[Harp-L] (no subject)

["Hurrican Ramón" <party_man1@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Ice man sez :

Excerpt .

The older trad players did not overblow/overdraw, as it was not a widely known technique nor concept.

And den .

Aalprice@xxxxxxx

sez :

" To my knowledge none of these older trad players used overblows or overdraws....Cotton,LW,BW and Sonny Boy to name but a few. "


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Hurricane sez :

Recording sessions are what these older guys have for  people to listen to . I have been there in sessions with Chan Romero , Jody Reynolds  , Hal Blaine ( look them up fellows :) Al Casey , and what goes down in most sessions in recording studios rarely catches the core of any musician's true talents when compared to their live shows ....

What I hear both of you fellas saying is in essence is that the older fellows were  not aware of OB's . Your entitled to your opinion and I respect it , I don't agree at all with you two  though however - - respectfully - - .

On Cotton , well I have heard him do them and masterfully --- Any others in this forum  who know will comment I'm sure .

As for others I did not get the opportunity to see I can't comment on .

As for the Old Hobo - - he did and did them as cool as can be and  I heard others over the years do the same in country western  music live in front of my face at the Hobo camp over the years it existed there by the railroad tracks under those tamarisk trees shade . Once  in  a  while you heard more than one at a time cutting heads it was fantastic , OB's & OD's on Old Marine Bands and other models like the  American Ace for  example and Piccolos too , Vest Pockets and some I just don't know what the heck they were or the manufacturer . Sure there wasn't  a lot of harmonica players compared  to the masses who play them and I didn't hear OB's or OD's every time I went down to the hobo camp. I read in the late 60's 3 million harmonica sold ever year in the USA alone . With numbers like that you'd think there would be more really great masters but even today with more sold than ever the ratio of masters vs the rest speaks for it's self .

" Many take  the call but few are chosen "  

I guess I learned about it from one of the few Kings Of The Road :)


OB's and draws are not the meat of a song , they are garnishes , they are accents and over all they are part of the equation not the solution .  As I mentioned about  lighting fast chops , they are not the bench mark  either of greatness although it's more than apparent that many think it is so  .  Again it's a matter of choice and opinion based on what you heard on a recorded session mostly I see hear making observations from a distance .

The solution  is somewhere in between the human element that goes way beyond fast chops or OB's & OD's and the music itself plain and simply put .

When I pop " Lady is a Tramp "I have to use draw bends and no OB's but from  time to time I find where I can throw some down into that song when the players around me play that song in a way that shows me it's " Show time for  OB's "  . 

I just heard Howard Levy's version of Bei Mir Bist Du Sehen . It can be done with or with OB's depends on the mood of the players and how the arrangement evolves more than any other factor .

There are nights when I use the hell  outa dem and other nights I use them sparingly because of  what I just wrote about above .

What truly is curious is that OB's have been around a long time  , I first learned of them in the early 60's and took 10 years into  the  70's to get them accomplished , why ten years ?

 - - I thought you'd never ask - -

Well , like the others before me I had to learn how to  trick out my harp first and that is a totally un real  thing to comprehend in  theory ,  and then apply to a harmonica physically in the proper set up , reed gapping and so forth is another learning curve to try and get a fix on , then when you've got a tight seal  and good gaps and stuff you blow out a reed and then begin the humbling experience of trying to realize how and where and how much pressure to apply and what angle to hold the file against the reed to re tune it . You go through countless reeds and still mess them up for years in my case . I got to get the finesse to be good at it when alone and no one's help ( like all the rest before me ) there  to guide and help - - in short you realized how it was done all alone .

¿ Who showed the Hobo ?

He said he learned to play from his father to me when he was a kid like me at 8 years of age , we're talking 1958 when I saw and heard him pump  and he was in his 50's at least ,  so what does that tell ? Well  it  means that somewhere in the 1910's he new of OB's from his father , now who ya think  taught his father and when chronologically hmmmmmmmmm ?

All this in the late 50's & 60's  I began to learn and as mentioned ,

No books ,

No " Jam Camps ,

No harmonica pro's who would willingly show you for a price ( remember the post that mentioned the secret nature of the old timers huh ? Get my drift blood brothers ) , and that attitude still  prevails I am  sure today . Howard Levy charges $1500.00 for a 5 day week seminar and $750.00 for your significant other to tag along  .

Cotton talked to me , but , did he tell  me about how to do a OB

- - nope - -

 Did he tell me about shaving the wooden comb after it swelled pass the reed plates

- - nope - -

Did he mention to me about how you do a flip from the stage above the crowd 4 feet above where he would land while doing an OB

- - ¡ NOPE - - !  - - 

Anyone here ever see Cotton in his prime  in the  60's ?

- - Me - -

Any others in this forum who were witness to some other harmonica giants of the past care to jump in and make a comment on this threads topic feel free to lay it down for the Non believers .

I would love to here how they blew peoples  minds with live stuff they pulled off that no recording session could even hope to  capture :)

 LOL heh  heh as for me ---


The XB40 , based on the OB's technique on woodies from the men of the past who started it way way long ago ...........

That's my story and I'm sticking to it . YMMV .

Sincerely :

HR

Aka :

Party_Man1@xxxxxxxxxx



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