how Does Popper play?, SloMo

[Winslow Yerxa <76450.3230@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

TO: internet:harp-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Joh Winderbaum asks about John Popper's embouchure and about bt
tab.

Gary Warren thinks he's a blocker. I don't remember if I've ever
asked him, but I get the distinct impression that he plays with a
pucker. Of course he blocks for octaves, and uses a lot of
tongue-split chords comping behind guitar solos. Whatever he
uses, I don't think his embouchure will unlock any secrets about
his speed or note choices.

The songbook for the current bt album "Four" will have complete
harmonica transcriptions, in both written music and tab.
Probably be out in a month or so.

Yes, as Gary mentions, I did use the Slo-Mo, but only where
half-speed tape absolutely flat-out wouldn't give me the goods.
The Slo-mo has rather poor resolution at low speeds and chirps
something fierce. It makes a hash of everything but the lead
melody line (other parts frequently provide essential metric
information - was that note 1/64th before or after the last 16th
note in the third beat?) therefore I use it only as needed
for topical application. For transcription (as opposed to copping
licks) it's indispensible as a powerful specialty tool, but is
not practical as a main axe, for these and other reasons (it only
records about a minute of music that goes away when you turn it
off; you can't maintain counter readings from session to session;
the user interface is not as straightforward as an ordinary tape
control).


Winslow Yerxa
Harmonica Information Press
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