[Harp-L] Tom Ball's Little Walter Big Walter Sourcebook

[<teyers@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I recently took delivery of Tom Ball's "Sourcebook of Little Walter/Big Walter Lick's for Blues Harmonica", published by Hal Leonard, and available, amongst other places, at Dave Barrett's site, http://www.harmonicamasterclass.com/littlewalter.htm

The book is worth buying for the detailed Little Walter/Big Walter history lesson alone. Tom outlines around 70 licks, both in harmonica tab and on the CD that comes with the book. His playing is very strong, although, as he says, the best thing is to hear the two masters themselves.

Nonetheless, I wouldn't mind a few paragraphs on Harp-l from Tom on how he gets his acoustic tone and vibrato....

Also, I notice that (almost) all of the licks are played on a Bb diatonic. Dave Barrett seems to do the same thing with his examples. Is the Bb chosen as a sitting midway between the A,C and D instruments most likely used on the original recordings? Or, is the Bb used to avoid potential copyright issues? I would assume that Little Walter/Big Walter rarely played in F.

I would be interested to know..

PS I loved SPAH in 2005, and would have dearly liked to have gone this year. Maybe next year

Tony Eyers
Australia
www.harmonicatunes.com