I want to know yall thought on sonny terry style and Technique not sure if anybody is interested in him since he is so old but ya
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@AJ1 Hi AJ. I was not a big Sonny Terry fan when I started playing, which is kinda funny. Because one of the things that got me connected to the harmonica was his estate sale on BlueMoon harmonicas. I looked through the inventory and was amazed at what was there. I then got a couple of recordings of his and enjoyed his style and rhythm. He was definitely a great harmonica player. I found out watching him that he played the harp upside down. I have not explored playing his style of harp music but I do admire his ability. If you are emulating him, more power to you. He is a great person to mimic.
Glad your here. You will find lots of friendly and helpful people. If you have any questions please ask.
Enjoy.
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Thank you lonestar
Not to keep mentioning the same thing, but Sonny Terrys playing never really did it for me. It just sounds a lot of the same.
That doesn’t mean he is a bad player, just not the sound I am after.
@AJ1 He’s probably the single player I’ve spent the MOST time studying over the last 5 years. I’ve always loved him, but my interest in him increased when Joe Filisko, whom I respect so dearly, calls ST the greatest diatonic player of the 20th century!!!
Studying him has helped me so much to incorporate more chords and double-stops into my blues playing.
I’m hoping to make a Sonny Terry lesson video this year.
@kamelhamoudi7 is also a fan.
I definitely like a lot of his solo stuff and I loved that he was (to my knowledge at least) one of the first blues musicians to cross over into genres like country and folk music. He also could literally play any Hohner diatonic he could get his hands on. Tom Halchak of Blue Moon Harmonicas fame sells a lot of things from Sonny Terry’s estate, including the harmonicas he used, and it looked like that he played with a lot of different models but especially loved the Hohner Golden Melody and the original Hohner Marine Band. Sometimes you’d see a Blues Harp or Special 20 in that collection, but he mostly used the former two models.
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It’s a matter of taste but I think his music is fantastic; one of my favorites.
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