds might have something to do with it, too?
Fingerstyle guitar seems to leave much more space for chordal playing on the harmonica...
xxx
---------- I'll be playing with Andy Sharrocks @ The Leicester Square Theatre, London (UK) on Tuesday 18th May. Hokie Joint (feat Giles King on harp) in support.
geeze bliss... i thought adam was the english prof :-)
personally, if our keyboard player is playing, particularly organ, i hold back on chording because they are more similar than harp chords and guitar chords do to each other.
i have been working on the groove that bbq bob always talks about for blues off the 2 and 4, and it is pretty hard to stay laid back sometimes when the groove is really happening, it seems to take even more control with chording than with single notes.
if i could play chords like sonny terry, i would be a happier man for sure!
The chord chugging that Sonny Terry doesn't always work in every siutation and there are times where you have to think along the lines of either a guitar player or a keyboard player in terms of the use of chording and keeping the groove together. A big part of that is getting your time together so that you can easily go back and forth between throwing in leads/fills and then back to chords, basically always knowing exactly where you are 24/7 and not wasting notes, and there's no question that it does require some very serious woodshedding to get that straight, but it is well worth learning. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
I have always played chord rhythms, even when I was a kid and I could play at least two notes together for any chord in a key... for instance, if the song went into the VI chord, I would play the 2-3 blow together, etc. So for most of my harmonica playing life, my rhythm sounded like this:
But last year, I figured I'd take it a step father and I got me a 48 chord and started learning how to play the thing. It wasn't that hard, cause I had been playing chord rhythms all along anyway.
Now, I play a 48 chord for rhythm on most songs. I really wish I had some video or audio of the all-night blues jam at the Buckeye Harmonica Festival, my 48 chord was pretty bluesy that night. You can do all kind of bluesy stuff on a 48 chord chordwise that you could never even think of on a diatonic.
So now I play rhythm on the 48 chord, then tuck the 48 under my arm and switch to a diatonic or chromatic for leads.
Here's an example of me chording Orange Blossom SPecial on the 48 chord Saturday (I've not been playing the 48 chord that long, so I don't have a lot of audio/video of me doing it).. I can't figure out for the life of me how to make a clickable link on this forum, I'll see if I can embed it or something.
http://www.elkriverharmonicas.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/audio/orangeblossomspecial.143195032.mp3
Last Edited by on May 24, 2010 9:01 PM
Dave, I really like this and the sonny terry stuff, but it is not "modern" harmonica. Not to say it is not fantastic.
Interestingly, there was a good bit of chording in the "Sorry, I am not impressed thread" video, and it did not get too much respect (except Adam who recognized the rhythmic aspects of the playing), whereas Bruce Willis was given mostly a bye with mostly single note playing and a bit of octave work...
