No apologies for reproducing this Harp-L discussion in the Dirty-South Blues Harp forum. This is an eternal and universal question. Those who know will answer the "why?" question after reading this long post.
"Why Do You Want to Play the Blues?"
The Enlightened One raised this quintessential question, with that heading, in Harp-L in August 2008. It engendered many responses.
Have a look at the Harp-L archives
(http://harp-l.org/pipermail/harp-l/)
for August 2008 to read the responses; otherwise, read my pithy response below, and read the archives later.
Here is Buddha's question, sincerely posed two years ago in Harp-L:
"This is mainly for diatonic players and of course the question doesn't apply to all.
Why do you choose to play blues on the harmonica? Because you love blues or because you love the harmonica and it seems to be heavily intertwined with blues?
I ask this because all of my students come to me wanting to learn blues but instead I end up just teaching the harmonica in a way where the student leaves with the ability to play whatever they want. So far, none of my students are as steeped in blues as they were in the beginning. Most venture off into jazz, rock, funk, fusion, pop or country.
So is playing blues an ability issue, "copycat" issue or one of passion for the genre? Is there a reason players don't seem to seek an original voice on their instrument? A good example of original voice is, George Brooks, watch the SPAH jam vids, he sticks out every time it's his turn to play, even when he plays 2nd position. Jason Ricci is another person with an original sound as are Little Walter, Lee Oskar and Howard Levy etc..."
Here is my reply on Harp-L two years ago, all of which I say and avow again, October 14, 2010:
"Buddha raised a deep question yesterday-- "Why do you want to play the blues?" I could write a book about that, but will save it for another day. The basic answer-- blues is me, and I am blues.
Imagine telling Muddy Waters, "You should stretch out; play some jazz, rock, funk, fusion, pop or country. You're too limited in your music." You wouldn't do it; you know and accept Muddy Waters is (was) a bluesman. It's the same for the hard core blues lovers, and blues players, in this group; the question seems puzzling because the answer is obvious.
Blues has stirred me, more than any other music, since I counted my age on my fingers alone. The blues lovers in this group, or those of you who are wondering why we are so passionate about blues, have a look at my two page essay in Blindman's Blues Forum, entitled "My Love Affair With the Blues", here:
which says more about the magic of blues than would fit in this harmonica group.
I happen to play harmonica because I got one for Christmas when I was 7. I might have grown up playing another instrument had fate so dictated. It doesn't matter-- even if my ultimate instrument were oboe, I would constantly be seeking those bluesy notes-- the flatted 7th note; the flatted 3rd note with its infinite gradations, including all the notes that can't be indicated in Western music notation. If I played piano, I would be looking for the notes that reside in the crack between the keys. I would be syncopating even when it wasn't called for.
As it turns out, I love the sound of harmonica, in all styles, though I play mostly in one. I'm happy to be in this group, though I don't often post. I love music in all styles, though I'm partial to black music.
In the end, the goal should be to play music you love, whatever style that be. Maybe your own style; never heard before. That will result in more compelling and memorable music than trying to play styles you don't care for.
Cheers, wolf kristiansen"
Back to the present: Although he can't bring himself to say this, I'll say it for him: Buddha, like most in this big wide world, doesn't like blues. He may say different, but I KNOW. Or, to soften it somewhat: Buddha, like many, doesn't look to blues for his listening or playing pleasure. He recognizes blues singer/player Little Walter as having an original voice (I agree) but the thrust of his message is that blues is something to move on from. That's okay with me, different strokes for different folks. This isn't about Buddha, he's just an example.
'Fess up, all of you-- Half of you are here in this lively preeminent internet harmonica forum because you love harmonica AND blues. You others (including the Enlightened One) are here because you love harmonica, but don't care for, or even dislike, blues.
It's all good. Music, with a capital "M", trumps blues, I accept that. Me, I like many kinds of music, truly, all except pop. But Blues with a capital "B" is my number one love and will be till I die. I did not choose that, it chose me. Blame life, genes or heredity.
So, back to the question: Why do you want to play blues?
