Marvin,
I'm sure you'll get a lot of responses to this question (from people who
know a lot more than I), but I believe the main issue is that the
harmonica
is in a similar register (I think that's the right term) as the human
voice
and as such, can compete with the vocalist. Other instruments can play
with
less chance of distracting the audience from the vocals.
That being said, I play in a band and often play behind our female lead
singer while she is singing. I am a huge fan of Big Walter's, and if you
get
his sides from "Chicago, The Blues Today!" (playing behind Johnny
Shines),
you will hear great examples of Walter playing behind the vocals. In my
opinion, the challenge is that you need to do something interesting,
complementary, and at all costs, not distracting from the vocals. You
are
not soloing here, but adding to the song and complementing the vocalist.
I believe another issue at jams is that playing behind the vocals in a
constructive way is not simple to do and there have been plenty of harp
players who have tried and failed (probably most likely due to a lack of
experience, i.e., not knowing that they were on dangerous ground in the
first place), causing some resistance by other instrument players to the
attempt.
My recommendation: If you are unsure, either stop playing during the
vocals
or play something very simple (chords, octaves, even root notes). I
learned
what I know in a band situation, so it's a lot different than a jam, but
I'd
probably try adding little riffs at first and see if that goes well. If
it
did (i.e., no one blows up at you), then I'd expand from there.
Just my 2 cents. Hope it helps.
Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of billhines4@xxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 8:57 PM
To: harptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Harp - L
Subject: [Harp-L] Re: [HarpTalk] Playing at Jam Sessions
I used to wonder the same thing! "hey the other instruments are all
playing when the singer is singing!" I think it's fine to play
background/chords at *low* volume to provide the same type of backing
that
the other instruments do. I like using the opportunity to work on
chords,
split octaves when doing this. Sometimes I try to parallel what the
person
on the organ (hammond b3) is doing or compliment it (not during their
solo
of course).
Bill
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: MARVIN Fleischman <m0flei01@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
When playing at certain types of jam sessions, why is it that guitars,
etc., are
welcome to play while someone is singing, but not the harmonica, even
if
it is
being played softly? Regarding playing the harmonica during a blues
jam
and an
Americana jam, I have been told to play less and make it count. When
it
is an
unfamiliar song to me, I like to play very quietly to get the melody
in
my head.
Marvin Fleischman
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