Re: [Harp-L] Discussion topic: Why do you want to play blues?

[Richard Hammersley <rhhammersley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Buddha
Thanks for making me think about this.

To quote Keb Mo: "The Blues is my rack in the CD store". I very much  
play harmonica because I love the blues, but also because I hear the  
true blues in much of the music I love. I initially tried to learn to  
play harmonic by playing the blues but I was dreadful because I didn't  
acquire any knowledge of what I was doing.

Then I learned to play the blues (on guitar) and I can now play it on  
harmonica too, to some extent.

To me, the true blues is not just a pentatonic scale with flattened  
3rd and 7th notes, or one or two standard chord progressions (12 bar,  
8 bar etc). It is a feeling that involves indeterminate pitches,  
glissandos and complex rhythm (by classical western notation  
standards). It also involves improvisation on simple material - or  
sometimes on more complex material.

In other words you can play whatever you like as long as it is, er,  
the blues. Diatonic harmonica is great for  improvising on simple  
material, because it is hard to stray too far away from the tonal  
centre of the key, but you can bend, ornament etc all over the place  
to pleasing effect.

As a blues lover, I find some of the instructional material for 'blues  
harmonica' a bit depressing because it is fixed and dogmatic about  
structure and notes. Sticking to this may lead to music that will not  
get you beaten with sticks, but it will always be mediocre.

Also, over the years a lot of "the blues" has become a dead and  
debased form, where players largely ring the changes or only precisely  
imitate what other people have played before, usually imitating  
slightly less well than their models. Before anyone on this list gets  
offended, this doesn't apply that much to harp players because that is  
already a non standard activity that shows a bit of imagination.  
Boring blues is baddest on the guitar, keyboard etc. The almost  
unsyncopated 12 bar is one of the dreariest sounds in the world.

Of course now I'm galloping off on a hobby horse... I find it worrying  
when people claim to play the blues having only listened to the copies  
of the copies of the copies - they play Clapton, J Geils, the Stones  
etc (all fine blues players) but have no idea that that music is  
simplified and standardised copies of 1940s-1960s Chicago blues, which  
in turn is simplified (often) and standardised copies of 1920s and  
1930s blues. I also find it worrying when people who play more  
complicated music think that because the blues is simple it is easy.  
One danger here is that listening to it with too highly classically  
trained an ear can lead one to miss the nuances of rhythm and note,  
then reproduce an un-nuanced version, or one that tries to eliminate  
improvisation entirely.

For these reasons, some very technically able harp players do not play  
the blues that well IMHO. However, most top grade diatonic players  
have mastered the blues, because it would be madness not to given the  
harp vocabulary that lies there. And some technically weaker players  
play the blues very well - Taj Mahal being one recently discussed  
example.


On 20 Aug 2008, at 20:17, Buddha wrote:

> This is mainly for diatonic players and of course the question doesn't
> apply to all.
>
> Why do you choose to play blues on the harmonica? Because you love
> blues or because you love the harmonica and it seems to be heavily
> intertwined with blues?
>
> I ask this because all of my students come to me wanting to learn
> blues but instead I end up just teaching the harmonica in a way where
> the student leaves with the ability to play whatever they want. So
> far, none of my students are as steeped in blues as they were in the
> beginning. Most venture off into jazz, rock, funk, fusion, pop or
> country.
>
> So is playing blues an ability issue, "copycat" issue or one of
> passion for the genre? Is there a reason players don't seem to seek an
> original voice on their instrument? A good example of original voice
> is, George Brooks, watch the SPAH jam vids, he sticks out every time
> it's his turn to play, even when he plays 2nd position.  Jason Ricci
> is another person with an original sound as are Little Walter, Lee
> Oskar and Howard Levy etc...
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Richard Hammersley
Grantshouse, Scottish Borders
http://www.last.fm/music/Richard+Hammersley
http://www.myspace.com/rhammersley
http://www.myspace.com/magpiesittingdown