28 replies to this topic

[Mr_Bluesmobile]

I just started to play harp and i obiusly need some influenses. It would be nice if someone could recomend some harpist i could listen to.

I prefer blues, but the category isn't a problem if its great music.

[ChAnOoD_bLuEs]

I like Junior Wells, Charlie Musselwhite and James Cotton. I got some cd´s of british bluesman John Mayall (Eric Clapton played in his group,the BluesBreakers in the 60´s), and if you´re into Rock, check John Popper from Blues Traveler.

I started to play the harmonica with the Blues Brothers cds, so maybe you can try to emulate Elwood´s sounds too...

[bluesharp]

Bob Dylan is a top harp player and quite easy to pick up the notes!!!!!!!!

[madmatt]

toot tiltson, sunny Terry, Paul butterfield, Howlin' Wolf, The Harmonica player from Muddy Walters band, Little Walter he was a great one and their are so many out there.

[bluesharp]

Howlin Wolf is absolutely bloody awesome!!!!!!!!

[harpoonman]

Charlie Musselwhite does it for me!
also sonny boy williamson (1 and 2)

[FatJim]

Well I always thought it an outrage that no-one ever credits the cameo appearence in the movie of a real Harp legend - Big Walter Horton. He's the guy backing John Lee Hooker (who gets a credit)

Big Walter, like his namesake Little Walter (Marion Jacobs) defined post-war Chicago blues harp. You will never hear better tone.

Best guy on the blues harp scene right now (IMHO) is a young kid called Jason Ricci - he's got some free mp3 downloads on his site Jasonricci.com absolutely breathtaking - check out 'I55' and 'Goenophiny' for some absolutely awsome harp

Some other names:

Junior Wells
Kim Wilson
Sonny Boy Williamson (both of them... that's another story!)
Magic Dick (early J Geils band - particularly the track Whammer Jammer)
Charlie Musselwhite
James Cotton
Paul Butterfield

DYLAN????? I hope you were joking Bluesharp. The guy has an undeniable talent as a poet/songwriter, but his harmonica playing, often imitated though it is (Alanis Morrissette, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen) is hardly challenging as a "style" hell my two year old son Jake plays better harp than that!

Popper? Controversial. That guy can play VERY fast, and he plays unlike anyone else, but I think he's kind of like the Satriani of harp - fast and technical, but lacking soul. Still each to his own.

If you're serious about harp, check out the alt.music.harmonica newsgroup and the harp-L email list. (google Harp-L and you'll get a link to the subscribe web site) You'll learn a lot just lurking there and listening to the pros swap tips.

Learn Cross-harp (2nd Position) first, that's the classic blues sound. But try 3rd position it's great for minor blues. In third position you use a harp a step down from the key of the song, so a Dm blues would use a C harp. It'll stop you getting 'stuck' in a rut and help you learn your way around the upper register of the harp.

Good luck Mr Bluemobile... I've been playing 20 years now, and I learn something everytime I play

[harpoonman]

Agreed DYLANs harp is not the greatest kinda skethchy but is suits his voice

as for popper, man he is one big harp blowin bag full of soul, yes he plays fast, but its that original sound that makes him special

Also agreed that cross harp is a must learn for any blues player!
so.......
..........learn it :D

[bluesharp]

Yeh,that's what i meant,his harp playin' suits his voice!!
i agree with about Big Walter,should have got a mention.awesome harp player!!

[ChAnOoD_bLuEs]

FatJim said:

DYLAN????? I hope you were joking Bluesharp. The guy has an undeniable talent as a poet/songwriter, but his harmonica playing, often imitated though it is (Alanis Morrissette, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen) is hardly challenging as a "style" hell my two year old son Jake plays better harp than that!

I found this funny, because i said that a long time ago and I almost die because there you can find a lot of fans of the harp playing of Dylan!

