[Harp-L] Bird on Harmonica

["jazmaan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <dmf273@xxxxxxxxx>]

Recently I've been playing along with Bird on my XB-Melody.  Not just his heads, but his actual
solos.  I've used Sound Forge to slow them down - way down - so I can hear the individual notes. 
I've got some Bird transcriptions too, and I've tried learning that way.   But I find it more
satisfying and direct to just pick out the notes myself.   Some passages are difficult, but it's
amazing to me how many passages really flow on the XB-Melody, and the joy I experience from
playing them, just like the joy I get from listening to Bird, makes life worth living!

I can't imagine that I would ever be able to play this stuff on a standard diatonic using OB's.   
I can't even imagine doing it on a standard XB-40. But the precisely limited bends of the
XB-Melody tuning combined with the raised 5 and 9 draws and the raised 3 blow open up a whole
world of sweet possibilities.