[Harp-L] Improvision: short road (blues you hear in your head)

["John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>]

i used to have a regular gig with some older black blues players  
originally from the deep south (U.S.) who would never play the same  
tune the same way twice.  Very free. I learned a lot.  The leader  
would never tell me what to do or play.  But every now and then he'd  
tell me what NOT to play.  Interesting way to learn.  And the crowds  
always loved it. The band used to tell people they knew 200 songs.  A  
club owner once said  they only knew the words to 200 songs since  
none of them were ever  played the same way twice.  The leader passed  
away a few years ago, which was a great loss.

Now, so much of playing like that has to do with groove.  And, of  
course, because they were a blues band, it had to be blues.  But,  
whether I was copping licks from what i heard a sax or organ player  
play on some record or just making stuff up from my head or whether i  
was playing the harmonica like a harmonica or not, I was still  
playing blues.  It does not have to be what some ODBG played on a  
blues record to be real blues. Of souse, there are some signature  
licks that must be learned for certain tunes, but those are  
relatively small parts.

Ii don't consider myself just a blues player, but i think I'm a  
pretty strong blues player and it's probably what i do best.  The  
occasional paying gigs I get these days are usually with older black  
blues musicians who want a harp player in the band  for a festival  
gig or some other show (sometimes I've had the idea they were being  
paid by the head for these shows so they didn't have to give me a  
cut).  Anyway, all these bands are stone blues players. The real  
deal.  These guys usually tell me how much they like my playing and  
that i have my own style.  And, obviously, they think I'm a solid  
blues player or they wouldn't be using me. I'm often told "Ain't  
never heard no one play harp like that.  You got your own  
style." (btw, i've also got a pretty good sense of groove, which helps.)

Anyway, the moral of this story is that you can play what you feel  
like playing and still play authentic blues.  You don't have to  
imitate what some great blues harmonica player has already recorded  
to be authentic.  Of course, you've got to understand what  blues is  
in order to play it right, and listening to old recordings may help  
learn that, but imitation is not required.  If I was an imitator, i  
would never have been able to keep up with the blues band that never  
played the same song the same way twice.  I wouldn't have made it  
through the first set.

FWIW.

JP