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

["Marc Spilka" <marc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

RE:  Dan Aykroyd story below.  That may have been true but the Blues Bros. 
exposed a huge audience to blues and R&B music.  He may not have been a 
great harp player but the general public is not made up of harmonica 
connoisseurs--it is made up of people who listen to music.  If you can turn 
them on to a type of music they are not generally aware of that is a good 
thing.  Serious blues fans may have thought they were posers, but you can't 
argue with their success or the quality of musicians they attracted.  My 
guess is Rob P who posts a lot here can attest to how great the players in 
the band are.  It reminds me of the continued perception here of John Popper 
and I do not want to start another discussion about him.  It is a different 
argument in the sense that Popper can play his ass off and Dan Aykroyd can't 
but JP turned a generation onto to harmonica who hadn't previously listened.

Marc Spilka
Los Gatos, CA


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