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

[Pierre <slavio@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Chris has recanted his view,  not surprising - Brendan Power uses altered 
tunings. He is not lazy by any means.

I am sure there are lazy musicians but we should not generalize. ( My turn 
to have fun! )

Some jazz players (and other musicians) have a view that Blues players 
should not stop at I, IV, V blues. Those people consider Blues to be a 
starting place not a destination. I probably would have accepted that view a 
year ago; I have been pondering why old pros were not learning to overblow. 
Are they lazy or are they old dinosaurs? or what?

Although music evolves, some cro-magnon like (he he he) people will always 
be happy playing a particular idiom using vintage methods because that is 
what they like to do and perhaps what they are really good at. Now some of 
these people can specialize and get extremely good in their style and the 
really original and talented ones can blow away many extremely sophisticated 
musicians by their performances. At the same time, some are not that good 
but that is just life.

Nowadays, it is getting harder and harder to do original sounding blues. 
Those who succeed will have to be particularly eloquent and creative to 
survive. They will have to find new within the old; that is not easy, few 
will reach the pinnacle. I love modern inovative blues (and other modern 
retro music); I have to admit I find a lot of I, IV, V tunes boring. I'm 
waiting for the new blues.

Now I love Howard Levy, Toots and Carlos Del Junco (a recent addition (have 
not seen ChrisM)) but If I could only see one more live show before I die, I 
would pick Jim Zeller in an after midnight bar setting. Jim is a local Blues 
singer/musician. He plays chromatic but I have never seen him use it and 
from what I have seen he does not need it at all, to be original. To me he 
is both a showman and a musician (not just a bluesman) extraordinaire (BTW 
he does not perform antics on the stage). Its mostly the music and the 
delivery. He really puts on a show. He uses a stock diatonic much like Bela 
fleck uses his banjo (makes me wonder if he is a Flecktone). Now I am sure 
there are unknown musicians like Jim in every part of the world. Some on 
guitar, some on piano, fiddles, ...

Learning cromaticism is a worthy direction but it is hardly essential as 
some people can do a lot with very little. People invest time where they see 
fit, when they chose wisely they advance their cause and bring respect to 
the others who are trying.

Many of these
> people take their art a lot further than the masochist
> who wont use a chisel because his screwdriver should
> be good enough.

Really well said! Everyone needs to find their own way in accordance with 
their aspirations, needs and their abilities; you can be lazy in some things 
and extremely hard working in others. There are probably good easy ways and 
good hard ways and still other ways. In the end, the proof is always in the 
pudding.

Pierre.

PS: Don't go out and buy Jim's CD on my saying, I am not sure what he does 
on stage can be captured on a CD.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Roy Germon" <rgermon@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, November 29, 2004 2:07 PM
Subject: RE: [Harp-L] OB, CX or XB?


> I cant really tell if you're being sarcastic or not,
> so...  I never saw anyone re-tune their guitar at a
> blues show as often as Paul Rishell did when I watched
> him and Annie Raines play together.  It would be
> preposterous to suggest that Paul just cant cut it as
> a musician, and is compensating.
>
> For anyone who knows of guitar player Don Ross, pretty
> much all of his songs are on non-standard tunings.
> How many people in the world can play what he plays?
>
> People buy all kinds of altered and unaltered
> instruments for a variety of reasons.  Any blanket
> statement is bound to be wrong.  Sure there are those
> who try to compensate for a lack of skill by buying
> better equipment.  There are also those who just want
> to choose the right tool for each job.  Many of these
> people take their art a lot further than the masochist
> who wont use a chisel because his screwdriver should
> be good enough.
>
> Roy
>
> --- Chris Michalek <Chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > 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
>
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