[Harp-L] SPAH Charlie Musselwhite reads

[Philharpn@xxxxxxx]

This may be old news to some, but I hadn't heard that Charlie Musselwhite 
taught himself to read music.

During the Question and Answer session with Charlie Musselwhite (excellently 
led by Warren Bee) Charlie mentioned that he used to haunt junk shops in 
Chicago, looking for old microphones and records and he came across a music book. 
He didn't know how to read music at the time but he figured if he practiced 
some of the exercises in the book, it might help him to become a better player. 
He started working his way through the book, writing down numbers next to each 
note so he would know which hole to play. He said he kept doing this for a 
while and then several weeks later he realized he didn't need to write the 
numbers anymore. He had accidentally taught himself to read music.

He said that if he had conscientiously set out to teach himself to read 
music, he probably wouldn't have been able to do it.   But this just kind of 
sneaked up on him. And before he knew it, he could read music.

 I was talking to Mel Bay author (about 20 harmonica books) Phil Duncan later 
and I asked him if he was in the room to hear Charlie relate that story about 
reading music. Phil said he was there at Charlie's session and that when he 
and Charlie were working on "Power Blues Harp" ($25, Mel Bay, 1997; with CD)   
they incorporated some of those exercises into the book. I looked at my copy 
and the book is 90 pages, spiral bound and has 18 tunes; exercises & tunes in 
2nd position, 3rd position,4th position, 5th position. The CD appears to list 
most of the exercises. 

I can't remember working my way through the book, but just reading the pages 
(music notation and tab for blues harp and chromatic) it appears to be a wise 
investment. If you buy it and find that you can play along with the CD or 
through all the songs in the book at least you can say you can play the Charlie 
Musselwhite Power Blues Harp book. If not, you've got a few hours of Charlie 
style books tunes and exercises to work on. For $25, you can't lose.

Phil Lloyd




Phil Lloyd



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