Re: [Harp-L] minimalist riffs.

[Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak@xxxxxxxxx>]

I listened to a Zephyr Song solo to get an idea about what you may be
searching for. Remember that the harmonica allows you to sustain a note
(and wiggle it around with volume and pitch) and hold it as long as you can.

Eric

On Wed, Sep 17, 2014 at 5:10 AM, Harp Explorer <harpexplorer1@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

> In interviews, Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull has talked about how he did
> guitar riffs on flute.
>
> I'd recommend playing along with what you like and getting it down cold
> without having to think, and then branching out.
>
> I learned harmonica from a guy whom I greatly admire, and I can do his
> riffs and licks. (In fact, in my last lesson when he asked me what I
> wanted, he filled the whole cassette with licks, and it was a great
> encyclopedic resource for that style.)
>
> But at some point when we were at a music party, my then-partner heard some
> guy in another room playing in a style she had never heard before... and it
> turned out to be me. She had only heard me practicing the one stuff, but
> had never heard where it would go when i stopped just doing the rote
> repetition.
>
> There are many great resources for slowing down recordings. It's like
> having that person at your elbow, showing you the notes.
>
> Expanding it a bit further, if you want to be able to generate new ideas
> rather than just parrot them, I highly recommend doing a search on the
> chords for any given song. That will give you an idea of what selective
> notes are being changed to get some kind of voice leading as the chord
> changes, so you can understand the skeleton instead of just the notes.
> Doing what with a song like "Slow Cheetah" might even lead to you
> compacting those repeating figures into the first four to six holes, and
> since you'd be doing "arpeggiated" chords and figures, you can do more
> complicated accompaniments on straight diatonic harmonica.
>
> Leaving the 4-hole solution to the side for those who are interested in
> pursuing this even further, one of the more interesting non-harmonica
> harmonica courses on this idea is "Funk Using it and Fusing it," a DVD by
> Leo Nocentelli of the Meters, and the originator of that style of
> syncopated funk guitar. Even if you just pursue his ideas by pulling
> one-note lines out of the various voice sections he integrates into one
> line, it's extremely funky.
>
> To LA Short: There's no reason for you not to do this, and lots of
> information out there to get you on your way. It sounds exciting, and I
> wish you luck.
>
> On Tue, Sep 16, 2014 at 3:07 PM, LA Short <lloyd.arthur.short@xxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
> > I'm looking to play some slow soulful blues using only the low end of the
> > harp. nothing above hole 4. Anyone got any riffs they could share that
> > would help me diversify my sound by losing less. I'm trying to do kinda
> > what John Frusciante does on with 4 notes in a guitar but o a harp I
> stead.
> > (Zephyr song is a perfect example of what I mean by milking minimal notes
> > for maximum vibe)
> > --
> > Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
> >
>