[Harp-L] Harp playing by musicians not considered harmonica players

[Michael Rubin]

Harp players often conceptualize good harmonica playing by control of the
technical aspects of the harp.  I prefer musicality, which can be defined
by

1. a control of the contrasts of music.  Loud, quiet.  Long short.  Legato,
staccato.  High low.  single notes, chords, double stops.
2.  More ethereal ideas such as feeling, soul, emotion.  They are harder to
pin down.
3.  A sense of timing.

Bob Dylan gives me more pleasure than most of the harmonica players in the
world.

On Tue, Jun 2, 2020 at 10:01 AM Ronnie Schreiber <autothreads at xxxxx>
wrote:

> I was listening to Those Were The Days, the boxed set of all of Cream's
> official releases. Their first album in particular has a lot of Jack
> Bruce's harmonica and Bruce's playing isn't half bad. Sure, he may not
> have some of the technical chops of full time harp players but his
> tasteful playing still reflects the fact that he was a world-class
> musician.
>
> It seems to me that some harmonica enthusiasts tend to diminish the
> harmonica playing of musicians like Bruce, Robert Plant, or Mick Jagger,
> as not serious harmonica players, but it should be pointed out that they
> were good enough players to blow harp with Cream, Led Zeppelin and the
> Rolling Stones.
>
> Ronnie Schreiber
> The Electric Harmonica Co.
> http://www.harmonicaster.com
>
>