I am right-handed, and hold the harp in my right hand, right side up. When
I started in 1954, I had no one to tell me anything about the harp. I find
it no hinderance, but may be living in ignorant bliss. About a couple years
ago, I tried to change hands, but it felt so unnatural, I decided to remain
in error. Bullfrog
----- Original Message -----
From: "fjm" <mktspot@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2004 10:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Did Sonny Terry Do It Upsidedown
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
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