RE: Bluesharp Tone

["M. Erickson" <erickm@xxxxxxxxx>]

I might as well add my 2 cents to this thread:

Tone has to be evaluated in relation to the style of the music being played.
Albert Collins has wonderful blues guitar tone, but that tone would be
utterly out of place in a cover of Merle Haggards "Working Man Blues".
Likewise, The tone of a Telecaster played through a Fender Twin in the
Bakersfield style would have no place in a cover "Hoochie Coochie Man".
Merle's tone and Collin's tone are both great, but the tone has to be
considered relative to the style of music played. Williams Clark's fat,
gorgeous tone wouldn't sound right in "Orange Blossom Special", but Charlie
McCoy's tone sounds perfect in that song. Jazz, Classic and Country use
cleaner tones; Blues and Rock tend to use "dirtier" tones.

Bottom Line: Tone is the player, and the player should be able to adjust his
tone to make it appropriate for the music being played. (Good equipment
helps.)

> That she brought tears to your eyes [get a grip man!]
> may have clouded
> your vision. She has lots of nice qualities, no doubt,
> but her ~tone~ isnt
> one of them [rich vibrato not withstanding]. You are
> advocating th divil
> and ye know it Lad. Vibrato is one final detail that
> helps to produce good,
> fat, blues harp TONE.
>