I actually came to harmonica because it was and is one of the roughest instruments used to play blues. I came from playing clarinet and played classical and jazz-blues which was intellectually stimulating and beautiful but I always reverted to playing blues for enjoyment and the sound simply expressed what I was feeling emotionally, happy or sad. I took about 1.5 years off from playing ANY music and got deep into life just making mistakes and struggling and realized that I needed to get into music again but distill to only what I wanted to do. I started going to my colleges practice rooms and playing piano and took about 6 months of lessons and wrote some classical songs and learned all the blues scales. Fun, but didn't achieve the soulful freedom I was looking for. So then I searching for folk instruments and came across the penny whistle, this sound really struck me as what I was always hearing and feeling in my head.
This was all subconscious but I realized that I was making my way back to blues the simple repetitions with variation and the strong vibrato. I have realized that is the music I feel and that expresses me so I try to appeal to the music that I feel as opposed to what only appeases my mind. I did that for too many years. ---------- Andrew Larson, R.N.
A long time ago I had the pleasure of hearing an Irish duo playing at my University's campus pub; Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia.
I remember them forever. I wish I could track them down (If they're still alive!).
Why do I remember them? Because they knew blues. They were playing and singing Irish music- two very good singers, one playing guitar, one playing penny whistle. Towards the end of the night, the lead singer said, "We're going to play some blues". They did, and they could. I was moved. I remember marvelling, through a slightly alcoholic haze, how close traditional Irish music was to blues. I.e. the feel they summoned for Celtic music could be turned into compelling blues.
But, I must return to the original question, for you and everyone else: Why do you want to play the blues?
Mr. Wolf. Whew...... It doesn't have to be all that complex with advanced theoretical thinking, etc. etc. etc. My answer to your question, "why do you play the blues" is: Because it sounds good
when i was 17 i went to a concert with John Mayall, mick taylor, john mcvie and colin allen...which changed my life....later that week i bought a record called 'the world of john mayall'...my friends didn't like it...my parents didn't like it...i listened through the headphones...there was a song called 'all your love', and another called 'have you heard?'...something had happened to me...i had dug pop music for a long time...but this was really different...i felt like i totally 'got it'..it was a physical kind of experience so thats my answer: blues music was the first to really move me...and it still does...just yesterday i was listening to james cotton (best of vanguard)...and that same thing hit me...its not only blues music will move me. but it was the first...so its my 1st love...and when i play, thats the idiom i feel most expressive in...
Well Bro see me Old Bones are getting stiff I'm not as young as i used to be iv'e lost my Flexibility, i can't afford to be breaking legs trying to keep up with that Bloody go fast jump in the Air music anymore:)
I don't want to be Layed up in Hospital with all those Old Winging Mongrels Bagging the Nurses for doing there Job,, There doing there job it's ignoring those Old Farts:)
I can only lift my foot about an inch up and Down to tap my foot but only very slowly, and not near any Floor Microphones other wise they Pick up me Bones Creeking and it throws the Band out of rythm:)
Dancing i can't move Faster than about 90 BPM and only a shuffle i don't dare get both feet of the ground at the same time, i have to pick my Dance parters carfully steer away from the young ones i tend to loss the Plot and start dancing like a Spring chickin:)
Next thing you know Im Jumpin up in the air Thinkin hay i got audiance in a Transe look at the Old Geezer go, talk about loss the plot bloody trans, well i forgot my Old Mans Problems Its all comin out me Pants and Here I am thinkin i'm dancin up a real Stink, Talk about embarrasing the young ones never come near me again when I'm drunk:)
So i sort of grew into the Blues :) ---------- Cheers Big Ears:)
Last Edited by on Oct 15, 2010 5:57 AM
The blues is the reason I picked up the harmonica...not the other way around...Ev is right on..Blues is cool shit. I found that out watching SRV on Austin City Limits.
