Re: [Harp-L] Did Sonny Terry Do It Upsidedown

[fjm <mktspot@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I thought Paul Butterfield was right handed.  If you hold right handed, 
cup left, the left handed way of playing then there is a distinct 
advantage to playing with the low notes to the right.  You end up with 
the low notes in the cup of your hand.  The lower 6 notes are the most 
frequently played on a 10 hole diatonic and they benefit the most from 
being cupped and hand effects.  I play left handed, holding right.  I 
position the harmonica conventionally, low notes to the player's left. 
I consider this to be a significant obstacle in my playing.  There a re 
a couple of things that are made easier by this style, really fast 
triplets for instance but the vast majority of conventional blues riffs 
are made more difficult.  I've had this arguement on another list with 
CJ Tipper/ Vinnie Hall.  He doesn't buy it but he plays upside down and 
backwards so my arguements don't apply to his style of holding.  (plus 
all the blood rushes to his head) I think it's difficult for most right 
handed people to imagine these situations.  I've spent a lifetime 
dealing with a right handed world and the problems it creates. 
Handedness and its implications are something I'm faced with and deal 
with on a literally daily basis.  I was in my early 20's before I had 
the epiphany.  I was working as a janitor and we were mopping wax onto a 
large gymnasium floor.  My supervisor kept yelling at me because I was 
doing the turns wrong and causing the mop to flip and leave spray marks 
of wax.  Luckily for me the second in command guy came over and asked me 
if I was left handed and once I'd said yes showed me how to mop left 
handed in a way that worked for my boss.  If statistics hold true for 
this list 97% of you won't know what I'm talking about.  There are 
approximately 1000 subscribed addresses.  If I'm lucky 30 people are now 
nodding their heads in unison.  fjm