Re: [Harp-L] Casual Harmonica players...

[icemanle@xxxxxxx]

 Totally disagree with you on G. Love - he sounds like one who uses the harp effectively to layer another sound on his Philly street style of groove, but not one who is a master at harmonica. I feel he is more into mastering the groove than the instrument.


 


 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: michael rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx>
To: BenoÃt FELTEN <benoit.felten@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Mon, Jan 18, 2010 11:25 am
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Casual Harmonica players...


Totally disagree with you on G. Love's ability and or seriousness on
the harp.  That guy is a hard core pro harp player who shows all the
signs of having practiced the heck out of the style he is a MASTER at.

I definitely know what you mean about casual harp players, especially
those who are pros at other instruments and have a great sense of
timing and phrasing.  They've learned the basics of cross harp and let
their musicality do the rest.  I love it.

Do pro players have a collective ego?  Harp players definitely have a
collective personality type and I think ego tends to be a part of it.
Lots of us feel we have to prove the "real" instrumentness of the
harp.
Michael Rubin
Michaelrubinharmonica.com

On 1/18/10, BenoÃt FELTEN <benoit.felten@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Something I wanted to share with the list.
>
> With age, I'm starting to realise that more and more I enjoy the harmonica
> playing of casual players. Sometimes I like it even more than the harp
> playing of many "pro" players.
>
> I guess I should clarify what I mean by casual harmonica player. By that I
> mean musicians whose approach of the harp is as a secondary instrument. Pro
> musicians who would not describe themselves as harmonica players.
>
> A few examples could maybe help clarify what I mean:
>
> - G. Love of G. Love and Special Sauce is a great example. He plays a decent
> harp, but you can hear that he rarely if ever practiced. Now he still sounds
> very good (not too sloppy, I guess), but he sticks to relatively simple
> stuff. The thing is it's always effective and very often quite inventive as
> well.
>
> - Ben Ellman of Galactic is another good case in point. Ellman is a killer
> sax player who doubles on harp occasionally. Now he usually vamps and rarely
> (if ever) uses the harp to play melody, but he's got a ton of energy and
> (again) in my opinion dares things that more seasoned harp players in
> general wouldn't.
>
> I asked myself why these guys' playing appealed to me. And I think the
> reason is intent. Too often maybe, a harmonica player feels obliged to play
> something because, after all, he's the harp player. And while that something
> may sound good and be played with great chops, it doesn't always add to the
> song. When these guys whip the harp out, it's because it's the right thing
> to play for this particular song at this particular moment. I dunno, it's
> just a theory, but that's how I feel it.
>
> Now this raises a secondary question which is, collectively, do we harp
> players have an ego problem ? I listen to a lot of sax, to make that
> parralel, and it seems to me that sax players don't feel the need to play
> all the time, especially sax sidemen.
>
> Maybe it's misperception on my part, but I thought it would be interesting
> to discuss and also highlight other examples of non-pro harp players that
> sound great...
>
> --
> BenoÃt FELTEN (http://twitter.com/fiberguy)
> www.fiberevolution.com
> www.musicalramblings.com
> www.apprentiphotographe.com
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