The blues called me. I didnt really like it before one of my roommates, about 12 years ago, started listening to John Lee Hooker, Sonny Boy II, Gatemouth Brown, Howlin' Wolf, Lightnin' Hopkins, etc. He was a guitar player (now a signed musician in a country band. NEVER would have seen that coming). Anyway, I always remembered the feeling of utter reality hearing those old cds back then or maybe I could identify with something in the music. Maybe it was the intent behind the music that I could hear. The heart, so to speak. For whatever reason, I felt compelled to learn the language of the blues so that I could at least speak MY truth musically (for myself if no one else). I cant even really put my finger on why I wanted to learn harp. I have always had one since i was very little and thought it was called a "horicamonica". Maybe that has something to do with it. ---------- "If you dont go within, you go without."
Very simple: - because I like the diatonic harmonica played in 2nd position. Robert Johnson's guitar never did that for me, although I like him a lot,
"The blues is the reason I picked up the harmonica" The harmonica is the reason I picked up the blues.
It's to do with voice,isn't it - Robert Johnson's guitar merely accompanies his singing. I'm not a singer. I can sing on the harp. It gives me a voice.
If the question is Why Do You Want to Play Blues of all things on your harp?
It's because I was never a big fan of the Chromatic harp and all the musics played on it (I was never really a big Stevie Wonder fan even), and because for me jazz is a masculine music, and jazz on the harp seems too dainty to me - like a mosquito. I'd feel the same way about jazz on the flute. ---------- Andrew, gentleman of leisure, noodler extraordinaire.
Last Edited by on Oct 15, 2010 7:06 AM
Blues, IMHO, is the best form of music for relaying emotions. And for the most part, it's danceable. I love to make people dance, since I am unable to do it myself. Plus, I'm hoping there's some truth to EV630's second statement in his above post. ----------
Crescent City Harmonica Club Todd L Greene, Co-Founder
"Back to the present: Although he can't bring himself to say this, I'll say it for him: Buddha, like most in this big wide world, doesn't like blues. He may say different, but I KNOW. Or, to soften it somewhat: Buddha, like many, doesn't look to blues for his listening or playing pleasure. He recognizes blues singer/player Little Walter as having an original voice (I agree) but the thrust of his message is that blues is something to move on from. That's okay with me, different strokes for different folks. This isn't about Buddha, he's just an example. "
You KNOW? You don't know shit.
Nothing pisses me off more than people who speak for me when I am capable of speaking for myself.
Do I like the the blues? Yes, but in short doses but that doesn't mean I don't like the blues. Do I enjoying playing the blues? YES in short doses but that doesn't mean that I don't enjoy it. In fact, I believe I have more respect for the blues than most of you in the sense, that I understand what it takes to play it. I know that I mentally get bored with it and willingly take myself out of the game as not to sully what I believe blues really is.
There is no doubt that I can throw down within the blues genre with anybody. And Yes, Adam, I would go toe to toe with Dennis Gruenling.
I've posted a few clips of my blues playing, you can't argue that it's respectable and IF it were my focus, I would be at the top of the blues harmonica world. There is no doubt about that in my mind. I instead choose to play what I hear and what I feel. I am an artist. I choose to have my own sound and share my music with those that want it.
Sorry for the rant but shit like what Wolf posted pisses me off to no end.
---------- "I am a great believer in understanding, not copying."
"Do I like the the blues? Yes, but in short doses"
Hear hear!
Some forum members here give me the impression that blues is the only music they ever listen to. That's beyond my comprehension. I listen to everything from blues to jazz to rock to punk to trance to classical. I even listen to country and western if you count k d lang, lol!
---------- Andrew, gentleman of leisure, noodler extraordinaire.
A. I like the Blues. I listen to Blues. I play Blues because I like it.
I was first exposed to the Blues while I was in college and I really dug it. They ran a weekly concert series and featured: Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues, Eddy Clearwater, Lonnie Brooks, Koko Taylor and a few others. For me, that was the beginning of the end. I started going to blues clubs all over Chicago. I started digging deeper into the music. I listen to a lot of Blues players that do not have harmonica players in their band.
I was given a harmonica and started playing it. I started learning it the same way other people learned. By going out and listening to some of the great Blues players and tried to recreate the sounds.
