[Harp-L] in defense of Gus

["Mox Gowland" <mox.g@xxxxxxxxx>]

>Zen Blues Harmonica

A beginner's guide to playing blues harp effortlessly

© 2007, Brian Kelly

Act without doing. Work without effort.

- Tao Te Ching

When I was a teenager, I tried very hard to play blues harmonica. I tried to copy what

I heard exactly. I tried very hard, but produced only sounds that even I did not like. I

failed because my effort was misplaced. Like paddling upstream. More effort did not

translate into better music.

Then one night I found myself on stage with a blues harp in my hand. I had accepted

a dare from a friend's band, and didn't expect them to ask me to solo. They did. The

drummer and bass player were still playing. The guitar player went back to the table

and sat down. I had to do something.

But I didn't know where the notes were on a harmonica! I didn't even know the song.

That's when it happened. Zen. Music. Spontaneous, improvisational, full of energy.

Instantaneous enlightenment. I literally learned how to play harmonica overnight by

discovering the tao of the harp (way of the harp). Zen.

So what changed? What enabled me to suddenly play an instrument that had baffled

me for 20 years? Zen. Which I will do my best to describe (no words can describe

Zen, as they are like the hand pointing to the moon. The words are not the moon.)

I had been playing bass guitar for a couple of years. We played a lot of blues. It was

Zen, but I did not know it. Zen by practice. Zen by boredom (did I mention I was

playing bass)? But then like Zen, it suddenly appeared. The 12 bar blues progression.

I did not count measures anymore (counting is left brain). I simply knew when the

chord changes were going to happen (very right brain).

I had become one with the problem - problem - resolution structure of the blues

progression. I had learned it the Zen way. An instant realization. Books and teachers

must describe this structure to bring the student near it. But the names of the chords,

the names of the structure, the terms, notes, language are merely the hand pointing at

the moon. They are not the moon. They are not the blues.

Like life, every verse of the blues tells a story. It is analogous to a story, movie, or

book: Set the scene, elaborate on it, build to a climax, end (resolve). The elements of

every great story.

- Brian Kelly 2007

- WalkingRidge.net

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