@scott4 I had a quick look at moon river and agree; it is well suited to the harmonica. I’ve added it to my wish list. It’s good to work on difficult tunes in order to grow, but it’s a wonderful thing also to just play what flows easily and makes you happy.
I’ve been lamenting that I have too many tunes to play and enjoy, and need to cast some off, but fear that I will have lost something or wasted my time learning them. I was given some good advice months ago by @Mugen who suggested thinking of it as archiving rather than throwing away and @Luke who said nothing is lost and nothing is wasted. I finally bit the bullet, created an archive folder and sent 11 songs down the chute. It was starting to feel like a burden to play them all regularly, as though I was going through a list of chores. Now I’m more relaxed and I’m playing the remaining songs with more feeling. Of course, there will be more tunes I will want to add over time. I need to be more discerning and think more carefully about what songs are going to work and which ones might not, before I invest time in them. It’s good to get tips from others.
I’ve been thinking about both of your replies @Carlos1 and @PapaCurly this last week or so, as I have gone through my daily routine. What you both say makes a lot of sense.
Playing a song people are familiar with definitely will get people’s attention more than noodling around or playing a song of our own composition.
I think you should write a book @PapaCurly about your experiences! I would read it
And as I think back to my early morning jaunts playing my harp, the songs are by and large my own, so I shouldn’t expect much response from those anyway, and as @PapaCurly says, most people are in their own worlds. But even so, they do pay attention.
I like one of @Luke 's techniques of playing softer, not only to really try and hear the music, but also not to cause such a rukus in the middle of their own thoughts.
As I was walking this morning someone stopped and looked at me as I was repeating my daily dose of motivation and asked, ,“Aren’t you the guy who plays the harmonica?” I whipped my harp out and answered, “Never leave home without it.” He told to keep playing, so I suppose that’s a good sign
I’ve always dreamed of just setting myself up on a corner, throwing my hat in front of me, putting some money in it as bait, and starting to play. Though it might get me arrested, so too maybe I could get some beer money for the local pub.
Anyone wanna join me?
Keeping in line with this thread, here is one of my all-time favorite harmonica songs
@HarpinBobbyMcB I have had some fleeting thoughts about busking but have yet to do it. I have been given a couple of $2 coins, even though I wasn’t asking for money, a lollypop once (I wondered if that was to get me to shut up) and a meal from a couple of brothers from the gutter, who were using the public barbeque facilities and said they were enjoying my music. It really touched me, that they shared their meal with me, as they were clearly indigent broken people. I didn’t really want it, but I couldn’t refuse.
Even though there wouldn’t be much difference between busking and what I already do; I choose low rather than high traffic areas and I don’t have a hat or similar, seeded with coins, it feels like it would be something very different. I’m all about chilling and trying to cultivate a peaceful mind. Busking doesn’t look like that to me. I might try it one day, it would be something, to be paid to play.
Another thing I do with some of my songs, is to add some instrumental bits to spice it up. Of course, you could say it’s all instrumental for us, since we only have a harmonica, but usually for me at least, I’m playing the singing bits only, not for example the guitar bits. Since you’re a CCR fan, here’s an example of what I mean:
’Have you ever seen the rain’
Hey, y’all. I just wanted to show y’all a little something I found yesterday. Nearly everybody who’s known me for a long time knows that I was very vocal about not being the biggest fan of Charlie McCoy’s playing in the past. Mainly because of the assumption from other players online that his trademark fast licks and melody playing were the only way to play country music on the harmonica. I thought for a long time that his playing wasn’t for me because people would constantly tell me I had to play like him since he is more well-known than Terry McMillan (my favorite harmonica player) to the people telling me this, including some of them who DID play country music full time.
I was listening to Charlie’s “Harpin’ the Blues” album last night and it’s really good. Even though I’m not typically a fan of melody playing as a country harmonica player myself, I actually quite like his playing. Many of the songs on this album were melody focused, which Charlie has been proven throughout the decades to be his strongest asset as a musician as well as his extensive music theory knowledge, but his more blues lick-oriented stuff is also very good. I also really love how crystal-like his tone is, but it doesn’t mean that it’s not powerful since the bluesier stuff shows that very well. I’ve known that he’s been a long time user of the Hohner Special 20, so maybe that harp really contributed to his tone sounding as good as it is.
