Re: [Harp-L] re: bending

[Christopher Sprankle <crsprankle@xxxxxxxxx>]

I might be misunderstanding Jim, but the half step 3rd hole bend in 3rd position (minor 6th) is not a very commonly used note for blues.  It is one of the more difficult notes to fit into a blues progression and is rarely if ever used by old school 3rd position blues players.  

--- On Thu, 9/24/09, jim.alciere@xxxxxxxxx <jim.alciere@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> From: jim.alciere@xxxxxxxxx <jim.alciere@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Harp-L] re: bending
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Thursday, September 24, 2009, 8:28 AM
> I've been playing for more than
> thirty years and hitting a third hole half
> bend with vibrato right off the mark is difficult.
> 
> Get some friends together and jam. Try to play the riffs
> together. Play some
> third and fifth position. Most people can hear if the note
> is off in
> relation to other instruments.
> 
> If you don't have anyone to play along with, buy Junior
> Wells Hoo Doo Blues.
> It's almost all in 3rd position. You'll get used to hitting
> those half step
> 3rd hole bends and those whole step second hole bends.
> Besides, the album
> rocks. Also play along with that Woody Guthrie album with
> Sonny Terry, or
> failing that, with Live Dead. That's mostly major
> pentatonic scales and
> you'll get used to bending the third hole bends  down
> a whole step (and
> hitting the 2nd hole clean--I have a bad habit of slightly
> bending that
> note)
> 
> I do throat bending and found Iceman's TDK technique to
> work great.
> 
> Remeber blues notes aren't Western music theory notes.
> They're somewhere
> between the white key and the black key. Every blues
> musician had his or her
> particular eccentricities about pitch and rhtym. Swing is a
> very individual
> feel. Pitch is individual.
> 
> The guitarist isn't going to hit every note right. Neither
> is the singer.
> Work towwards perfection, but don't beat yourself up to the
> point where you
> stop playing, or that playing becomes a chore.
> 
> -- 
> Rainbow Jimmy
> http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1372404/dhoozh_chapter_1.html
> http://www.myspace.com/theelectricstarlightspaceanimals
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