[Harp-L] Sonny Terry News

Good point Alex.

To prepare for these projects I immerse myself in the subject (Sonny Terry) for a while playing pretty much nothing else. Then I take an album or tracks where I can hear most clearly what he's doing and just play that - I would look for unaccompanied playing.

Next I play through picking out bits that I think would be interesting for people to learn and play them into a dictaphone at three different speeds sometimes changing the key of harp if I prefer the timbre or feel like a change.

Then I go into the studio and play them to Paul Lennon. We then decide which to use and then he transcribes them and we tab them, often needing to tweak the rhythm so they work in the notation. He certainly had his work cut out with some of Sonny's very individual rhythms!

The next stage is to create an inspiring drum track to work with and then it's into the live room to record the riffs.

So the source material - which I always advise people to return to - is an album called 'Riff and Harmonica' and I remember being drawn to the tracks 'Blowing the blues', 'Lonesome train', 'Shake Down Blues', 'Whoopin the blues', and 'Riff and Harmonica jump'

I think I also used the album 'Complete Recordings 38-45' as further source material. Once you get into it there are so many 'typical' Sonny ways of playing it all seems to merge! He also continues to surprise and I find there is constant new material that I'd like to get down.

I am listening to 'Harmonica and washboard breakdown' right now (just for fun) and it is so rich with Sonny's magic, maybe I'll have a go at it sometime!

Alex, you say ...
in order to come closer to imitating Sonny's performances - one just could listen
to a particular song and try repeating what is there 1:1

and yes, of course, listening to the original is the best idea. Unless it's too fast. So what we've done is borrowed from the source material and tried to slow it down, tab it, transcribe it, and maybe simplify it a little to make it more accessible - that's all.

For the book I remember working on the repeated riff which starts and runs through 'New love blues' - a track I remember hearing twenty years ago and being knocked out by it then and still get mesmerised by the rhythms. There's also another recording of 'Blowing the blues' on the same album that I listened to for this project.

Finally, I feel I'm just brushing the surface of Sonny's style and I take my hat off to Joe Filisko who breaks down the styles in way more depth than I have. I believe you can study with him on Monday evenings if you live near Chicago or if you can't make it there is a website for you called http://www.youmissedmonday.com/

Hope that answers your question Alex!

Ben Hewlett
Harmonicaworld.net




On 5 Oct 2009, at 15:12, Alexander Savelyev wrote:

Dear Ben,

Thanks for your info, I'll definitely buy this issue and probably some
more. I think I read that I could get a download version, though I have
to double check.

I have a question, is it mentioned in the book where or in which
particular song this or that specific riff/lick could be found - sort of
the guidance info. I think it would be great to have that info in order
to come closer to imitating Sonny's performances - one just could listen
to a particular song and try repeating what is there 1:1 (of course, for
the sake of acquiring skills and developing own style).

Thanks,

Alex

BTW, I must compliment you for the great video clip and especially for
its sound quality - it's seldom these days to hear presentations like
that recorded well - sounds great!



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