I'm just curious if there are any trios with drummer, bassist, and harmonica/singer? Has anybody ever played in this setup and if so I am curious how it worked. Maybe it's a little far fetched but humor me.
That is my preferred set up. I don't like most guitar players. Most of the sound clips my music are nothing more than Harmonica Bass and Drums. My heavy use of effects was developed from being the only lead instrument.
I don't know what kind of player you are MichaelAndrewLo, but you will need to be a very strong harp player with mega improv skills. You will need a great bassist to hold it together too. There is no substitute for a great bassist and it's the one constant in my band. The last two bassists in my band are guys that have toured with Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, George Benson etc... heavy weight players, there aren't many of them around but you can find them if you look and if you're a good enough player, they will play with you for next to nothing. ----------
"The truth may hurt for a little while, but a lie hurts forever."
Excellent Chris, and I like the way the bass and drum did the meter, mostly by playing behind or on top of the beat together, gives the time a very elastic feel, true to the original
Wait - that wasn't a harmonica Sting was playing was it?
Seriously, it is a LOT of space to fill for anyone. Buddha does it because he is certainly showcasing the harp. If he were to stop to sing the lyrics of Purple Haze, you would immediately miss the harp. It is also probably why there are not many 3 man rock bands. Unless your bassist or drummer sings, you are going to have a musical void every time you start to sing.
While I love a great bass line, I don't think i would want 3-5 minutes of it song after song (maybe Mingus I suppose).
Last Edited by on Sep 11, 2009 6:18 AM
kingobad, if there are strong enough musicians is can work. I played around Phoenix for a few years as a trio. We were strong enough musician to play whatever style we wanted. The Bassist in the trio (not the one in the purple haze clip) was a vocalist as well. Then again he's a phenomenal bassist and those are hard to find. We would play full on blues gigs with tunes like mustang sally, hoochie Coochie man, messin with the kid, etc we played a bunch of stevie wonder stuff (he was a bassist for Stevie at one time)
Then we would play as a jazz trio the next night. Then we would be a jam band or whatever...
I highly doubt there is another harmonica lead trio. I know my version of purple haze is the first one played and recorded with harp as the lead instrument.
Being the only melody instrument is not easy. Can you solo for 5-10 to 50 minutes as the only soloist and keep it interesting? I can but I have yet to meet another harmonica player outside of Howard Levy that can do it.
John Popper did it for awhile as the John Popper Project and he was the singer too.
What you can't do is, be a hack harp player, playing with a mediocre rhythm section and sound good.
http://www.harmonicapros.com/chris_music/
The buddhas groove and michalek|strone stuff is all harmonica trio. If there is more than harp, bass and drums then they are a guest. ----------
"The truth may hurt for a little while, but a lie hurts forever."
The John Popper project made some good music. It wasn't a trio though with DJ Logic on the turntables, but it really works if the harp player stops to play vocals.
I really like this kind of harp setup we are talking about here in this thread.
Concur with Buddha very much on the need for improv skills. If you're the only "solo" instrument, you need to be able to carry the show. If you only have one or two good licks, you certainly can't use them on every tune. The audience will catch on eventually. It's something I constantly worry about with my own acoustic duo (me on harp and vocals and a guitar player who mostly plays rhythm). Playing a variety of styles helps cover this a bit, but you still have to be creative enough to hold it up.
Cool groove on the Popper vid, but I found myself distracted by two things. I was listening real close, trying to figure out how the DJ fit in, but couldn't really hear his contribution. The other thing was the massive effects rig taped around the SM58. I can see how that would be handy, with the switches up by your hand instead of on the floor, but damn, that thing must be a heavy b*tch to swing around.