[madmatt]

Bob Dylan is a good harmonica playe, but he uses it just as a like a flavoring to his music, he knew that just a guitar wasn't going to be good enugh, so he added the harmonica a back round. Its just one of the many styals of playing which he masterd.

[Syd-Blues]

I think he added it because alot of famous folk singers/groups have harp players. Also, I believe his idol Woody Guthrie plays Harp. I like his Gutheries guitar. "This machine kills Fascists"

[FatJim]

Ok, easiest way to stir up a harmonica forum - mention Dylan.

I think I ought to elaborate on my position here. I am a Bob Dylan fan. I have seen him live in concert and I have a lot of his recordings. I agree that his harmonica playing adds colour to his songs but his style of playing is simplistic. In the context of his music it works and that is all that matters to him and his fans.

Dylan probably did more to raise consciousness of the harmonica as an instrument amongst white audiences than anyone else. The blues resurgence - Butterfield, The Stones, Clapton, Mayall etc... was still a few years away.

So I agree it is fair to say that in the history of the harmonica - Bob is a very important figure, but to qualify as a harp legend surely demands more than just 'adding colour' and 'raising awareness'.

I have never heard Dylan play a harmonica solo in anything other than first position. He is a hugely prolific recording artist, so maybe I missed one and there are definitely tracks with a bluesier feel that would have sounded better with a cross harp solo.

I have never heard him play a run of clean single notes - the first thing any aspiring harp player should aim to do.

Don't even mention the overblows and overbends that real harp legends like Howard Levy and Carlos Del Junco use to play chromatically on the diatonic.

Dylan's tone, even on multitracked studio recording (where I doubt he is using a rack) is thin and breathy.

Now I mentioned John Popper as well. I don't like Popper. His general style is not my thing, but I have heard Popper play in different styles, I have heard him play in different positions. I have heard him play straight old time blues style and he has a good tone.His breath control, to play those incredibly fast licks must be amazing. Popper has brought the harmonica to a wider rock audience too. I still don't like his music, but I can respect his skill as a talented harp player.

Bob Dylan is a legend and he has inspired an army of devoted fans. It's very hard to be objective about your idols. It is hard to be critical of someone who has iconic status and has changed the course of modern music...

Consider this though, in my band I occasionally shake a tambourine. It's a pretty simple technique I use, anyone with a resonable sense of rhythm could copy it, but it adds colour to the music. Does it make me a percussionist? Should my name be mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Buddy Rich, Clyde Stubblefield...?

You know the answer.

[bluesharp]

Dylan was in Manchester not long ago but the tickets were sold out!!
He's still popular even today but know where your coming from FatJim!!

[harpoonman]

Now that we have wrapped up this dylan issue...
...I noticed that Paul DeLay and Johnny Mars havent got a mention!?!
Mars is an outrageousley gnarly player

[littleboyblues]

Big Walter Horton, Little Walter, Louis Myers, Sunny Boy 1 and 2, Charlie Musselwhite, John Popper, Neil Young, toots thielmans, Stevie Wonder, Junior Wells, Captian Beefheart, Howlin' Wolf, The guy from J. Geils band, and Ta Mahal or whoever played in his band just 2 name a few.

[littleboyblues]

O and howlin wolf is most know for his incredible voice and guitar playing but he was 1 one the greatest harps ever

[DonJuan]

In any context, Sonny Boy Williams is supposedly the best in Harmonica history. However, a number of other musicans are pretty good. Junior Wells and the Chicago Soung, and I'd just be rambing if I listed what's already been said.

[domostroj]

Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson, anybody?





John Lee Hooker (may 1970): "Alan! Alan! Blow your horn, baby! I don't know how he's following me, but he does."

Check out Blind Owl at work, in early 1970, couple of months before he did himself in:

[SkratchBlues]

Tonight I am going to see harp legend Lazy Lester with special guest Jeff Grand and the GrandMasters I will let you know how it went later. Talk to you soon.

http://www.lazylester.net/

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