Re: [Harp-L] Customer Service for Harp Players!



So what's the outcome? 

Gus is a paying customer so he gets to dominate the room? Run the band? Who 
put him in charge?

Has anybody ever considered turning down the mic when Gus gets up to blow? 

How 'but the Linda McCarthy solution. She couldn't sing on pitch, so they 
simply turned her mic off when she played with Wings. How bad was she? Somebody 
recorded her singing during a performance and it was clear that none of the 
notes she sang were in the song being porformed.

Every few months the Harp List gets into these Gussing contests, trying to 
tell the best story about the worst player. How come nobody ever thinks to turn 
the mic off at the soundboard? Or if that would result in too violent behavior 
by Gus, simply turn it lower so he doesn't dominate the band.

* * * 
In a message dated 3/26/08 11:36:05 AM, robertaross@xxxxxxxxx writes:


> One last thought occurred to me that I wanted to share, as a harp
> player more than a business owner, which I think for this community
> puts it all in perspective ... and to make it more on topic I'll tie
> back into a earlier thread - jamming.
> 
> Imagine that you are in a house band at a blues bar, in a community
> where there are lots of harp players on the sign up list every week.
> There is this one guy, let's give him a brand name - Gus. For weeks
> he's been coming to the gig and signing up, and you have given him
> many chances to play. He has ok tone, and a couple of decent licks,
> but about 20% of the time he blows wrong notes. Worse yet, he doesn't
> know it, he can't hear or listen to himself, so he thinks his playing
> is just fine. This is particularly annoying when he does that
> screaming 9 hole blow / bend straight into the vocal mic at the wrong
> time.
> 
> So how many more chances do you give Gus before you stop calling him
> up to play? Gus even has a bunch of friends at the bar, who
> apparently have been drinking with him all night, who come up to the
> stage after he plays saying what a great harp player Gus is. Does
> that make any difference at all the next time he comes to the jam?
> 
> Even to a harp player, customer service is everything! Customer
> service is just what businesses call relationships. If you mistreat
> your customers or your audience, your family or your friends, you'll
> end up in a lonely place. Human beings need friends and family, when
> we enter into businesses, we need customers. When we play harp, we
> need an audience. So play nice!
> 
> Now, *that* really was my rant on this subject :-)
> 
> Thanks for listening,
> - Robert
> www.rawfoodlife.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
> 




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