I quite literally am watching it while typing this. I just wanted to be the first to start the thread! ;) It's not blues, but really quite good country playing by what seems like a professional harp player they brought in. Anyone know who he is?
I saw him too, Isaac. No, I don't know who he is. And while I thought his stuff was good, it pales in comparison to the original song. Now I've gotta go look the harp player on the original version (Garth Brook's) up. Anybody? Song title is "Ain't Goin Down Till the Sun Comes Up" originally by Garth Brooks. I used to have the tape, but never bought the CD. Sold all of my tapes some time ago, so I don't have liner notes to look up and see who the original harp player was.
Last Edited by on Mar 17, 2009 7:34 PM
Never mind, I found out already. The original harp player for this song was Terry McMillan. Apparently he died not long ago. For those of you who haven't heard the original song, the harp part was friggin' awesome, country music or not. He tore it up.
Here is a YT video I found of Terry playing Amazing Grace. I've never heard of him until tonight when I looked him up, and now I'm sad he's gone.....
Ahhh... I guess I'm not a very big "country" fan. I had never heard that song before, and didn't realize that it was "supposed" to have a harmonica part in it. I just kind of figured that that guy who was singing it thought it would be good to have a harp player on it. By the way, the harp player's playing was WAY better than that guy's singing! I'll have to look up the original song and hear what the harp part was supposed to sound like. It's just good to see a "real" harp player featured on a National show like Idol... ---------- -------------- The magnificent YouTube channel of the internet user known as "isaacullah"
I saw it to. Finally, good harp playing on American Idol. That guy was way better than Taylor Hicks was. I wonder who he was. We may never know. ---------- Brandon Bailey
Can't find a youtube of the original song...but the harp playing is insane. Worth checking out. I will keep looking for it and see if I can get a link to something, even if it is just an audio clip.
I'm in Arizona (Tempe to be exact). We're one of those states that doesn't do Daylight Savings time, so if you are on the west coast, you'll be in the same time zone as me! I grew up in the SF Bay Area though, and that's always what I think of as my home ---------- -------------- The magnificent YouTube channel of the internet user known as "isaacullah"
PS, is it weird to be watching American Idol and posting on this "alternative" music forum? It's kind of funny because while I'm not a huge fan of the type of music usually played on the show, I jut love watching anything music related on national TV! And sometimes someone does do a good version of song!
Personally I thought that video was pretty awesome- We're each entitled to our own opinion and I personally like the sound of a bluesy amazing grace. I hope you guys find a video of the american idol harp guy- sounds interesting. ---------- "Without music, life would be a mistake" -Nietzsche
I saw it last night too. My first thought was ... Oh no ... this guy made a big mistake having the harp player on stage! He plays better then you can sing!!
... ah, Mr. Camera man ... can you pan back over to the harp player?
What's wrong with Blues licks in a country song? I listen to "today's" country quite a bit, and I hear rock, blues, and Southern Rock influences in almost everysong.
I'm sure you're familiar with Hank Williams Sr.'s work, or at least have heard his name. There's an undeniable blues thread in his brand of country, due to his large influences from an african-american street performer named Rufus Payne, or "Tee-Tot" as he was called. Reportedly, the only musical training Hank Sr. ever had was from Tee-Tot, who mentored him through his teens and taught him to play guitar.
Since countless country musicians have been influenced by Hank Sr., I think it is inevitable that you are going to hear blues licks in country songs.
I also watched American Idol last night. Michael did a nice job. I love Garth Brooks stuff! I'm also a huge country music fan! That harp player was fantastic!!! I also have no idea who he was, but obviously he was a professional musician.
Carolyn
P.S. Preston, thanks for posting the video of Terry playing Amazing Grace. He's awesome!!!
Last Edited by on Mar 18, 2009 7:06 AM
i just listened. i got to believe 1/2 of you guys could do that.
