Re: [Harp-L] Holy Cats of Cacophony!!! ( a summary )

[Mike Fugazzi <mfugazzi67@xxxxxxxxx>]

FWIW, I?d like to add my two cents about obs and such.
 Most the time we get some great insight from seasoned
pros.  I am hoping this post, coming from a
non-seasoned pro will add a different viewpoint from
the discussion without typing so much nobody reads it.
 So after a little background about where I am coming
from, I?ll summarize my personal findings.

I gig with a full band pretty much every weekend (but
am a total amateur).  My bass player is classically
trained, and my guitar player went to Berklee, teaches
guitar full-time and takes ear training lessons for
fun.  That being said, I?ve played with the bass
player for four years, the guitar player for two and
have never heard boo from them in terms of overblows
and intonation.  If it isn?t enough to bother them,
then it doesn?t bother me ;)  In fact, the guitar
player writes a lot of hooks he expects me to follow
full knowing that I can hit more notes then most the
harpers around these parts.  He actually encourages
the use of the chromatic scale!

I am nowhere near the league of other ob-ers on the
list.  In fact, I am like the younger brother in
elementary school who tries to hangout with his older,
high school-aged brother and friends.  However, I can
hit the obs on 4, 5, and 6 on any harp I own and
usually the 7 od and whatever else I want to practice.
 I can play a lot more ob riffs and scales then I have
ever played live.  That being said, I can?t imagine
not playing those notes!   There are a lot of BAD ob
players in the same way there are a lot of band
benders.  That really destories a lot of credibility.

Most my practice time is spent on intonation on the
harp.  Both ?regular? bends and obs.  After spending
months and months doing this, I realized, like in
Jason Ricci?s past post, that perfect intonation on
any of the bends is impossible.  I can always hear
difference no matter who is playing.  There are a
mirad of ways to disguise this, but at the end of the
day a well-trained ear can pick them out.  In fact, it
is way easier for me to learn a riff via harp then any
other instrument.  Intervals can be tricky for me, but
hearing the bends makes it easier to tab harp lines.

At the end of the day, 99% of the world isn?t going to
notice and even fewer are going to care.  There are
issues like this on almost all instruments, and once
again one man?s trash is another man?s treasure. 
Music is language.  Everything is rhythm and tone.  It
is our ability to self-express and interpret that
makes those words actually mean something.  If it
sounds good play it.  If it doesn?t sound good you can
still play and somebody will probably find it cool.

If playing the music inside you involves playing
chromatically on the diatonic, it will be a difficult
task that is not impossible.  There is a lot of
argument about obs sounding ugly and how playing some
songs is impossible on diatonic.  That?s a lot of
garbage.  Knowledge of theory, bending, and obs makes
any song doable.  Now whether or not it is fancied by
the mainstream is a whole other story.

The intonation and playability of the harmonica should
be used to aid our playing and not hinder it.  Playing
12 keys on one harp is a noble task, but may be not
really musical.  However knowing you can hit an ob
lets you game plan a song with a lot more options.  I
personally use theory to avoid playing a lot of
overblows. 

What is often overlooked in all the bending talk is
the contribution contemporaries have made to the role
of the harmonica.  Ob guys tend to push the use of
theory with the harmonica.  That has benefited ob
players and those who don?t ob and chose to use
different tunings, etc.  Before guys like Levy, how
much discussion was there about 12th position/1st
flat?  A whole new generation of players are learning
harmonica as an actual instrument instead of a toy or
blues only tool!  Players are adding all sorts of new
sounds and phrasing ideas!  I don?t have empirical
data, but I am very much of the opinion that the ob
?revolution? has led to a harp renissance in recent
years.  Obing helps some of us get one step closer to
musical fluency!!!

You don?t have to be an ob player to be great.  Buy we
cannot deny that the bar is being set higher and
higher and a long with new technology getting the word
out, the overblow has really helped push the perceived
limits and role of the harmonica.  The fact that
copying Little Walter riffs is now no longer good
enough probably scares and upsets a lot of players.  

I am into music because of the art of it.  I?d much
rather here an so-so ob then a player who plays a
million notes using action patterns?unless of course
those patterns form artistic shapes.  In a world where
Paris Hilton can have a hit record, musical ability
means less and less then wow factor.  I want to do my
part to restore some actual musical ability to the
scene.  I am proud to be a harp player since, on the
whole, the friends I have made that play tend to be
worried about good music over a good gimmick.   

My rambling is now over.  Forza Italia!!! ;)

Mike Fugazzi
www.myspace.com/mikefugazzi
www.niterail.com




> --- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Jason Ricci
> <jason@...> wrote:
> 
>    Wow I step away from the L for like five minutes
> and bam!!! I don't
> know
> where to start...You guys really nailed every
> element of this
> intonation/tonal/timbre/playing thing
> down...everyone knows I think the
> intonation timbre thing is ridiculous cause like fJM
> said tons of
> instruments have issues especially upright basses
> and trumpets.But this
> isn't what Bull dog was arguing cause he's cool,
> Incidentally I'm quitting
> harmonica caused Howard's already got the
> chromatisism thing down and
> trying
> my luck at full time Theremin intonational mastery,
> they really avoid this
> issue on theramin l. Like the veteran he is Joe
> Leone summed it up pretty
> soulfully with his post...I once said it well here
> too when we had
> this talk
> before almost a year ago... Please, Please read my
> old post on this
> subject
> as I'll never say it that well again here:
> 
>     Title of post:( OB's/Intonation/Wabis/second try
> sorry if this posts
> twice...)
> 
>
http://harp-l.org/mailman/htdig/harp-l/2006-January/msg00819.html
> 
>   

Mike Fugazzi
vocals/harmonica

http://www.myspace.com/mikefugazzi
http://www.niterail.com

"Capitalize on your own strengths; develop your own style.
The world needs another harp player doing Little Walter licks
as much as it needs another Elvis impersonator."
-Paul deLay


 
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