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

[Jerry Deall <jdeall@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

No only that, but if an amp makes it more fun (it did for me) you play/practice more. I think it should be fun at all time, or I wouldn't bother. 
Jerry 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rick Davis" <bluesharpamps@xxxxxxxxx> 
To: "harp-l" <Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Friday, January 9, 2009 6:57:19 PM GMT -07:00 Chihuahua / La Paz / Mazatlan 
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Re: amps for beginners? 

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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