3 simple and short licks done at @ :30 and :45 and 1:30. other than that it was just warbles, trills, some slides and bending. there didnt seem to be much cohesion in the playing. just seemed to be along for the ride.
i didnt see the show so maybe the harp player is getting "christelle" points for the playing. i am sure there was probably lots of theatrics involved.
did you guys get caught up in the excitement of there being harp on tv?
I just went into the American Idol site and did a post on a Michael Sarver thread. I asked who the harp player was. Hopefully, someone will post his name.
I fail to see what impressed you guys about that playing. I didn't see "Idol", just that audio clip Preston posted. To me, that was advanced beginner at best.
Last Edited by on Mar 18, 2009 7:44 AM
No way to account for musical taste, I guess--I thought the harp was unremarkable--competent at best. Maybe there was something in the performance (I didn't see it) that added to the experience?
I didn't know McCoy had done a blues album--I'll have to check that out on itunes.
I bought a McMillan CD on Ebay a couple of years ago. It turned out to be just vocals of church music--very little harp. I didn't find it to be all that good. . .
It's hard to tell the harp players abilities when he was basically just comping behind a singer, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's not a good harp player just because his fills aren't amazing-- he could just be trying to keep out of the singer's way. ---------- "Without music, life would be a mistake" -Nietzsche
Mainly I was just impressed to see that a show like Idol finally decided to hire a real actual harmonica player. In the past on the show, when a song had a "harmonica part", they would get the keyboardist to play it on his synthesizer. Not to mention, a contestant last year once picked up a harmonica "last minute" to "play" the harmonica part in a beatles song he was singing. THAT was horrible! This guy who played last night is most likely not a phenomenal harp player. If he was, we would have heard of him. He was obviously a professional musician who could play some harp well enough. Is it his main instrument? Probably not. Regardless, he is and remains the "best" harmonica player that I have seen playing on a music show as big as Idol. That's the main reason to get excited about him!
I agree with oldwailer on this: considered purely as a fellow professional, I thought the guy was "unremarkable--competent at best." He had good energy, but that's something a lot of harp players bring to the table. Forget about his blue notes! They need work. Of course he was a pure lip-purser; nothing wrong with that, but it's worth pointing out. He tracked the song's rhythmic emphases pretty well. He worked the warble a little harder--i.e., used it a little more often, as a trick--than I think he should have. Made him sound limited. I'd give him a solid B+. Nothing wrong with what he did. But certainly not in the Norton Buffalo / Mickey Raphael / Charlie McCoy league.
I have a sliding scale. If somebody on the harpfriends channel, making a huge step up, happened to be on that stage and played exactly the same stuff, I'd be raving with praise. :)
"If somebody on the harpfriends channel, making a huge step up, happened to be on that stage and played exactly the same stuff, I'd be raving with praise. "
i feel better about my own level, now.
next time somebody asks abut my skills i'll tell them, "probably good enough for american idol." lol
I agree with all of you, and I back what Isaac said. I didn't see any extraordinary harp playing, I jumped on the thread because the original playing by McMillan is (in my opinion) fabulous and I was going to make a comparison, but I can't find any clips of the original that I can post here to share with some of you who haven't heard it.
Buddha, like I said, I didn't think he was all that, I just don't understand your comment about why it's wrong to put blue notes in a country song. Maybe I'm relying on my memories of the original song too much and it is clouding this discussion. The original by Garth Blooks is an in-your-face, beer guzzling, redneck stomp, that back in early 90's had everybody rockin when it came on the radio. The way the harp was played the song beautifully. There were parts with McMillan battling and exchanging licks with the guitarist that get my blood pressure going even today. I can see if it was a straight ahead, old fashioned country song, a blues harp wouldn't fit. But sometimes it just works. So I was surprised when you said "Why do they always play those blues licks in a country tune?". Just tryin to figure out what you're thinkin!
Preston, I'm about playing appropriately. Most people don't like when Howard plays blues because he's too jazzy. Why should a player like the dude from last night be held to a different standard?
Last Edited by on Mar 18, 2009 4:30 PM
Ya know what ... I think I'm getting a bit tired of all of the ... well he's ho-hum nothing special. Is that really the point?
