Re: [Harp-L] Re: amps for beginners?

[Rick Davis <bluesharpamps@xxxxxxxxx>]

Seriously, where is it written that a new player cannot learn good "chops"
and good habits while dabbling with amped tone?  My experience with students
is contrary to that.

And more importantly, when does the new player get permission to start using
an amp?  Some Harp-Lers imply that the amp should come after the player has
accomplished good acoustic tone, but what the heck does that mean?  I can't
think of anything more arbitrary and subjective.

If a player aspires toward entertaining one day, he'll likely have to deal
with amplification -- and the techniques and challenges that presents.  If
he wants to be a Chicago Blues guy, he will certainly need to develop some
mic skills.  Even a bluegrass or Irish player will need to someday step up
to a mic and do his thing.  It takes practice to sound good though a mic, be
that a vocal mic on a stand or a bullet mic in your hand.

The students I take on are all Blues players who want the nasty amped tone.
They know what it sounds like, and it is rewarding hearing them
progress.  Some sound amazing after a relatively short time.  Every student
has his own path.  It seems wrong-headed for us to demand that all blues
harp students play only acoustic music.  Do we make the same demand of
guitar students?

Again, I mean no disrepect for any Harp-Ler who may disagree.  I see the
wisdom in your point of view.  But I wish I had gotten involved with amps
sooner than I did, since the close-mic'ed amped sound is what I
always loved.


-Rick Davis



On Sat, Jan 10, 2009 at 2:51 AM, <IcemanLE@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> Perhaps it is just that this is a lot to bite off and chew for a beginner -
> not saying that everyone would be overwhelmed or diluted in the effort. I
> don't  believe anyone suggested the beginner would be ruined.
>
>
> In a message dated 1/9/2009 8:59:15 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> bluesharpamps@xxxxxxxxx writes:
>
> I  respectfully disagree with the many Harp-Lers who (as I predicted)  feel
> certain that a beginning blues player should not buy an  amp.
>
> Amps do not cover up bad playing; they expose it brutally.   Bad playing
> sounds, well, bad when played acoustically, but it sounds truly  wretched
> when played through an amp.  Amps encourage better  technique.
>
> Nowhere did I suggest a new blues player should practice  ONLY with a mic
> and
> amp; that would be silly.  But it is equally silly  to suggest a new player
> will be somehow ruined by buying a small tube  practice amp and working
> with
> it occasionally.
>
> As some on this  thread have said, amplified playing is a skill unto
> itself,
> quite apart  from the basics of the harmonica.  If a new player is drawn to
> the  sound he hears from players such as Kim Wilson or Big Walter, by all
> means  he should get a small tube amp and work on the technique.   He
> certainly won't sound like Big Walter right away, but neither will  the
> beginning acoustic player sound like Howard Levy right away.  It  takes
> practice.  And it takes practice to sound good with an amp,  too.  The
> beginning player might as well get started sooner rather  than later, if
> that
> is the sound to which he aspires.
>
> -Rick  Davis
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-- 
-Rick Davis
The Blues Harp Amps Blog
http://www.bluesharpamps.blogspot.com/