[Harp-L] quoting in a solo for fun

["Sloppy Joe" <special20@xxxxxxxxx>]

At one time, I invited a friend to come see me play. I had a solo in a song,
and instead of playing my usual part, I belted out the 'head' from Easy. It
was an inside joke between us, as he never really liked Easy, for his own
personal reasons. So, being a wise guy, I really enjoyed the look on his
face as I looked into the the sparse audience... he was making that 'bitter
beer face'.

I'd just like to let folks know that it's okay to 'plagiarize' when playing
live - and really, there isn't any need to credit the originator - those who
'get it' will understand and have their own emotional response. Those who
don't recognize the quote, will ultimately just enjoy the tune... at best.
After all, if you are in fact good enough to cop somebody's classic riff,
note for note, it's likely you could do your own 'original' solo, too.

Or what... I should thank Jimmie Reed, and Richard Salwitz every time I
perform a 10 blow bend?... or Gwen Foster... anyway, NO.

When a harp player is working, that's pretty good in itself. Having a chance
to perform my own original stuff - that's the paradigm I seek. It's not
necessarily everyone's paradigm though.