Re: [Harp-L] Bluegrass

[sheltraw@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Hi David

Excellent observations. I will tuck that in my bluegrass bag o' wisdom.

Cheers,
Daniel

> My highlight of the bluegrass jam at the last SPAH was when David pulled
> out his chord harmonica and flawlessly played the challenging tune,
> âLonesome Moonlight Waltz.â  (PT Gazell also played a wonderful version
> of this tune during his performance on stage.  You can hear a sample of
> this tune on the ârecordingsâ page of my website,
> www.davidnaiditch.com.)
>
> Iâve jammed and performed at hundreds of bluegrass festivals, including
> some in the South.  Iâve noticed the Southerners tend to be much
> friendlier to harmonica players.   When I show up at a jam, the
> assumption is that I know bluegrass, and folks seem genuinely curious
> how Iâm going to play, especially when they see me holding a chromatic.
> They donât seem surprised that I know the tunes and can play the melody
> lines.  In contrast, when I show up at a bluegrass jam in California and
> they donât know me, I feel I need to prove myself before being welcome.
> My theory is that bluegrass is part of the Southern culture and folks
> assume that when you show up at a jam, you know and respect the genre.
> In California, musicians sometimes join bluegrass jams with little or no
> understanding of the music, and this seems especially common with
> harmonica players.  Over and over again Iâve seen harp players join a
> jam without knowing any of the tunes and without following the
> established jamming etiquette.  They play everything as if it were a
> blues tune, miss chord changes, and stomp on other peopleâs breaks.  I
> doubt that the South often sees such players.
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 2:51 PM, David Payne wrote:
>
>> I am a fourth generation bluegrass player and I'm also from the south,
>> where people take bluegrass music very seriously. This notion that the
>> body of bluegrass musicians is primarily comprised of elitists who
>> reject the harmonica out-of-hand is without merit and an urban legend
>> of our own creation. I used to buy into that idea myself and backed it
>> up with my own personal experiences, until I sat down and looked at it
>> realistically. I can think of very few times I even got a look or
>> something and I've played with hundreds of bluegrass musicians. There
>> are jackasses in every genre of music. Yet, we magnify that jackassery
>> and use it to create an unrealistic view of an entire body of
>> musicians. Overall, they respect musicianship. It's as simple as that.
>> One observation I'll mention is that the people who are closed minded
>> about harmonicas and dismiss it without hearing you are generally not
>> very good and other bluegrass musicians might not like them either.
>> Those people are in every crowd, I don't care what you're playing.
>>
>> I remember one time I went down to Bill Duncan's house. Bill played
>> with my grandpa back in the 1950s and was one of Bill Monroe's
>> Bluegrass Boys later on. I brought my harmonicas and mandolin. I
>> played the mandolin for a while, I was a little scared to pull out the
>> harmonicas, until he said "why don't you let me play that mandolin and
>> you blow on the harps for a while." That's when I started to think
>> this idea of bluegrassers hating harmonicas was unfounded. Now I
>> believe, it's something mostly of our own own manufacturing, based on
>> the expressions of a minority of jackasses, whom we've let speak for
>> the whole.
>> Bluegrass musicians are surprisingly TOLERANT OF BAD AND MEDIOCRE
>> HARMONICA PLAYING. They will get all excited about harmonica, even if
>> it's not very good. I've seen that happen probably 20 times for every
>> time I've seen even a anti-harmonica look. Harmonica players are
>> generally given a great deal of leeway and understanding that those
>> playing other instruments don't enjoy. A great number of novice
>> players have a huge issue when they play bluegrass and  rarely called
>> on it (chord rhythm is always the first thing I teach my students) and
>> noodle around when they should be playing a simple rhythm. I think the
>> bluegrass musicians are so understanding about it because they don't
>> know the harmonica is capable of a chord rhythm. If a guitar player
>> noodled around like that, he'd get the same looks, but probably a
>> talking to as well. If you do find yourself among the minority of
>> haters, you'll shut them down once you demonstrate an ability to play
>> rhythm. These chords below will get you through chording 95 percent of
>> bluegrass songs. On songs with other chords, you can switch between
>> two diatonics, to get the extra chord needed.
>> I chord - 234 draw
>> I7 chord 2345 draw
>> IV chord any three blow notes.
>> V chord - double stop tongue block octave 1 and 4 draw (it works
>> better than the 456 draw Vm chord)
>> VI chord (relative minor) 1 and 2 blow.
>>  Or you can just add a chord harmonica to you arsenal of axes. I used
>> to play rhythm on diatonics. Anymore, I use the 48 chord, then switch
>> to diatonics or sometimes a chromatic for lead, then go back to the
>> 48. Bluegrassers love the 48 chord! I mean love it. When I play with
>> guys I haven't played with before, they are always amazed that it even
>> exists. I keep it in a modified mandolin case. It goes the same way
>> every time, I say "Check out my mandolin" they open the case, then
>> there's shock while they figure out what it is, then they are
>> impressed by what it does.
>>  Here's a little something I did with Steve Williams, Roy Clark Jr.
>> and George Hauser, on the 48 chord. If I were using diatonics I would
>> be playing the same thing pretty much. It was Roy's turn to shine, my
>> job was to lay down the beat. If you know what your job is at any
>> given moment and do it, you will go far in the bluegrass community and
>> the same goes for any genre.
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYMNr0DLX9c
>>
>> Also, if anybody is interested, I did make four bluegrass 48 chord
>> lessons and put them on Youtube a few weeks ago. Here's the first one:
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxQ4ag8wFgo
>> There's a lot of potential for the 48 chord in bluegrass.
>> David
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