[Harp-L] plug in your soul

[David Fertig <drfertig@xxxxxxxxx>]

Brilliant Rob Paparrozi identifies the primary effects device in blues: one's soul.  Sage Stan Billings and others note James Cotton will play any rig - or none - and still make it work for him, which truths and talents I adore. 

My eyes often glaze-over at all the technical stuff discussed here,  which I nonetheless hugely respect because such wonderful amps and systems and techniques make it sooo much easier to get one's good tone out there.  

My heart - and ears - become glazed over when people play good ol' blues standards with stone-cold accuracy, although I respect their skills (not to mention their snazzy threads. Please...)

I am reminded of a comment by the great Carl Perry, current bassist for Susan Tedeschi,  and formerly with John Lee Hooker for something like a dozen (or 18?) years.  

He said basically that John Lee Hooker rarely seem concerned about counting bars or even orthodox rhythm in general, so he (Carl) and others in the band were always chasing (and apparently always catching) the rhythm and turn-arounds John Lee Hooker would play, going from a 3-bar to an eleven bar blues to eight bars etc., un-self-consciously, and with spirit and gobs of soul. 

SO maybe I am just excusing my own puny gear and weak ear, and while I sometimes think I can really re-create a certain riff by X, my own favorite moments in playing were when I was not even conscious of it until I heard what I had done.

As the greats have said and done (paraphrasing you here, my dear Professor Jumpin' Jason Ricci!) : try to get to a place where there is no cage around your soul, and let the sound out!   

-Dave Fertig