[Harp-L] kim wilson,rick estren,mark hummel,etc overblows
jarett yuknalis
Greg Heumann
a) you don't have to use overblows to make good music
b) these guys all learned their craft way before overblows were in
vogue and don't feel the need to add it to their repertoire
and aside from that it means absolutely nothing. Microsoft Word
doesn't make you a good writer. Photoshop doesn't make you an artist.
Neither do overblows. They're just another tool in your arsenal.
/Greg
http://www.blowsmeaway.com
http://www.bluestateband.net
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/duracool/id343874731
Will Greener
xxx
--- On Sat, 19/6/10, Greg Heumann <gr...@heumann.com> wrote:
Venky Ramakrishna
So all of you guys are right. However, Gruenling, Levy, Junco and Kashmar
have this arsenal. Someone said John Popper is getting into the game. Some
get it, some don't.
GINO
Gino
"LICENSE TO SMOKE"
http://www.ginoharmonica.com
________________________________
From: Venky Ramakrishna <jazzy...@gmail.com>
To: Will Greener <willg...@yahoo.co.uk>
Cc: har...@harp-l.org; Greg Heumann <gr...@heumann.com>; jarett yuknalis <jare...@yahoo.com>
Sent: Sat, June 19, 2010 10:09:03 AM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] kim wilson,rick estren,mark hummel,etc overblows
Splash!
Niall Tracey
Setting your harp for overblows changes the feel for the player considerably, and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," as they say.
Overbends may be tricky and impressive, but musically they are badly intonated (overbends have a fixed pitch that doesn't conform to either Equal Temperament or Just Intonation) so not only are you introducing notes that aren't in the key you're playing in, but they're always bum notes, in a manner of speaking.
And crucially, you've picked three dedicated blues players, and these notes aren't part of the traditional blues sound.
Some people are driven to innovate, while some people prefer to be creative within the established boundaries of a genre.
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Doug
I saw Carlos del Junco last fall and there were moments when I heard passages and licks that were not part of the standard blues harp arsenal, BUT were so right and and so perfectly placed that it put a smile on my face that took a few hours to wipe away. It was amazing, not just because he could do it, but because it was so absolutely what my ears wanted to hear. In some cases it was simply hearing a traditional lick taken up an octave, or played around an F chord rather than the C or G (assuming a C harp). Truly being creative and well within the genre.
I will go out on a limb and say, like it or not, the traditional blues sounds of tomorrow are being worked out today. How does that Dylan song go . . .?
Doug H
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Ray Beltran
On MondayJun 21, 10, Niall Tracey <interna...@hotmail.com>
> Some people are driven to innovate, while some people prefer to be
> creative within the established boundaries of a genre.
Well put, Niall.
Ray.
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Scott Albert Johnson
"[overbends] are badly intonated (overbends have a fixed pitch that doesn't conform to either Equal Temperament or Just Intonation) so not only are you introducing notes that aren't in the key you're playing in, but they're always bum notes, in a manner of speaking."
... is COMPLETELY false. Overbends are indeed bendable -- rather easily, once one has been doing it for a while -- and your alleged "fixed" pitch simply does not exist. It's true that it's a challenge to consistently play overbends in tune, but it is absolutely doable.
It's fine if you don't care for the OB/OD technique and the styles of play that typically use it. To each their own. But don't say it's for a reason that doesn't actually exist.
Scott Albert Johnson
---
VOTED "Best Musician", 2010 "Best of Jackson" Awards, Jackson Free Press
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Winslow Yerxa
wrote:
I don't hear any overblows from
these guys,what does it mean?
Noawdays you can hear tradtion-oriented blues players like Dennis Gruenling, Carlos del Junco, Adam Gussow, and many otherrs using overblows in the context of the blues, while less traditional players like Jason Ricci, Chris Michalek, Allen Holmes, and Christelle Berthon use them fluently in a context of rock/jazz/blues fusion and even pop tunes in Christelle's case.
Contrary to what some others have posted, overblows ARE part of the scales for blues in first, second, and third positions, so they have a logical use in the blues. And yes, they can be bent up in pitch - sometimes several semitones - so getting them in tune is a matter of good technique. The players I mentioned use them in a way that enhances the music and play them in tune.
Winslow
Winslow Yerxa
Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
Resident expert at bluesharmonica.com
Harmonica instructor, jazzschool.com
Columnist, harmonicasessions.com
Niall Tracey
> From: sc...@yahoo.com
> Overbends are indeed bendable -- rather easily, once one has been doing it for a while -- and your alleged "fixed" pitch simply does not exist.
I stand corrected.
That's what I'd been told previously (here) and I'd never tried to learn them myself.
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Richard Hammersley
Overblown notes are not properly in tune (except perhaps on the lips of the best overblowers). Since when was the blues properly in tune? Jokes aside (good enough for the blues etc), blues particularly pre WWII blues makes use of microtones, glides etc and is often not 'properly' in tune. Straightening out blues on to standard written music notation can have way wrong results. Overblows can fit in the blues, both as ornaments and as melody notes. I am sure Little Walter etc thought a lot about what they were doing, but I doubt that they pondered the intonation of the tuning of their harps or the bends they laid upon them.
What is "traditional blues" in 2010? Up until the early 1960s, maybe blues was predominantly a music associated with black American musicians and often segregated onto "Race" record labels. But professional 'blues' musicians always played other music too, particularly if they got paid! Jazz got mixed up in there. So did country, gospel, the polka etc. etc. The idea that blues was the folk tradition of simple unlettered sharecroppers was largely the ethnocentric fantasy of white men. Since 1960, the playing of blues has internationalised and moved beyond boundaries of race. Like it's more complex sister jazz, blues nowadays lives where ever it is played well and this often involves mixing it with other local musics, as seems appropriate. Cliche number 1: Blues is a feeling NOT a set of notes. People can and do play "the blues" whilst breaking all the rules about the "blues scale" and "what notes to play over what chords" etc. In fact jazzers have been pushing the bou!
ndaries of how the blues works since jazz began. For instance, listen to Mike Cooper and Lol Coxhill "play the blues" (not that Mike Cooper is exactly a jazzer). Brendan Power plays the blues like a guy who knows Irish music - long fast fluent runs of notes. Collard Greens and Gravy sound Australian, while the Mississippi Alligators put in Spanish stuff because they are Spanish.
Those who can play overblows well can and should use them. Others may choose not to. At the moment I favour valved harps to get chromatic scales on a diatonic, but sometimes a standard diatonic is better when I just want to blow the blues because I can batter at the bends etc. for colouration of the music, whilst keeping broadly in key. Wasn't that the original idea of the blues harmonica? I'm starting to try and pop off the odd overblow in the midst of this, but I wouldn't rely on one for a critical note yet.
Blow in peace
Richard