[Harp-L] Once upon a time . . .

[The Iceman]

In the blues genre, one may consider the "head" or complete "melody" to be what the singer sings....quite often, the harmonica will play the same "head" idea with maybe a trill or embellishment..or offer a "melody" response in call and response....granted that these are different than the "head" of a swing tune, but the genre is different.
btw, I always thought Popper was a great song writer and singer, so deserves Blues Traveler fame for such....as others have stated, the "shredding" sequences at high velocity are an additional hook and worked well in the "90's" amongst other alternative rock style shred guitar bands.
Shred/velocity may not be as popular today - even interest in electric guitar has fallen so low that the music stores are freaking out about not selling as many guitars and amps as they did back then!


-----Original Message-----
From: Joseph Leone <3N037 at xxxxx>


The problem, as I see it, and remember I could be totally full of it. BUT NONE of the players mentioned play a ‘Head' or a complete ‘Melody’ of a tune. At least they haven’t demonstrated
that they CAN. All I hear are riffs and runs. Now riffs and runs are good. And DO give a flavor to a piece. But they can only take you so far (musically) and I think this is one of the reasons
that the diatonic isn’t taken as seriously as other instruments. Corrections to the above are cheerfully solicited.

‘Pa’ Pua