[Harp-L] Subject: Who decides who is Bad or Good?

[EGS1217@xxxxxxx]

I'm not sure I care who said this:
 
"But a bad player will always sound bad no matter what gear he uses"
 
....but as a recent newbie who reentered the harmonica world as a strict  
amateur  fully expecting to remain so, and only recently began to learn  some 
techniques and some diatonic blues after playing chromatics for years  -- how on 
earth is someone like me to ever know whether I'm "good", "bad" or  merely 
"passable", especially after hearing this?  
 
It took every ounce of courage I had to tentatively play my chromatic for  
the first time in public late at night in the lounge at Buckeye with a couple of 
 very sweetly generous chrom players who insisted I join them (and I was 
happy to  play below the guitar player so he could drown out any mistakes) but 
forced  myself to take that huge first step because friends I'd made there 
assured me  there would be no "judgments" and we were all equal -- all harmonica  
players.  I believed that till now....
 
Since I'm the only musical one in my family with no encouragement and have  
only been able to play what I hear, naturally I'm already unsure about any  
musical capabilities I might have, have had absolutely no harmonica players in  
my life to give me pointers  or critiques so am, essentially, flying  blind.
 
I remember being told upon one of my earliest forays onto Harp-L that all  it 
required to play Harmonica is "to blow with Soul" -- I needed to hear it  and 
have been following that advice while practicing diligently, since it so fit  
my idea of what playing music is all about.  All I've ever wanted to  do is 
play the music I hear in my head, and if I eventually got up  enough courage to 
want to play for a few outsiders (other than  family), I'd certainly hope 
they wouldn't immediately decide  I was a BAD player because I'm nowhere of the 
caliber of a Sonny  Terry, Big or Little Walter, etc.  
 
How on earth is someone ever to find out if they even have "chops" or  "tone" 
or "resonance" without proper input and not dismissive judgment?
 
I suppose if there's a question in all of this it's this (for anyone  to 
answer):  Who told you - or how did you find out YOU were a good  player?
 
Elizabeth