[Harp-L] Re: sonny Jr seminar

[SONNYTONE@xxxxxxx]

If you go to You Tube, the song that Sonny and I did as duet, Mean Woman  
Blues, is now up, giving an example of that side of my style. My voice was a bit  
behind the beat at first but caught up after first verse. It is very 
difficult  to sing and play this style, as there are ways that I teach in the seminar 
of  how to get rid of your air if you are doing an in chugging rhythm and then 
must  sing. I will be recording pieces of many of his songs soon at home, in  
front of the fireplace, purely acoustic. Dave Barrett has been truly  
instrumental in how I approach doing the seminar, everyone will get a hand out  of 
all the things I will cover, but I want to make sure that you leave being  able 
to take SOME things home with you that you can do correctly. Depending on  the 
size of the response will determine if I walk around the room or  can spend 
one on one time. At this point I do not do the fox chase, I know the  rhythm, 
but my voice will not go falsetto like Joe's can. I will break down his  
infamous Whooping the Blues, if you bring recorders, you will be able to grasp  what 
I will be demonstrating over time. Of course I will tablature out Sonny's  
standard intros, and how he incorporated that line in many of his songs. He has  
a famous solo he takes that can be scripted, but I cannot script out  the 
chugging patterns, it won't make sense like the book Fred Palmer did.  Slowing 
what I do, the sounds I make and most importantly, playing loosely and  allowing 
air to escape while doing this patterns is of utmost importance.  
Accompanying a guitar player in his style will be discussed, how he  played, what part of 
his body that big fat tone came from, you really need to  shut off your 
Chicago side, which will certainly be covered in the later part of  the seminar. I 
will bring jam tracks so everyone can get up and play along on  the Cruncher 
and 410, then we can critique and give suggestions. This is all  about learning 
something new, not belittling someone for their playing. I plan  on holding a 
one day seminar, price will be determined by how much I have  to spend on the 
conference room, I have a PA I will need to set up, which is why  I am 
starting in Hartford, a half hour from my house. Even though I will be shot  by the 
end of the day, if there is enough interest in one on one lessons at my  house 
on Sunday, seminar will be on a Saturday, then we will take it from there.  
As I do not regularly take students, the player needs to be above intermediate  
in order to grasp deeper into Sonny's style. I am still working on it 32 
years  later to the day, I went out on the road with him Jan of 1976 until the end 
of  1978. There will much conversation about Sonny the man, Brownie the man, 
as they  did not speak for 6 years before I came on, and never spoke again 
until Sonny  passed in March of 1986. I have a lot of work to prepare, as I have 
been  focusing on getting the Cruncher off the groung, which will be happening 
next  week. I will have amps available in our custom tweed and will hold that 
$1695  price for now. No one ever regrets spending a bit more than the other 
companies  once they take the cover off or look at the wiring and detail that 
goes  into making these. It has taken me this long as I wanted maximum 
projection  which involved testing every speaker configuration possible that Weber 
supplies,  and each of those speakers sound different with an H dust cap versus 
none. I use  no H Dust caps in this amp as it has so much bottom end you need 
to just keep  the bass from 4 - 7, or it will mush out. How many can have the 
treble at 7 - 8  without feedback, that is the projection boost, and it just 
blends with the  extreme lows to create a very close example of the Chess 
recorded sound but on  steroids. The 12 gives it a great blend with the two x 8" 
speakers, highs and  lows mixed together. I will be with Dave in June in San 
Jose, and then hopefully  at Spah in August, doing a solo ST thing plus some 
electric, don't know yet  until I talk to Spah. With Dave I will be a guest 
artist, not a teacher, but  will play it anyway he wants me to, depending on demand. 
I canceled my right  knee replacement as I can still walk on it, may do it 
end of the year and get it  over with. If you want to be on the list for the 
seminar, please email me  offlist. I am looking at Oct or November, before it 
gets too cold. Then I will  make my way around the country in key areas such as 
Chicago, Dallas, Portland,  and somewhere in lower southeast. Thank you for 
enduring the lengthy email, but  I felt everything in it was necessary. 
Sincerely, Sonny Jr. 



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