To me that question has two elements. One is what do I say? The other is what do I think?
To the first I say something like "I usually manage to play something coherent", although sometimes I say "I'm pretty good". It depends on where the question seems to be coming from for me.
Playful humility is my style, as well as a compulsion to lower expectations and then do everything I can to deliver the payload. I think I got that from bicycle racing in my twenties. Bicycle racing has a big psychological element...
I guess I have to acknowledge that I have a competitive streak.
What I think and don't say to the question is that I am pretty delighted with where I am at. I know I have a long way to go and it is an exciting journey that continues to unfold. I am finally at a place as a musician where I can jump in and contribute something. to just about anything anyone has. I am confident that I have a unique voice. I am clear that I am called to play and that my life is incomplete without it and that alone is enough for me.
I don't mind arrogant people, I actually find them pretty amusing and often can't help but crack up when I am around them. Many greats were arrogant. Arrogance is not the clothes I wear, although it may be underneath them sometimes.
Then, another guitar player got up and started with "Little Wing" ...beautiful song. I hung back in the pocket with simple stuff. Then, the host of the jam approached me on the side and whispered, ((this isn;t really a harp song. ))) I answered, "Yeah, I know." Two measures later, the guitarist threw the solo to me, and I did a blistering / facepeeling 1st pos. solo!
My answer to this question is easy and always the same - I'm better than some and worse than others.
But it's still an interesting question. On harp I have nothing to prove, but in languages I have a lot to prove, and yet that's where I lack confidence - it angers me to see someone who knows one and a half words of Swahili claim with supreme confidence that Swahili is his fourth language, whereas I with fluent German would play down my abilities in a job interview (since most of the German I have spoken has been with kitchen staff) and not get the job. ---------- Kinda hot in these rhinos!
Chris: I'd like to meet you someday. I like your sense of humor -- some of your posts make me laugh out loud. And, being a funny guy myself, I bet we'd get along great. I could teach you how to be an internet nice guy.
have you considered where I live? I'm in the old south west, you know, the OK Corral and shit. People like me use rattlesnakes skins for comdoms, we're real outlaws and internet nice just aint in my blood. We just shoot people when we disagree. I hate all this pussy internet bullshit. It's like fighting Geronimo's ghost or something. Got it Pardner?
Well Chris, I'm a mid-westerner -- that's why we look at things differently. My kin crapped out rather than tough it out and keep heading west. Actually, they headed halfway across Kansas, then turned around and came back. The consummate quitters.
I'm a florist by trade, and do interpretive dance in my spare time. I'm really not interested in blues harmonica, I just hang out here trying to glean whatever tidbits of info I can in my quest to cover all the Abba songs on the harp.
I don't have attack dogs. I have face-licking, crotch-sniffing Brittanies. They sound ferocious until you're in the house, then you've got a friend for life.
So, yeah, we're different. But we can still be pals.
This has everything to do with me and nothing to do with harp players per se but I am much more comfortable playing to an audience of non harp than harp players. Last week I played with everyone from Ashford and Simpson to David Letterman's guitarist (she sang) to Nona Hendryx, etc (hours of backing up a parade of Divas at a weekly show I do as part of the supporting band) and the audience went wild for me (I'm not being hyperbolic) often. This wildness further uncaged my verve. I wasn't playing myopically either- it was all part of a (I like to think) tasteful gestalt...... It was all music- both audience and musician friendly. There were no deconstructionists. Am I good? Realistically I think my tone is good and my phrasing is somewhat organic but perhaps most importantly I love certain shapes of music and have my moments becoming part of and supporting those shapes. Relatively speaking regarding harp expertise per se I'm at the bottom of the mountain. But regarding the music I'm involved in as a whole- I'm an additive flavor that is apparently celebrated by the audience. But: Oh shit! Look at the time: let me get it together for tonights show (4.5 hours) and practice a few things for a short show tomorrow night.......My best. d ---------- Myspace: dennis moriarty
That being said, and as long as someone is asking, the answer is No, not yet anyway. I'm a beginner. But I plan on being really good. I'm practicing and I'm listening and I'm learning and when the time comes I will perform too.
Getting back to the query, it is a very good question for a forum, if it is only left at that. But if it morphs into a dick measuring contest, then I have to agree with Greg's analysis above, the approach lacks humility. And I also believe that it is a personal question that is best asked of other players quietly.