Here’s my favorite track off of the album, his cover of Merle Haggard’s “Working Man Blues”. I also like Charlie’s playing when it comes to jazz songs like “Basin Street Blues”, but I think the former song really showcases what he can do when not playing in the “traditionalist box”.
Glad to share it. I felt like the biggest reason why I “disliked” Charlie’s playing for a long time was because of a combination of two factors. One was getting a bad first impression of his style and the other was being forced-fed a lot of the assumptions other harmonica players online had about country harmonica, even by those who DID play country.
I had only listened to his folk melody playing and the Johnny Cash version of “Orange Blossom Special” prior to listening to “Harpin’ the Blues”. I thought Charlie’s playing had great potential, but the melodic style just wasn’t for me. With “Orange Blossom Special”, it honestly felt more like classical music to me when played on the harmonica compared to on the fiddle. If I wanted to play only major scale stuff, I’d just play classical rather than country.
I grew up on country music from the 80s/90s/00s that had a bluesier, lick-oriented sound than a melodic one. So I’d often listen to players like Delbert McClinton, Don Brooks, Mickey Raphael, Jelly Roll Johnson, and Terry McMillan. Especially Terry McMillan because I really liked his playing style as it was both energetic and had that bluesy grit. After seven years of blowing on the harp, I still think that Terry’s harmonica playing has aged well almost two decades after he passed away.
I provided this context because a lot of harmonica players online think that country harp hasn’t changed at all since Charlie’s albums in the 70s. A lot of them, especially those who DID play country, would often say to me “if you’re going to play real country harmonica, you have to play melodies and fiddle tunes because people like it over Terry’s stuff”. The problem with that for me is that I don’t take inspiration from fiddle players at all for my harp licks, but rather slide guitar and dobro players. Even taking into consideration that if you’re playing country music after the 70s, a lot of that traditional styling just wouldn’t fit over songs like “Ain’t Goin’ Down (Til the Sun Comes Up)” which is a lot more bluesy in terms of harmonica. Those reasons where why it often led to a heated generational clash between me and the older musicians, where my love for the bluesier approach to country harp was often the butt of jokes by those who saw the traditional methods as the “only way” to play country.
Watch him play Orange Blossom Special on U Tube. He can play anything very well and his single note play at an extremely fast pace is amazing. Definitely one of the very best.
The late Norton Buffalo’s Lovin’ in the Valley of the Moon fro 1977. Check out all the songs but 18 Wheels and Nobody Wants me have some great harmonica solos and comps. He was Steve Miller’s harp and vocal harmony guy. The whole album is worth listing to. If you are a chromatic player like me you should find some joy in here.
I started getting into Norton’s music recently, @sirworkalot. He was one of the most creative harmonica players of all time and he’s slowing becoming a huge inspirator on my harmonica playing and songwriting process nowadays. I loved that he took inspiration from any piece of music he could find, resulting in a very eclectic mix of influences (which he mentioned in his Harmonica Power lesson series). Learning that he was a U-blocker pretty much convinced me to relearn that embouchre style again. I thought that it was a bad habit I developed while trying to blow bend all those years ago, but finding out that there are people who actually do it as their main embouchre made me want to learn it again.
I got introduced to his stuff through his work with Roy Rogers, particularly their live cover of “Mercury Blues”. I had grown up listening to the Alan Jackson version, but I like their version better. Mainly because of Norton’s soulful voice. His singing style, even on non-blues songs, reminded me so much of Gospel and older R&B singers with the way he used growls, vibrato, and vocal runs to create dynamic vocal lines.
What I’ve noticed about his harmonica style, other than the melting pot of influences, his playing on both the diatonic and chromatic was very dynamic and melodic compared most traditional blues harmonica. His use of dynamics can really intensify the emotion of a phrase, whether playing acoustic or amplified. Also his ability to create hooks and melodies alongside more bluesy licks I think is a great asset for a harmonica player to have. I loved how he treated the harmonica as a tool for creative expression more than just a blues or folk instrument.
Charlie McCoy also has a great version of Georgia on my Mind. Check it out, if you haven’t already. I like Charlie he has a full range, not just country.
He told to keep playing, so I suppose that’s a good sign 
