[Harp-L] re: Little Walter. TB or Pucker

[Jonathan Ross <jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sonny Jr. writes:

"Kim told me straight out that towards his later days and even in  
his  earlier
recordings, LW used Pucker more and more. Just listen to that Essential
Little Walter CD or anything and you can hear that puckering going on."

How?  Without evidence of things such as tongue-slaps (for tb) or  
tongue articulation (for pucker) I can't see how you can tell what  
embouchure is used for single notes.  And even the two examples I  
used there can be imitated fairly successfully with either  
technique.  There are other clues and markers that can be used to  
help figure this out, but in many instances it's more guesswork and  
supposition than anything else: "well, he obviously tongue-blocks  
here, so must use that technique everywhere".

I also notice a lot of what people do in trying to determine how  
others play is based on what they can and cannot do themselves: "I  
can't bend in tb, therefore they must be switching back and forth" is  
a common one.

"At  least I
can play everything TB'd now, all bends, with vibrato, just not on  
top  where
it would take years to learn if you are not Mitch. "

I can think of a lot of people who can tongue-block bend in the top  
octave with tone, vibrato and the like.  It's no more difficult than  
any other bending, and much depends on how used you are to tongue- 
blocking in general.  I am no stellar player, but I tongue-block all  
my top octave bends just as easily as I do any other bends.   
Similarly, many people say you can't overblow or overdraw tongue- 
blocking.  I'll be the first to admit it's not a technique I've ever  
mastered, but I do it better tb than pucker.  The reason is simple: I  
tongue-block most things and only pucker rarely, so I'm more  
comfortable with tongue-blocking and therefore get better results  
with that technique.




 ()()    JR "Bulldogge" Ross
()  ()
`----'