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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Harmonica Becoming a Serious Instrument -B-Radical
Harmonica Becoming a Serious Instrument -B-Radical
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congaron
590 posts
Mar 02, 2010
7:21 AM
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The harmonica seems to be everywhere in every genre of music, according to my musically inclined ears. It's even in commercials and reality shows nowadays. It IS a serious instrument and has been for decades. You can't go through a day without hearing it. I just never paid any attention to it until last year.
Until I came to this forum, I never heard otherwise...seems ironic to me that there's so much discussion about this where people are playing the thing at whatever their chosen level is and talking about it as a hobby or a profession.
Frankly, I don't think people playing badly in bars or anywhere else has the slightest impact on the world view of the harmonica. I've heard bad playing and never dismissed the harmonica as the reason. People who think it's a toy will go "WOW" when they hear it played well, just like professional musicians will if they don't know how to play it. As for advancement of the harmonica, how long does it have to be around before we can quit worrying about this and just play the thing?
Anybody, anywhere who ever got one for Christmas knows it is easy to play chords, harder to play melodies, and some notes seem to be missing...within an hour of the first blow. That seems to me to be the world's correct and fact-based first impression of the harmonica. The world also thinks similar things about bicycles and skeet shooting, and dog shows, and video games.... etc, etc, etc... except for the folks who take those up more seriously and put more time into them.
I have a pair of freestyle cross country skis I paid $600 for in the early 90's. My wife thought that was silly, until she saw how much better they worked in the v-styles i had learned. I think the B-radical is the right instrument at the right time, just like technical ski equipment develops as skills increase and innovation drives the equipment. My skiis are surprisingly current, and will last me a lifetime considering my amateur level of proficiency. I also have some bicycles that fall into similar price ranges and categories from the same era. Same deal..good enough for me, but there is better stuff out there.
So, yes I do think the B-radical cements the harmonica into the serious instrument category in terms of equipment development. For that to happen though, the harmonica had to be a serious instrument already.
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barbequebob
560 posts
Mar 02, 2010
1:28 PM
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German Harpist, unfortunately that attitude is a lot more common than you think, sad as it is. For a long time, the instrument has been percieved as a toy, and for a long time, not even the musician's union would allow a harmonica player to become a member in good standing at all.
In China, the harmonica is considered the national instrument of that country and they have so many really good classical players out there. The best known of them all is the now retired Cham-Ber Huang.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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Tony Dismukes
4 posts
Mar 02, 2010
1:41 PM
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"But in general, I don't think too many people thought Neil Young was a bad harp player at the closing ceremonies last night. But by harp standards he was!" - HarpNinja
Neil Young's harmonica playing is like his singing. From a technical standpoint it's not very impressive, but it does an effective job of conveying emotion and that's what really counts.
Technique is just a tool to an end. If you can effectively communicate an emotion or a musical idea without a high level of technique, then that's just as valid as relying on instrumental virtuosity.
Listen to John Lennon's harmonica on Love Me Do or Tom Petty's harmonica on Last Dance With Mary Jane - they're easy-peasy compared to what many of the forum members here are capable of. Yet those simple riffs fit the songs perfectly and make them memorable.
Really, this applies to any instrument. The audience doesn't care how hard a song is to play - they just care whether it sounds good. Neil Young's playing and singing may not be technically advanced, but it sounds good and therefore it is good.
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bluzlvr
332 posts
Mar 02, 2010
3:04 PM
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I totally agree with Tony.
The beautiful thing about the harmonica is that you can make music with it simply by breathing in and out of it.
Every solo doesn't have to be virtousic.
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http://www.myspace.com/jeffscranton
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oldwailer
1090 posts
Mar 02, 2010
3:19 PM
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@Tod--or, maybe just eating an air sandwich. . .
@Phogi--Great point! You'd be a damn genius if you played a hunk of grass like a pro!
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blogward
99 posts
Mar 02, 2010
4:34 PM
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There's a musical genre issue here. One of the songwriter/guitarists I play harp with uses a wide range of chord structures and rhythms, but the only songs he asks for harp in are his 12-bar blues-derived ones. I am perfectly capable of playing mind-bending groovy harp on all of his songs, but it doesn't even occur to him that this is an option. I don't suggest it because it's his music, but I hope one day other musicians will learn that the diatonic played right - and the B-Rad is a step on this path - can hold its own with the guitar and sax as a lead instrument WITHOUT being tied to the Chicago or Delta sound.
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bigd
43 posts
Mar 02, 2010
7:55 PM
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phogi: That in many ways was meant to be my original point: If you play a harp soulfully/musically/tastefully, etc the instrument really can have a wow factor with an audience. At least that has been my experience playing for a club audience. And if mike is still following this thread: Thank you for the compliment. I don't have the discipline to ever become great on the harp but I can be musical and evocative. My best. d
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Myspace: dennis moriarty
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congaron
605 posts
Mar 03, 2010
7:31 AM
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I saw a credit card commercial in prime time TV last night during american Idol or biggest loser (can't remember which) that was introduced by a Harmonica intro/solo...not blues.
Anybody who thinks the harmonica is a blues only instrument these days is pretty behind musically. It's everywhere. Pop, rock, jazz, classical, elevator music, blues, folk, western movies, country music, TV commercials of any conceivable product, TV shows of any conceivable genre, movie soundtracks the same way.
Blogward, that songwriter is missing the boat. I played with a guitar player who was the same way toward ANY solo. Only a guitar..his guitar..could do it. Even when the song had a mandolin solo in it by the original writer..it became a guitar solo. He also missed the boat musically. I wouldn't give them a second thought.
My current lead guitar player /songwriter insists I share the solos with him. He is a much better player than the first guy, too. It has made me a better player, too. He says..."I'm so glad we have another solo instrument in the band. Any of you guys can take a solo any time as far as I'm concerned. I get tired of doing them all." For about 3 years, he DID do all the solos, until I joined the band last year.
So, now we have Bass solos, harp solos, guitar solos, quattro solos (national instrument of Puerto Rico) and hopefully drum solos soon.
The harmonica is a serious instrument to serious musicians.
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kupo17
2 posts
Mar 10, 2010
10:13 AM
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To shanester
I get what your saying but i hear shit about how the harmonica shouldnt be incorporated into modern society and that really bugs me because people who say that obviously have no true understanding of what music and an instrument really is.
And also i dont see it as an underdog instrument. i see it as an instrument that deserves a hell of alot more respect than what it receives
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rbeetsme
240 posts
Mar 10, 2010
7:57 PM
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Harmonica as a solo...can the jews harp be far behind? We can only dream.
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Kyzer Sosa
178 posts
Mar 10, 2010
10:04 PM
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I dont know what to say....Ive never once thought about it not being a real instrument. I've never met anyone who thinks any shmoe can pick it up and be good.
Maybe it's my surroundings, I dont know, but the only person that kind of attitude effects is the person who perceives it. People will think what they wish and I will continue forward, as I have since the beginning, showing respect to this ever evolving, very difficult to master, show stopping little instrument...
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Kyzer's Travels
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