[Harp-L] Toots

[fmajor7]

Sébastien,

If you have followed Toots' career then you will notice that he played only
Hohner Chromatics. Much later Hohner designed two special harmonicas for
him - the Hard Bopper and Mellow Tone. AFAIK, he never played another make.
So you see, he was a Hohner artist all his life. This may have been the
reason for him not to try harmonicas from different manufacturers. Toots
also whistled and played his guitar simultaneously for years so I believe
he could easily have mastered the HFC. As you saw Enrique had no problems
playing the HFC with his Guitar.
What Toots did in his old age or near the end of his career is still
amazing. I was lucky enough to be at the 90th anniversary concert in
Antwerp and believe me his two-hour long performance was just unbelievable.

Gautam

On 23 March 2017 at 10:14, Sébastien Frémal <sebastien.fremal at xxxxx>
wrote:

> Gautam,
>
> My intention was not to disrespect Vern Smith, I was just wondering how it
> was possible to change notes without using the button. I read the pattern
> of the HFC, it's interesting. But it seems like a really different method
> to achieve chromatism on the harmonica, I guess it takes some time to be
> used to it and to reach the same speed you have when you use the button
> manually. I can understand why someone who is near to the end of his career
> would not be interested by this mechanism, even if it is ingenious and
> well-designed.
>
> Sébastien Frémal
> ​
>