[Harp-L] Beatles Harmonica

[Glenn Weiser]

My thoughts on this subject-
Lennon wasn't trying to be a blues player. He used the harmonica as a pop music voice and did so very well. He carried it around all his life, too.
Mick Jagger was trying to play blues and IMO fell far short of the bar set by the greats of Chicago blues harp. Neither he nor Brian Jones knew any TB technique as far as I can tell- I hear no tongue slaps nor certain other techniques that the postwar Chicago players used in their playing. So for Keith Richards, a guy who generally knows his music, to claim in his book that Jagger was the equal of Little Walter is 100% baloney.
To be fair, how were those 1960s Brit rockers supposed to learn all the nuances of one of the trickiest harmonica styles with no one to show them anything? The first book on blues harp didn't come out until 1965, and could you even get Glover's book in England at the time? As it was, the Brits had to wear holes in LPs learning American guitar styles.
As for Stones vs Beatles all around, I vote Beatles.

Glenn Weiserwww.celticguitarmusic.com