everyone give Dylan a bad rap, but I'd be willing to bet he has inspired as many people to take up harp as any blues player.
I actually like his playing, but then I'm a harmonica nut, it doesn't have to be blues, it just has to be harp! Country, folk, irish, classical, I love it all!
I doubt the book can teach what is most important about Dylan's playing. The songwriting and the gut level delivery make his harp playing perfect for the music it's in. I can't sound like him yet in those two areas, but I can play scales all day long. His is not a matter of technique, it's one of heart.
Dylan's breath technique may not have been the most refined, but in many respects his harp playing is fairly sophisticated. For example, on the original "All Along the Watchtower" he played natural minor using 4th position which requires more than a casual familiarity with the instrument.
And it is difficult to listen to on a small speaker mp3 player...lol. My wife made me turn it off one night. It sounds like he just played whatever harp was laying around and played whatever came out...but it worked!
I realize that all of us on here are so freakin' scary accomplished as musicians and our legacies will live forever, but can we get off Bob Dylan?
It's taking every fiber of my being to adhere to the rules of the forum when I see thread topics and original posts like this. You know, it's one thing to offer a measured critique of Dylan's playing and/or whatever technical proficiency he may or may not have lacked or applied. It's quite another to continually try to hold him up to ridicule as is done so often on this board.
The guy was a voice of his generation, master poet, songwriter and musical artist. Had the balls to walk up on stage in front of the folkies in Newport and plug in despite their attempts to boo him off the stage.
Whatever his harp technique, praefect, I'm guesssing he has more musical ability in his baby toe than you've got in your entire body.
Dylan, Neil Young and Stevie wonder are the only harp players I knew about when I was younger. They are my influences, i suppose. Actually, Dylan and Neil Young ARE my songwriting influences and my friends have often told me so. Music is more than technical wizardry.
genius is an oft bandied word,but i would put dylan in that bracket. i've never considered his harp playing,it is w hat it is,as they say,but his songs are right up there with the very best.
that was only a friday joke, I thought the book was funny with its title "the many styles of Bob Dylan". Of course he's a genius and influenced a lot of people, nobody said anything to the contrary...
here, I hope I'm not hurting anyone's feeling with this one:
(WARNING: this post does not imply that Alanis Morissette does not make good music)
Dylan doesn't play blues so why should we expect him to play in a blues style? It's rudimentary, simplistic stuff but it completely fits the material. His lyrics are poetry and the man deserves all his fame. If you really want to hear what he can do listen to the album he recorded with Harry Belafonte and his first recorded appearance on an album by Carolyn Hester. It's still the same style, but out of the rack it's a little more refined. There's also a more recent track called Every Grain of Sand which merits at least a listen. BTW I flicked through that book at the music store once, from what I remember it's really just the scores of his music, not much discussion of his 'styles'.
Here's a bluesy cut from the genius of Dylan--he's still a huge great one in my opinion--but I did get the joke and I understand that many people don't care for Dylan--but I would not call it "simplistic stuff"--he had a great way of just saying what needed to get said. . .
Way back when people would ask me if I could play any Bob Dylan or Neil Young tunes on the harp and myself thinking are you kidding me that harp is so basic that give me a little time with you,meaning the person that asked me and I,ll have you playing they,re riffs in no time.It wasn,t until a friend had a neck rack and myself knowing my limited cords on the guitar tried strumming and blowing harp and realized how hard it was to play the both together and sing to boot.I developed a new respect for they,re harping,although very simple but to put the three things together and make them work is a whole different ballgame.Thats why when I saw John Hammond(on numerous occasions) and have listened to guys like Paul Oscher I realized how incredibly awesome that they are at blending the three things together.I saw a show some years back in which J.Hammond opened for Duke Robbilard and at the end of the Dukes set he let John blow harp straight through the vocal mike,All I can say is wow.I realize that Dylan never laid anything down on the rack like the two mentioned but just to combine the three is a feat in itself.I,d be curious to hear either Bob or Neil play just straight harp,I,d bet they could blow some notes that we have not heard on any of they,re recordings.And as for Harp song books go, I use to wonder about the Mick Jagger Harmonica Songs book,maybe I hadn,t heard enough of his early playing but what I had heard I wasn,t impressed.Is there something that I might have missed?Om second thought,he does do some decent playing on Midnight Rambler,but harp song book for Jagger,did he really play that many tunes on harp in the early Stones days?I know I,m jumping artist here,forgive me I,m from Jersey and I live close to a Nuc plant.BTW I love the edit feature its awesome.
Last Edited by on Mar 14, 2010 4:23 PM
