Re: Get Me Going on the Blues

[PL500@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 8/25/03 11:25:53 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
bbqbob917@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:


> Hi Andy,
> In nearly 30 years of pro playing experience, it ain't just harp players
> that are clearly guilty of not paying enough attention to these things,
> which in reality, are VERY subtle, but EXTREMELY important to understand as
> well as to be able to perform. I've seen so many musicians who love to brag
> at how easy it is to play blues, and they're usually the very LAST people to
> understand the importance of all this. In conversations I've had with many
> greats over the years, it is always something they constantly talk about,
> and a quote I read somewhere from Sonny Boy II explains it in a nutshell
> about the way the musicians played blues in England when he was on tour
> there, "They play the blues so bad, but they play it so bad." I know he
> surely wasn't saying the term "bad" meant good, as it is often referred to
> today. It shows how many musicians, especially white musicians often do not
> make the time and effort necessary to learn how to properly play the groove
> and feel, and just sliong a bunch of notes together as fast as they can. The
> full time studio session musicians generally have a FAR better understanding
> of these things, and too often musicians who only play bars and jams snicker
> at them, but if they had to deal with real session work, like I had to do on
> the session for the move, "Fried Green Tomatoes," knowing what was involved,
> they'd have a different understanding entirely. It seems that for a lot of
> musicians, if it ain't smacking 'em upside the head with a 54 ounce baseball
> bat, they usualloy won't get it.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Barbeque Bob Maglinte
> Boston, MA
> 

Indeed, 

Too many musicians (Particularly where I live) have no idea or notion how to 
play blues. Those who brag about how "easy" blues is to play generally cannot 
play blues at all. Funny how most people who brag about how easy something is 
to play cannot play something simple sounding with feel. Most of the braggers 
that I have heard are guitar players (One of the most idiotic breeds of 
musicians) who somehow believe that blues is something that they can pick up 
overnight, or with a couple of lessons. This doesn't fly for a number of reasons, but 
mainly because playing blues well is very difficult. 

The best way to start playing blues is to listen to the music and develop a 
love for it. Take your time in learning to play, spend more time listening to 
the music than playing it. Be open to criticism about your sound, but smart 
enough to know when people have no ear. Bob is right, most of the hacks who laugh 
and scoff at session players are idiots and there is a reason why they will 
spend the rest of their lives as plumbers and not musicians. Listening is the 
key, that is what seperates the real musicians from the quasi plumber/ 
guitar-harmonica owner. 

Andrew