RE: [Harp-L] When to Lay Out

["steve@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <swebb@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm playing in a trio. Acoustic guitar and electric bass, both thru the PA. I am currently using a Harmonica Honker that plugs directly into the PA. We have practiced a lot to let me find a way to incorporate harp into the music. I don't play a lot of solos,but neither do I play over top of the singer. I do sometimes play while he's singing, but in the background and between lines of the song. We are mostly country/country rock oriented but also play quite a few originals.  
I sometimes just do some rhythm chugging or just a few notes. For example, on the Carrie Underwood song "Before He Cheats" the chord progression is Eminor, D, C B.  I use a C harp and just play those single notes when appropriate.  
I guess we all just have to figure out what works for us. I firmly believe, though, that less is more in most cases.
Steve Webb in Minnesota

\
---- Bradford Trainham <bradford.trainham@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: 
> Those examples you cited all have in common that the players could reduce
> their volume enough to let the singer be out front but not so much that you
> couldn't hear the harp. 
> I have little to no experience playing amplified harp but it seems to me
> that would be even more of a challenge than with playing acoustically.
> Brad Trainham
>  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
> Of Wolf Kristiansen
> Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2009 1:27 PM
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] When to Lay Out
> 
> 
> "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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