So I remember watching American Idol before I took up the Harp. Taylor Hicks and the harmonica. It worked.
I went back and looked him up when I started to learn the harp and I thought that he didn't offer anything for someone trying to learn the harp. I mean, compared to Adam, Jason, or even some of the past greats, he's no harmonica god.
But I went back again and I think there is something there. Please tell me what you get out of this.
There are dozens of videos - short clips really, mostly taken from cellphones during shows. They usually are quite short.
He sounds good. He leaves a lot of space. His harp really compliments the song/band. I never get the sense he is playing harp for the sake of playing harp.
I don't think it's that easy to pull that off as well as he does.
this was the first time a actually heard him play. i knew he did on that show and i knew he was still doing small shows and assumed playing harp. but truly the first time i heard, or saw, him play. all i can say is he is lucky buddha isnt around for this thread. first, what's with the facial contortions and playing stooped over? second, he leaves space because he is singing and only has a few harp tricks.
i feel differently than you, arzajac. i get the sense he plays harp because he cant play anything else well enough to hang with the bands. it's fairly easy to hack away on harp, i think. i bet more than 75% of this forum could very easily fill his boots.
oh, by the way, could somebody get him to wear some color?
Except for the early tryouts,I don't watch "Idol",but since I play harp,about 20 people that do watch told me about Taylor. I don't think he's really bad,but he leaves much to be desired. I'm only basing it on what I saw in those 3 clips.The last one and his solo, in particular, were really pretty shabby IMHO. I think he'd make a good blues/R&B singer,but his harp playing isn't up to his singing level. Think John Nemeth. We seem to set the bar pretty high on this forum. That's OK-we should know the very best and set them as our goal. I'd be a lot more forgiving in real life,I'd never dis another player no matter how badly he was doing. We've all been there--or are there. LOL
I've had the good fortune to see John perform many times. I've jammed with him and sat in with his band. John Nemeth is a good harp player.
Taylor Hicks disappointed me. I thought he would make it cool to be a gray haired, stupid looking harp player and that I might be carried along in the wake of that new popularity. Alas, it was never meant to be.
as with most idol winners he got sucked up into the machine. whatever he had going for him had to be altered to sell cd's to a wider audience than a bunch of aging blues harp guys. i doubt it agreed with him at all but once you sign, there you are.
i thought his harp playing was passable but not spectacular, his ownership of the material he was doing early on- his idol season- was respectable. and for a total walk-on who had not planned to even compete until he got off a plane in vegas, i think he did very well over all. but the results of an idol win, i doubt that was what he had in mind.
if you like a particular player, study him. or her. aqs you progress your taste changes and you find new inspirations. there are worse harp players to study.
i feel a bit bad. i hope, arzajac, that you still think taylor is a fine player. please dont let what i, or anybody else for that matter, say change your views. as long as taylor touches you (not in the "bad touch" sort of way) keep with it. btw- i always liked the "soul patrol" merchandise i think he is/was connected with.
Well, truth be told, American Idol is not a harmonica player's showcase, guitarist's showcase, and the bottom line is that it is a VOCAL showcase. Truth be told, hard as it is for most harp players to swallow, but in ANY band of ANY genre, unless your audience is gonna be made up of 98% harp players (and that's gonna happen maybe 1% of the time at best), vocal skills in a band is ALWAYS gonna trump harp playing skills for the general public. I've seen plenty of bands have great harp players who couldn't sing much basically wallow in the mud and when they dumped him for a guy who was a great vocalist with good stage presence and maybe fair (at best) harp playing skills, the bands usually did FAR better. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
"I thought he would make it cool to be a gray haired, stupid looking harp player and that I might be carried along in the wake of that new popularity. Alas, it was never meant to be."
Lol! C'mon Joe you know you are already Mr Cool really! :-) ----------
