Re: [Harp-L] FLAT!! But Maybe Not??

["bbqbob917@xxxxxxxxxxx" <bbqbob917@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,
Unfortunately, that's been common for years because, like it or not, the cold, hard, brutal truth is that too often the average harp player knows next to nothing about theory, as well as other positions, plus often times the musicianship of many harp players are flat out horrible. It's not an answer that's gonna get me on anyone's popularity list, but it is what it is.
 
Why do they do this?? At many open jams, including one I hosted, I've often seen harp players have their positions listing with them and if they need to have this with them on the bandstand, they're clearly NOT ready to be there at all because you should have this memorized COLD and no excuses for not knowing that before you get there.
 
When Duke Robillard was with Roomful of Blues and they had to back John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd for that Blues Brothers thing, Duke had told me that he had to damn near tell Dan what key harp to use for almost every tune. Well, unfortunately for a lot of players, this is too often true and players like that often are so totally clueless to the fact that they hurt the reputation of the instrument and their players and so this is an ongoing battle because of players in that category.
 
I don't like the idea of it, but I completely understand where they're coming from because they're used to dealing with harp players on the bandstand that haven't got a clue about where they are in the instrument 24/7 and it hurts having to say that at all. There are clearly way too many players who come under the category that once you can get a clear single note and suddenly are able to bend a note, that they're ready to be on the bandstand with other people and that's simply NOT true at all, and often times this is where that guitar player is coming from.
 
Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte


---------- Original Message ----------
From: "John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Harp-L] FLAT!! But Maybe Not??
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2010 10:01:01 -0400

Per Bill:

Oh and i should have said as well - if a guitarist tries to tell you  
which
key harmonica to use just politely tell him where to stick his capo!

Confronted with that situation, i usually say, "I don't always play  
in second position, so please just give me the key of the song and  
I'll pick what harp I'm going to use."  That usually takes care of  
the problem without offending anyone.

But a more difficult problem is when a musician calls out the key of  
the harp he thinks you should use without telling what he's doing and  
you think it's the key of the tune.

JP

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