@ Buddha, you stated at the top: "For me, I just tell them the truth. I like how those that don't know me, assume I'm full of shit and then I prove them wrong."
Most people (except for total cynics) will only have the natural reaction that someone is full of shit by the manner in which they are told "the truth". So it is probably the verbal delivery of your "truth" that irks them, and the words used. I don't know whether you tell people that you are "pretty good" or "great". As long as you threw your videos up there, I'll comment on them.
Pretty good? Yeah. Very good. Yes. Great? No. That is reserved for the greats. I hope that my comments do not break the Cardinal Rule # 1 of not dissing other players. I'm just being honest.
On Monday night at Artis's on the South Side of Chicago, I watched Billy Branch (and the Sons Of Blues) deliver the most powerful rendition of 'Mannish Boy" that I have ever seen in my entire life. He brought that whole place down and hard. Now THAT was great. Billy and Sugar Blue and James Cotton and Charlie Musselwhite and the old masters, (and yes, our own Adam Gussow with chops that are approaching the gold standard) are great players.
We all acquire recordings and go out to clubs and shows, and listen to great players and not-so-great players and some players in between. I have discovered that with harmonica blues musicians (and we are ALL blues musicians) that there is a tremendous fraternity among us. Everyone realizes soon enough that it is about learning and encouraging and playing this great music and improving at it, and fellowship, not about who is better.
The great players let their playing speak for itself: by the crowds that show up, by the nods and claps and expressions and shouts during the performance, by the humble acceptance of praise. Self promotion is necessary when one is looking to get gigs. But that's where it really should end. The playing should speak for itself.
Of course, there are many other great blues players out there, like Jason Ricci, Kim Wilson, Jerry Portnoy, etc., I could go on and on. I am just trying to point out that the word "great" should not even be uttered (at least among players) unless the usage has some merit.
I often ask that question of the people I audition just to see how they answer.
If somebody tells me they are "pretty good" I move on. If somebody tells me they can "play a little" I move on.
I want somebody to tell me, I'm not going to be disappointed. I want to hear they will knock my socks off.
When I got my drummer to join the band, I asked him if he was any good. His answer was "Damn dude, you crazy, if you can't tell I'm the shit after the first tune, I'm gonna have to shove my sticks up your ass for wasting my time. How 'bout you? You any good?" I said "I will redefine what you think of the harmonica"
The drummer toured with the Michael Jackson band for 8 years. ----------
Yo Chris Ask him if he knew a guy named Buddy Rizzo. He's an old friend. He played with Jackson for awhile during the one glove thing. His cousin is Michael Sembello
he joined my band and is teaching me the drums after every rehearsal. I suck at it. I can't separate my feet, my arms nor my feet from my arms. It's tough.
We were working on a CD and then next year we're going to tour.
Hey, drums are tough. I just bought a Kurzweil piano and plan to teach myself how to play some basic blues and boogie woogie.
I hope I'm not too old. I started Arabic at 34 and my teacher told me yesterday I'm like a 25 year old in the way I rapidly process language, rather than a 40 year old (the reality), so I'm hoping that knack will translate to the head space of using both hands at once...
"When I got my drummer to join the band, I asked him if he was any good. His answer was "Damn dude, you crazy, if you can't tell I'm the shit after the first tune, I'm gonna have to shove my sticks up your ass for wasting my time. How 'bout you? You any good?" I said "I will redefine what you think of the harmonica"
Sounds like the two of you will make beautiful hubris together.
I need a more recent recording. But here is one of the first rehearsals with the drummer. he's not playing his drum kit, just the cheap kit that is in the house and he manages to make it sound pretty good.
The thing to notice is his control, the volume is not at all deafening with him, he can be loud, soft or something in between and still keep the groove and articulation. He also does the Billy Cobham thing where he plays left or right handed based on how he feels.
Reminds me of a Stephen Wright joke: "One morning my girlfriend turned over to me and asked me if I slept good and I said, 'I made a couple mistakes'."
I really don't think there's anything wrong with saying that one is good, in a tactful way, IF SOMEONE ASKS. It's a weird question that's hard to give a fully accurate answer... but if we didn't think we were good, we'd have no business performing.
I do think there's something wrong with making an active point of telling people how good we think we are. That's the sign of a troubled soul.
