he uses 4 harps. solo is about 1:29 ---------- MP hibachi cook for the yakuza doctor of semiotics superhero emeritus
Last Edited by on Jul 10, 2010 1:45 PM
At one of Dave Barrett's masterclass seminars, I saw Norton as he demonstrated this solo. Only instead of switching harps like that, he simply held all 4 between his palms, one over the other and moved between them vertically. Just try picking up and holding 4 harps in between your palms, let alone playing them. It seems impossible. Norton Buffalo was a harmonica genius.
i guess we two are the extent of the norton buffalo appreciation society. ----------PS. go to joeleebush's site. the guy has been holding out on us. he hung around little walter in '53. MP hibachi cook for the yakuza doctor of semiotics superhero emeritus
Last Edited by on Jul 11, 2010 12:42 AM
this is not as impossible as it seems. the hard part is switching harps because it's clumsy. also, figureing out which four harps he is useing,what positions, and in what order. ---------- MP hibachi cook for the yakuza doctor of semiotics superhero emeritus
Plenty of blues players do harp switching all the time and ditto with country harp players. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Is it really necessary to use four harps to play this song? I am in a band that plays this, and I use a natural minor tuned F, with a band I play in, and I always thought it came out pretty good. What am I missing?
norton was a very good chromatic harp player to boot. not just third pos., i mean he played it as intended and very well.
when they asked him to play this song they wanted him on chromatic. he told them he wanted to do it his way and 4 harps is the result.
is it necessary? i dunno. it sounds hip and that's some serious showmanship. ---------- MP hibachi cook for the yakuza doctor of semiotics superhero emeritus
The real masters of harp switching are the Asian tremolo players. They do it seamlessly and with incredible speed, often to duplicate the effect of the button on a chromatic harmonica. I use it for Irish music too. Here's a technique that works for me:
Brendan Power WEBSITE: http://www.brendan-power.com YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic
My former band am540 did a Tune where I went from an F harp to an Ab harp during the solo...Seamlessly? No. Not even close, in my case on this tune. But it can be done. Reckoning-am540
nice technique brendan!! the way i've been doing it is very clumsy and clumsy to describe. ---------- MP hibachi cook for the yakuza doctor of semiotics superhero emeritus
It is one thing to switch between 2 harps. I do that a lot. But managing 4, as MP said, is clumsy as hell. You try it - especially with nowhere to put the harps down within reach. Oh yeah, and hold a mic the whole time too. ---------- /Greg
i think i would have a harder time keeping my mind on the harps if on stage with bonnie raitt. :-)
she really is one of the top performers i have ever seen. saw her many times and even when, according to her, she was at rock bottom with her substance abuse, she put on a fantastic show. she was on the bill with srv, who put on a horrible show. she held it together and he did not. maybe it is in her genes...
I've done three at once, and I have fairly big hands, but it was super awkward. It was a chore not just to hold all this together and not have upside-down harps but also to cup the mic with any kind of efficiency. Yet another reason Norton was The Man! ----------
Crescent City Harmonica Club Todd L Greene, Co-Founder
Norton's solo on Runaway sounds cool and especially to harp players because they are hearing the harp pitch changes.
The tune is in C and the chords are:
Runaway 1 7 +5 5
C Bb Ab G
What he did was play the corresponding second position harp for and only during each chord and change.
I would be interested in hearing from Adam or anyone else well schooled in theory as to their thoughts on playing the second position harp 'per chord' instead of the usual per song key.
