RE: [Harp-L] OB, CX or XB?

["Chris Michalek" <Chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

You guys who aren't a part of our superduper special overblow club
just read and comprehend what you want. Read what I wrote again,
you'll see that  I said there ARE exceptions.....  I never mentioned
odd instruments. I'd rather have Bernard Purdie on cardboard boxes
and soup cans than Joe six-pack with his million dollar drumset. I'd
rather have Rosco on an out of the box weltmeister than than Pitch
Puptent on an altered marine band customized by Philip Isko

It is the opinion of many that folks who ise altered intstruments are
those that can not do it on regular ones. Why else would they alter
it? This often means they can not cut it as a "real" musician because
they are lazy or need things to be easier... of course there ARE
exceptions. ie: the maestro Richard Hunter

The argument about the overblows not sounding as good as the other
notes is what I like to call "abunchofhooey"  as I mentioned before
it's only other harmonica players that mention the issues with
overblows.  What really matters is what the audience thinks and I've
never had a person come up to me and say "hey that sounded great
except for those funky sounding notes that you hit every other
second...." I've had this very discussion with other members of our
super duper elitest overblow club and they concur.

So think what you want and do want you feel is best for you.  I agree
with Bonfiglio that OB'ing is a fake technique for those in the know
us OB'ers actually use a foot pedal button to get that note few
people can.





>
>
>
>---- Original Message ----
>From: blittlehales@xxxxxxxxx
>To: Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: RE: [Harp-L] OB, CX or XB?
>Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2004 03:09:28 -0000
>
>>
>>
>>Chris wrote:
>><Sheer stubborness? Naw, more like enlightenment. Ever notice that
>><musicans with odd instruments are usually terrible? Like a 7 or 8
>><string guitar - yes I know there are exceptions but I think they
>><choose these things because they are not good enough to do what
>they
>><want on a regular instrument. 
>>
>>That's simply not true. Big Joe Williams played an eight or nine
>>string guitar and he was terrific. If you'd said, "saw players," I
>>might be more inclined to agree. But maybe not.
>>
>><Like I said there are always
>><exceptions but show me a drummer with a shiny new drum set and I'll
>><show you one of the a mediocre drummer. I'll take the guy drumming
>on
>><a cardboard box before the dude with three bass drums and a million
>><toms and cymbals.
>>
>>Wait- didn't you just say that musicians w/ unusual instruments
>don't
>>cut it? You don't think a guy drumming on a cardboard box is more
>>unusual than someone on a shiny new kit? And then there's the
>>hyperbolic three bass drum kit-- the ideal musical straw man. Is
>there
>>a a drummer anywhere who uses three bass drums? 
>>
>><I tend to think the same thing about alter tuned harps and XBs. Of
>><course there are exceptions but even Rosco could out play anybody
>><with an alter-tuned harp.
>>
>>Of course I have to ask, "Who's Rosco?" Maybe Rosco is the tricky 7-
>>string- guitar- playing- three- bass- drum- hitting- faux- musician
>we
>>should be viewing cautiously. 
>>
>>I don't know many alter-harp players, it's true, but the ones I
>know,
>>like Al Wilson, with that beautiful altered solo on "On the Road
>>Again" (solder on the reeds, btw), Pierre Beauregard and Magic Dick,
>>not to mention all the chromatic harmonica orchestra guys, Charlie
>>McCoy are all pretty good players. Plus Brendan Power, Pat Missin...
>>Roscos all?
>>
>>Rosco- yeesh.
>>
>>Besides, chromaticism isn't the be-all or end all in music. If it
>>were, people would be playing songs on those circular pitch pipes.
>Now
>>that's an instrument to beware of. 
>>
>>Bret
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>

Chris Michalek

"it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have
it."  - Mr Figglesby regarding musical prowess