Buddha, I guess that's true. However, and for the same reason... if I was in the asker's position (for the purpose of hiring them for my band), I would want an honest, confident, but tactful answer. I want someone who's confident without being an asshole, because I have to spend lot of time with that person.
In other words, anyone who is afraid to say they are good would probably be the wrong person for my band. But anyone who tried to act like they were better than me would also be wrong. It's a team sport.
I'm running a band and I need certain types of people. I don't mind egotistical people one bit as long as they are not full of shit.
Brendan Powers knows how I get with people who are full of shit. I see how he gets too, he's a little nicer than me but didn't put up with it for long.
At the end of the day the full of shit musician was thoroughly embarrassed and he deserved it.
I agree but regardless of what they say, basic personalities are going to come out anyway. The answer to the question is what gets you in the door for me and then whether or not that person stays depends largely on how we all get along.
The drummer in my band is great. I loved his answer to me and he's really just a gentle giant and is much more introverted than I expected. ----------
well, it's also in how one says things. I bet your drummer said that with a twinkle in his eye. Agree with what you said about personalities coming out anyway... that's FO' SHO'.
@Buddha: "That's exactly why I ask. The answer tells me a lot about that person."
Doesn't it tell you more about their opinion of themselves, rather than whether or not they can do the job at hand?
It's not a question I would ever ask, I'd be more interested in whether the player in question & I had some common ground & we meshed well together. Just because someone can't play what/how I want them to play doesn't mean that they're not "any good", or that I don't like & respect them...just that we're unlikely to share the same stage. Many of my favourite players play music & styles that I have absolutely no wish to play myself...perhaps that's part of the charm, appreciating an individual's forte?
I have been asked it just once, by a sax player whose set I had just witnessed...he had already revealed what he certainly couldn't do, I saw no reason to inflame the situation & make an enemy of a perfect stranger, especially as we are never going to play together, so he just got the blank stare & I moved on.
If you hire a musician/dep based purely on what they say they can do, rather than on what they ably demonstrate, then more fool you.
Last Edited by on Jun 16, 2010 9:40 AM
I joined this forum for educational purposes to learn from those superior to me buddha you are certainly not full of shit and have heard your playing so you are near the top of the ladder in this forum you tend to rub people the wrong way at times but if I met you in person maybe I would get a different impression you just seem to be blunt in getting your point across
@groyster, yeah I don't communicate well on the internet. I never have. Once you meet me in person then everything I say on the internet makes more sense and less harsh. Maybe not.
@5F6H
"If you hire a musician/dep based purely on what they say they can do, rather than on what they ably demonstrate, then more fool you."
I didn't say I hire them based on that... I said I will asked them to come for an audition based on what they say. What they say gets them in the door, how they actually play + how they are as a person gets them the job.
@buddha I will continue to listen to what you and others have to say if you humbly listen you can learn never be closed minded the difference is that you and others are really musicians and Im just hacking around trying to be more proficient in playing blues harp which I really love
Some say they are the greatest or state their talents, and if they truly are genius, they can get away with it...They walk the walk and talk the talk. Richard Feynman (a nobel prize winning physicist) was one, Pastorious was another. From another web site.....
"Shorter was, at the time, co-leader (with keyboardist Joe Zawinul) of the revered fusion band Weather Report. Jaco had earlier approached the two after a concert in Miami; the 25-year-old’s claims of being “the greatest bass player in the world” (and subsequent demonstrations thereof) impressed them enough to have him write a tune, “Barbary Coast”, that Weather Report would record on their 1976 Black Market LP."
i started playing jan 07.. like to get up and jam.. started the harp club in phila.. went to the media blues stroll last weekend..begged my way on stage..got a nice hand thank you very much.. i went to Hill Country Harmonica and jammed a little when Adam gave me the mike i did a solo got finished and no clapped for me.. i almost quit.. so i guess i do stink ---------- Fred HARP (Harmonica Assn 'Round Philly)
Last Edited by on Jun 16, 2010 10:59 AM
That's funny, I deserved that. It was in 1990 and I was just starting to play blues when I became friends with Jim. He played at the local Juke joint on occasion. He came out and played with our band a few times and I really enjoyed having the Madolin set in. That was before we were any good ;<} He left for Phoenix a few years later and I never saw him again. For some reason I've been thinking of him lately and I know Buddha has become familiar with the scene out there. To answer your question I thought he was a good player.
