Re: [Harp-L] Chugging and Choo-Choo Noises



"It takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry" by Bob Dylan. Also recorded by our own Richard Hunter, another decent harp player ;-)

On 2014-10-17 17:32, Mike Wilbur wrote:
One of my favorite lines " it takes a train to cry ". Just can't remember what song that came from.

Love Train Sounds....from Trains, I grew up with them too.


Mike Wilbur


On Oct 17, 2014, at 11:20 AM, Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


I have to join the Doug/Mike parade on this. I consider the two instruments as completely different and each with it's own attributes and pitfalls. And while I do a lot of tunes using both on the same tune, there is nothing like a diatonic for some things. Whereas the chromatic is better for some things. For example: to play Summertime on a chromatic or Georgia on a diatonic. Anything else is borderline blasphemy. I play about 60/40 chromo/diat.

I find it amusing that the best players on choo choo and train sounds are: #1.. too young to have experienced real trains (Steam). and #2.. never lived 132 feet from train tracks.

As a small child growing up in Sharpsburg (Pittsburgh), I would lie in my crib at night and listen to the coke trains coming down the Allegheny valley from the ovens upriver.
When they reached the edge of our town they would blow their whistles so that the mills would know that they were only 1 1/2 miles away and to get ready. The sounds of
those whistles echoing in the valley were some of the creepiest, most laconic, morose, lonely sounds I have ever heard even to this day. And for that dear friends....definitely
requires a diatonic. As the trains went by they would shake the glazing compound out of the window frames. .   lolol

smokey joe. (who once told Casey Jones "Slow the h*** down goof ball") yes, he is the most unforgettable character you will ever meet.


On Oct 17, 2014, at 10:34 AM, Mike Wilbur wrote:

I have to agree with Doug on this.
If a diatonic was specifically built for Train Sounds, I would take up the Trombone again.

I know Choo-Choo and Chugging has a important place in Music and certainly a historical significance in American Blues, Country and Blue Grass.
I respect that.

For myself.....I'll take the bus






Mike Wilbur



On Oct 17, 2014, at 10:07 AM, Doug Schroer <dougharps@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Thanks for posting a very nice clip of chromatic harmonica playing Gershwin
well.

You know, I have never heard anyone say that chromatic harmonica was "made
for chugging and choo-choo noises."  It isn't.  It was designed to play
music that the diatonic could not perform well.

Regarding Richter tuned diatonic harmonica (designed for chords), there is
an historical tradition of playing "chugging and choo-choo noises" in a
folk style that can demonstrate mastery of certain techniques, and that has
been used to entertain many.

"Chugging" can also be used as part of rhythmic self accompaniment in
blues.  I do not engage in train and fox chase renditions, as it is not my
thing, but I respect the technique needed to perform this well.

Can't we appreciate a chromatic harmonica performance without a swipe at an
old school diatonic technique?

I wish you had just posted the YouTube video without the "Chugging and
Choo-Choo Noises" heading.





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