[Harp-L] Re: Rhythym willie

[Tom Ball <havaball@xxxxxxx>]

> Hi Tom, hope you can open this, first time converting a track to an mp3
> Let me know your verdict
----------------------

Hi Robert,
Thanks for passing that along -- yep, it opened up just fine.

While I appreciate your confidence, I'm not sure my take on this 
could be called a 'verdict.'   More just an opinion -- and you know 
the old adage about opinions... <g>

Anyhow he's playing an Ab diatonic, first position, and has a superb 
degree of command over his high-note blow-bends.  I also have to 
assume that in addition to his excellent technique, it's also likely 
that Marine Bands of the 1940s may have been better made than they 
are nowadays?

In any event, it's evident that he's playing softly and has perfected 
the gradiations of hole 10 blow bends.  My Email program accidently 
erased all of yesterday's mail, but I *think* the lick we were 
discussing was the final lick of the song(?)

Assuming so, on a guitar (or a piano,) what Willie is shooting for -- 
and what the ear wants to hear -- is the common chromatic ending: 
Eb, D, Eb, E, F, F#, G, Ab.

In order to hit all those notes dead accurately, yes you'd probably 
need to do something tricky to get the fourth note -- the E note -- 
on your Ab harp in the upper register. The fifth note of the lick -- 
the F -- would also present problems.  However if you listen really 
closely and play along, I don't think Willie's really doing that. 
Sounds to me like he's playing:  9blow  / 9blow-bend / 9blow / 10draw 
/ Then the next four notes are all gradiations of 10 blow, starting 
with most bent and ending with no bend.

Yes, the fourth note -- the 10draw -- would indeed be sharp a 
half-step.  But in trying to recreate this lick, I find 10draw can be 
flattened a bit if you draw with a common draw-bend attack. (It won't 
go flat the full half-step, but it flattens a *little* bit and, when 
played quickly and in context, creates the illusion of being the 
chromatically correct note.) That's what my ear tells me RW is doing.

Technically the next few notes are also fudged a bit. Note #5 of the 
lick is also slightly sharp because it's not possible to bend all the 
way down to an F on hole 10... but if you dig really deep, you can 
get close.  If you do the last four notes really quickly, the ear 
gets fooled.  Basically he just fudges the last notes, resolving on 
10blow Ab.

In other words, of this 8-note run, only notes 1, 2, 3 and 8 are dead 
accurate.  I think Willie is caressing notes 4-7, finessing them, and 
fudging slightly on the exactitude of them.  If you try playing it 
that way I think you'll find that the ear fills in the tiny gaps.

So for what it's worth, I don't think there's overblowing or 
overdrawing here. He just had great control of bends, and that 
control, in combination with the tendency of the human ear to hear 
what it wants to hear, results in a slightly sour (but nevertheless 
totally hep!) 8-note "chromatic" run.  I'd be curious to hear other 
opinions though, and welcome healthy cross-fire, whether in agreement 
or not.

cheers and best,
Tom Ball