He's playing frikin harp infront of millions of viewers!
Adam JUST might get a few new forum members or U-tube subscribers from it. Someone is going to hear it and think hey that's cool.
That's how I view it. (I still say he can play better then the other guy can sing ... Garth would of hanged his head in shame)
Last Edited by on Mar 18, 2009 1:14 PM
"well he's ho-hum nothing special. Is that really the point?"
that does seem to be the point. i dont think we are discussing his advertising of harp potential.
but i agree that he could get some folks interested in harp by his playing. as ld miller on that show a couple of years ago and the harp player that won the german talent show on tv did, both got some attention to the instrument.
Somebody who saw this thread was nice enough to send me info on the guy. His name is Dave Bernal:
http://www.myspace.com/themusicofjdbernal
"I'm the harp player from American Idol now" trumpets his MySpace page.
Sorry, GGiles, but even nicey-nicey guys like me ("You're all WONDERFUL people!!") have standards. The song that opens on his website certainly makes me want to invoke them.
The problem with a decidedly mediocre professional like Bernal getting onto American Idol is that HIS version of "blues harmonica" is what America ends up taking AS blues harmonica. With so many extraordinary players out there, I just can't get excited about this particular player giving the instrument heightened visibility.
If anyone inspired me, it was my mate and work-colleague Tom here (oh, and Captain Beefheart): http://www.catsaway.com/Mouseketeers.htm He only plays in pubs, I guess, and my ambitiion isn't greater than that. He lives in north London, so he may have found his way to Oisin's territory. Oh, actually, it looks as though he may have gone back to Wales.
Last Edited by on Mar 19, 2009 7:57 AM
This might be better to post in the "Are you better than" thread, but when I heard M. Bernal, it was like hearing my harmonica Doppelganger (sorry, lost the umlaut on my keyboard).
I'd say he and I are at about the same level except that I have a vibrato and use octaves and other TB effects more than he seems to. Otherwise, we have a similar "getting there, but not quite there" single note tone and the speed and simplicity of selected cliches is about on par. I like to think I'm less cliched, but it's probably wishful thinking on my part.
For what it's worth, I would put myself at about 300-400 hrs of practice away from "serviceable semi-pro bar-band harp player", which is my goal. Otherwise said, I'm not about to give up my day job in the near future. On the other hand, I think he's better than Willis or Nicky Shane and in the same general ballpark as Aykroyd, IMO.
ETA: One thing I noticed, for example, is the "clipped" note that ends the first repeated phrase on the tune that starts playing when you open his website. A more mature player would play that note stronger. I hear notes like that in my playing, particularily when I start running out of breath. These are issues of tone that separate the men from the boys. To make that phrase-ending note stronger, I wonder if the solution is one of sustaining it a touch longer or using a different attack. I think it's a 2d and a chord "crunch" with the 1D might help...
I don't feel bad about critquing his playing because I think he's OK, just not seasoned and not in the group of what I would call "pro" players (e.g. Huey Lewis and lots of competent bar-band players), let alone "elite" players (Wilson, Gussow, Gruenling, etc). There's another category I have for people like Ricci, Michalek etc, but I haven't named it yet and it requires OB mastery to be included.
I think critiquing the "almost good" players is useful for us upper-intermediate players to figure out how to get to the bottom of the next level.
Last Edited by on Mar 20, 2009 10:03 AM
My thought seems to be inline with most here. I was unimpressed generally. I did tihnk that I could do that with a couple of days' rehearsal. But beyond that: he was too distracting. If that had been a jam, or a group performance, then fine. But it was a contest and it was the SINGER who was most important. The harp player should have been sitting still so as not to be a distraction. I only listened to it on TV the one time it was one, but I also said, aloud at the end, "he missed the ending." I could be wrong on that one, an if I am I will say I did not like his last few notes.
I mentioned this thread the next day to my wife as we discussed the harp player, and I asked her, "Who was the singer?" and she couldn't remember... but then again, neither could I....
