Re: [Harp-L] When to Lay Out

[Wolf Kristiansen <wolfkristiansen@xxxxxxxx>]

"ONLY PLAY WHEN THE SINGER TAKES A BREATH"

Thought I'd chime in on this.  

Like many rules, this one is made to be broken. From my blues loving perspective, I can't help thinking of Little Walter, Walter Horton and Sonny Terry, to give familiar examples.  They played over, under, around, (insert any other preposition you can think of) the vocals.  But it worked!

They had the chops and deep musicianship to pull it off.  Muddy Waters' "Forty Days and Forty Nights" would not be the arresting song it is without Little Walter's harmonica, which can be heard throughout.  Although it is present during the vocal, it does not detract, at least to my ears.

In my playing, if I'm inspired, I do play while the singer's singing; weaving in and out of and sometimes over the vocals.  If we're all on the same blues page, it works; the singer's happy, I'm happy and the audience is happy.  I do concede sometimes it doesn't work.

Other times I play a rhythm riff on the harp.  Rhythm harmonica is an under-appreciated art, but that's best kept as a subject for another thread.

Other times I shut up until it's time for a 12 or 24 bar solo, and that works too, in the right song.

In all vocal songs, blues or not, the singer is the most important performer in that song.  The role of the other musicians, all of them, is to play in a way that supports the message the singer is trying to convey.  That involves listening to and appreciating the lyrics, and understanding the inherent mood-- emotional, spiritual, even intellectual-- of the song.  It might involve playing during the vocals.

This brings to mind a rule I subscribe to-- "When in doubt, lay out".  If you're not sure you can add to the vocal, then, yes, you'd best be quiet while the singer's singing.

I'm ignoring instrumental showcases for the time being, where the rules are different.  Even in that case, there's usually an instrument taking the lead, and the other instruments' role is to support that lead.  I'm ignoring jazz scat singing, where the singer is really another improvising jazz instrumentalist.

Having said all this, I do acknowledge the risk of playing over vocals.  I've attended too many jam sessions where the harmonica player absolutely murdered the singer's efforts by playing over the vocals, in a fashion that did not even come close to complementing those vocals.

Cheers,

wolf kristiansen






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