As a kid, I was exposed to a lot of harmonica music. Stuff like the Harmonicats, Larry Adler, etc... After I got out of college, I got to see Howard Levy do his thing a few times.
While those guys were excellent harmonica players, I had no interest in any of it.
I play the blues because I live the Blues ..I have lived in my van down by the River ... Under the Manhatten Bridge ...Not my choice but i was a drunken mess ... I sliped in and out of rehabs and always went back to my old ways ...I sufferd Pain and misery and depression .. in my dark days .. I have never lived a stable life ..Booze and Drugs was my best friend .....I always had a harmonica and i would play for tips anywere i can so i could get enough for a bottle of Maddog 20/20 ... I had alot of time stable and also was on top of my game in the 90's playing in all the top clubs in NYC ... Sober again ... that lasted 8 yrs and i went back to drinking ... moved to Chicago ... And again lived in my truck in the worst project in the country .. Caprini Greens ...Still playing in the streets for tips to get enough for a Bottle .....Hanging outside blues clubs busking ... I finaly had enough pain and misery ...Lost many girlfriends and jobs due to my drinking and whatnot ...i been clean since 99 and sober since 2001 .. My whole life been one big blues song ...It fits me to play the blues ... because i feel them ... Never been a silver spoon blues man ....Pawned everything i owned .. till i had nothing .....I finaly got a grip on my life .. and been rolling strong since ....So Blues Fits Me ...And when i play them ... You know i feel them too ....Now i have a 10 acer spread .. paid in full ...a RV 2 dogs 2 cats a wonderful woman ... and a Good reputation ... Blues Lives .... And im glad to represent it ....Deak ... ---------- Have Harp Will Travel
I like blues as much as other genres I am into. I like to play blues because it is fun to play on harmonica. I usually have very limited opportunity to play blues harmonica, but sometimes I very much desire to jam out on some traditional harp stylings. It tends to accept harmonica more, and the dyanmics at which it is played let the intricacies of the instrument shine through.
It is also a lot easier for me to learn through blues than other avenues because of the wealth of information.
I've actually been trying to do a rock harmonica e-book with the support of some music/performance majors from McNally Smith Music College, but time has gotten away from me.
The premise is to take a rock guitar methodology and apply it to harp. I might have the resources to work on it this summer.
I play way more rock than blues, though. That has been true since day one.
I like blues because it is raining outside. It doesn't matter if it is literal rain (like now) or figurative rain. I like music that makes you feel like a group of people who stepped in to get out of the rain came together and instead of just being strangers they became friends, if only until the rain let up.
A week or two ago, I started a thread about the way that I, at least, think we should categorize music. Here's a link to that thread. In short, I said we might be better off categorizing music by the intention of the musician(s) who made it, rather than by "style". The rest of the my post will refer to the three "genres" of music that I believe exist: Folk, Pop, and Alt/Art.
I like to play the blues because I like Folk music and I like Art/Alt music. I love the blues when it is done as Folk or Art/Alt, and I HATE the blues when it is done as Pop music. Unfortunately, a lot of what I hear these days in the Blues clubs and on the "modern" blues circuit is straight up Pop music.
Do I ONLY like blues? No way, that's absurd. I like pretty much anything that falls into the Folk and Art/Alt categories. I *generally* eschew things that fall into the Pop category, but there are always exceptions (some of it is so dang catchy!).
So in short, I think that we might have a more reasoned debate if we were to ask folks why they like to play Folk, or why they like to play Alt/Art music, or why they like to play Pop.
To tell you the truth I never liked the blues genre until I started playing the harp. As a bass player I thought it was very repetitive and got boring fast. I was interested in playing harp before I realized that blues was where my tastes would take me. Now it has revitalized my interest in new music. I have found new stuff for the first time in years.
I've always liked the blues, but since I picked up the harmonica, I've come to love the blues. I believe it's because the genre highlights the instrument and affords me the opportunity to play. The band I play with plays a combination of rock, blues, folk and country. Although I play along with more of our tunes than not, the blues tunes we do allow me to rally cut loose. I'm still learning the instrument, and I find that second position is a little more forgiving as well.
