[Harp-L] OBs Blues nazis and a response to EV

[Buddha <groovygypsy@xxxxxxxxx>]

EV630 wrote:

But what "mistake" do they make? It'd help if you could be clearer. What
exactly are you referring to here?


   Buddha sez: "The biggest mistake I see in people when making claims
about OBers is
>     it's usually from a Blues Player perspective. OBs are useful in Blues
>     but most of the OB guys are simply into other forms of music."
>


>Did I perpetrate this mistake at any point in my own observations? I'd be
>keen to know.


YES

        I don't get "het up" about overblows but I've noticed a lot of
> overblow
>         practitioners get het up when I observe that a) the tone of OBs
> can't yet
>         match the tone of traditional blues harp

The best OB guys are not blues guys yet you are making the mistake of
making trans-genre comparisons in regards to technique


>and b) that it is usually the case that OBs are frequently approximate in pitch,

I say almost every harmonica player on the planet has this issue
especially when they DON'T know how to OB. Of course there are
exceptions.


>especially when the player is being overly ambitious and attempting some jazz tune with a lot of changes.

Again, you speaking from a blues perspective which is exactly the
"mistake" I have been referring to.




> I don't mind OBs used judiciously, sparingly and in faster phrases
> where  they are less likely to be examined too long by listeners. That 6
> OB works nicely if you don't linger. But slow blues swooping notes? Forget
> it. I do however get tired of OB aficionados being incredibly uncritical and defensive about the weaknesses of the technique. It's like they're
> in denial and take simple observations of fact very personally.

You mean like when we OBers proclaim that blues is simple and most
harp players suck as musicians?

You're speaking of OBs in blues and I'm saying the best OBers aren't
blues players so your comparisons are whack from the start.
There are maybe a dozen guys that really know how to use the OB
technique so if you're making your judgments based on the 1000s of
players who are just getting into the technique, even though you may
be correct your basis for judgment is wrong.

I don't play much blues and truth be told I suck at it but here
something that is bluesy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN17KmSOyEw

here is a lesson I was giving on a different kind of blues. You need
OBs to play this kind of blues in Cross harp.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqwIK3FaX_s

EV, could you play harp cross over this and sound good? I can't.