Re: [Harp-L] Chugging and Choo-Choo Noises



I have to join the Doug/Mike parade on this. I consider the two instruments as completely different and each with it's own attributes and pitfalls. And while I do a lot of tunes
using both on the same tune, there is nothing like a diatonic for some things. Whereas the chromatic is better for some things. For example: to play Summertime on a chromatic
or Georgia on a diatonic. Anything else is borderline blasphemy. I play about 60/40 chromo/diat. 

I find it amusing that the best players on choo choo and train sounds are: #1.. too young to have experienced real trains (Steam). and #2.. never lived 132 feet from train tracks.

As a small child growing up in Sharpsburg (Pittsburgh), I would lie in my crib at night and listen to the coke trains coming down the Allegheny valley from the ovens upriver. 
When they reached the edge of our town they would blow their whistles so that the mills would know that they were only 1 1/2 miles away and to get ready. The sounds of 
those whistles echoing in the valley were some of the creepiest, most laconic, morose, lonely sounds I have ever heard even to this day. And for that dear friends....definitely
requires a diatonic. As the trains went by they would shake the glazing compound out of the window frames. .   lolol

smokey joe.  (who once told Casey Jones "Slow the h*** down goof ball") yes, he is the most unforgettable character you will ever meet.   


On Oct 17, 2014, at 10:34 AM, Mike Wilbur wrote:

> I have to agree with Doug on this.
> If a diatonic was specifically built for Train Sounds, I would take up the Trombone again.
> 
> I know Choo-Choo and Chugging has a important place in Music and certainly a historical significance in American Blues, Country and Blue Grass.
> I respect that.
> 
> For myself.....I'll take the bus
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mike Wilbur
> 
> 
>> On Oct 17, 2014, at 10:07 AM, Doug Schroer <dougharps@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> 
>> Thanks for posting a very nice clip of chromatic harmonica playing Gershwin
>> well.
>> 
>> You know, I have never heard anyone say that chromatic harmonica was "made
>> for chugging and choo-choo noises."  It isn't.  It was designed to play
>> music that the diatonic could not perform well.
>> 
>> Regarding Richter tuned diatonic harmonica (designed for chords), there is
>> an historical tradition of playing "chugging and choo-choo noises" in a
>> folk style that can demonstrate mastery of certain techniques, and that has
>> been used to entertain many.
>> 
>> "Chugging" can also be used as part of rhythmic self accompaniment in
>> blues.  I do not engage in train and fox chase renditions, as it is not my
>> thing, but I respect the technique needed to perform this well.
>> 
>> Can't we appreciate a chromatic harmonica performance without a swipe at an
>> old school diatonic technique?
>> 
>> I wish you had just posted the YouTube video without the "Chugging and
>> Choo-Choo Noises" heading.
> 





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