Re: [Harp-L] Review: Harmonica for Dummies

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Rick - 

Thanks very much for the glowing remarks in the quoted part of your review.

As to your criticisms of the amp chapter in the full review on your blog, guilty as charged. To the "espresso fiend" end of the gear spectrum, the chapter may seem
like cold decaf, but to the general reader who may or may not be
interested in amplified blues playing, I hope that it will serve as a
decent general introduction to the subject.

Some background: I had to fight to include a chapter on such an "advanced" subject, and then had to make huge cuts to fit page counts. Also, I was writing for people who had potentially never picked up a harmonica or seen a vacuum tube or even knew what an amplifier was (part of the Dummies philosophy - assume nothing about what your reader might know). Hence the "tiny science fiction light bulbs" description of tubes (remember, there are people who have grown up in a solid-state microprocessor world who may have no idea what  a tube is). Also, I was not writing with a main focus on amplified blues playing, but rather just on the general subject of playing with some kind of amplification, with a nod in the general direction of blues. It was these circumstances that informed the general and conservative nature of the advice in that chapter. 

Winslow

Winslow Yerxa

Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5

--- On Wed, 11/19/08, Rick Davis <bluesharpamps@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Rick Davis <bluesharpamps@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] Review: Harmonica for Dummies
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 10:23 AM

I posted a complete review of Winslow Yerxa's terrific book at the Blues
Harp Amps Blog:
http://bluesharpamps.blogspot.com/2008/11/review-harmonica-for-dummies.html

Here is the summary:

"Harmonica for Dummies by Winslow Yerxa is excellent. I love the sections
about harp customizing, positions, overblows and overbends. I'll refer back
to the book often. But the harp newbies who buy the book in search of advice
about amps (a very hot topic among new players) will find little useful
specific information beyond the suggestion to look elsewhere.

I give this book a IV on the I – IV – V scale of blues harp excellence.
Like
a small tube amp, every harp player should own this book."

-Rick Davis
The Blues Harp Amps Blog
http://bluesharpamps.blogspot.com/
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