I'm wary of the "bluesier than thou". That said, I am certain that blues resonates with some people differently than others. Once I heard good blues I've never had a choice but to be part of it. Learning the history, culture, collecting artifacts and, most of all, playing it. I don't expect everybody to feel the same way about it but it is a VERY serious thing to me.
I lost my wife, house, job, and car. in that order. All in a 30 day span. I didn't gravitate to it at all. It shoved itself right down my throat. The first video I ever posted on youtube was Gussow's .024. None of you can tell from the vid, but just before and immediately after, the music I made then, was accompanied by tears. Lots of them.
The 'blue third' as adam calls it... was the realization for me. a means of dealing with all the evil i felt. n still feel from time to time. it was only much later that a real blues man spoke words to me that defined my reasons. Howlin Wolf, I think, once said: "When you thinkin' evil thoughts, then you got the blues" Those words sent chills down my spine and icewater thru my veins.
I was evil, or rather consumed by evil, for a very long time as i made the transition from feeling the blues to playing it. and that evil, in the beginning, served me very well. ---------- Kyzer's Travels Kyzer's Artwork
Some forum members here give me the impression that blues is the only music they ever listen to. That's beyond my comprehension. I listen to everything from blues to jazz to rock to punk to trance to classical.
If I could take one disc to a desert island for the rest of my days it would be James Cotton, "Best of the Verve Years".
But right now and for the past 3 mths the CDs in my car have been Marcel Khalife's (phenomenal!!!!) "Taqassim", a James Brown "Best of" and Wes Montgomery's first guitar/organ/drums CD.
I listen to a LOT of jazz and world music, but I come here to discuss blues harp. I go elsewhere to discuss my other interests, especially jazz.
blues is to me a well spring of real-feeling- music. why do i play blues? i was exposed to harmonica- and some blues- by my gramps at an early age, and it was my only solace in the aftermath of losing my dad in a car wreck. gramps nicknamed me "mr. blue" and sat me on his knee and played all manner of music on his harp, and sang to me. it helped some. later, i used to surf the a.m. radio dial late at night and find the great stations of the early 60's that played blues. that's what resonated inside me.
even later i found a sort of side door back to blues after i'd gotten lost in top 40 radio for years: the brit invasion. eventually i "discovered" muddy, wolf, the walters, cotton, and a host of others. at about this time i accepted a legacy in the form of an old marine band harp, given to my dad by my gramps, and passed to me years later.
i'm not strictly blues. add roots, country, folk to the equation. but to me when i'm blowing harp, i out a blues spin on it no matter what genre i'm playing in.
like deke, i had my times of addiction, desperation, and salvation in one form or another. the joy of living without needing a drink or whatever every day needed an outlet. by that time i'd been fooling with harps for 15 or 20 years on and off and not really learning much. once my mind cleared up and i was able to be a student again- at least in some small way- i began to actually get it, to find the way to play that really expressed how i was feeling. sure being a musician is a way to meet women. but most i met when i was single were crazier than i was or am! for me it's been much more about the making of music that feels real and expresses what i have lived.
i know the guys and gals who originated the music lived much harder lives than i did, and they get all the credit for persevering and finding a way to prevail over their hardships. but i have a small place in the scheme of things these days and there is a lot of validation playing in a way that a lot of folks from 2 to 102 relate to. to me there's noting like seeing a kid or a grandparent, or a guy in a suit, hearing some bit if blues- that hang-off-the-back thing, and bobbing their head or getting a little spring in their step. my wife and i have had a duo going for 4 years now, longer than any other band or duo i have worked with in about 20 years. it's a thing we can do and love together. it brings us closer together and spreads good feeling most every time we go out and play. there is a community of blues musicians and fans who have a genuine regard for each other, both here where i live and across the country and world. it's a tremendous thing to be a part of.
i'm almost finished reading kim fields' book "harps, harmonicas, and heavy breathers". some of those cats he wrote about poise a similar question and wonder why people take up harp and "just play blues". personally i wonder how anyone can NOT play blues.
