Re: [Harp-L] How we learned diatonic harmonica in the "olden days"

[John Kally <jkally3@xxxxxxx>]

Good question.  I'm definitely in with the "old guys" (at 51) on this  
one.  Basically, there was only one real "blues" book out there, the  
Glover one, not many teachers and so you either figured it out  
yourself, faked it or tracked down somebody better than you and  
pestered them until they gave you some help or told you to beat it.
.  I too had a copy of Tony Glover's book,  didn't do much for me  
except point me in the direction of the players mentioned in it  
(incidentally, see Pat Missin's site for details on the errors in  
there).  So, at 15 I started taking lessons at McCabes in Santa  
Monica,  a small group class, the teacher being Rick Epping, who is  
best known for his years with Hohner including the XB40 design.  A  
real stroke of luck as he was already a good teacher and player back  
then (1972), and gave me a new handwritten,  tabbed-out tune each  
week and every one was a different style, fiddle tunes then  then  
Sonny Terry,  then Paul Butterfield, etc.  Trouble was, when those  
lessons were done I didn't know what to work on next.   A year or two  
later I decided I needed to learn more stuff, and so I asked the harp  
player in a local blues band for lessons.  Happened to be Gary Smith,  
Bay Area legend.  Every lesson was just off the top of his head,  
nothing written down,  but he spent time listening to me and pointing  
out my mistakes as well as giving me clues about which records to  
listen to. Years later, when I heard about "overblows" I buttonholed  
Howard Levy after a Flectones gig and he kindly sat down with me for  
about an hour for an impromptu lesson.  And that's basically been it  
for me except for the very occasional "events" I've attended like  
Barrett's Masterclass and the Minneapolis Summit.  Every different  
band I've played with (folk groups, Irish bands, blues bands) has  
forced me to learn new material, otherwise I just practice in fits  
and starts.  I should be better by now!
There is so much information out there now, it's no wonder there are  
so many good players all over the place.  I'm sure I would have  
gotten a lot better a lot faster if I hadn't had to spend so much  
time just figuring out keys  and positions mostly on my own.  And  
Harp-l is right at the top of the list for finding out stuff that  
used to take ages to figure out .  Incidentally, among the many  
materials out there I'd highly recommend  Harp-L's  own Winslow  
Xerxa's  HIP publications and CDs.  Even though I'm still waiting on  
the fabled Issue #6,  there is  a wealth of good information to be  
gotten there.
Just for fun, I did leave up my "amp test" mp3  that I put up a few  
weeks back to demo the no-name little amp I found a while back.  The  
playing was just messing around, but you might want to listen just so  
you can say, "At least I'm better than THAT!"

http://www.members.cox.net/lkally/amptest.mp3