Great shirt. What site sells that shirt? I think it helps to also live the Blues too. Example I lost my dog ba da da dum. I left my girl ba da da dum. LOL
Thanks! I bought it at
I like the shirt although Iâm not into blues music. I think we could adopt that as a mantra for the harmonica in general. Donât play the tune, feel it!
I just wrote this for a longer promotion for my workshops; âYou canât do play from the heart. You have to do something else to create a mental state for that to happen. Thatâs because feeling and playing from the heart, becoming the music, being a conduit, are all mental states that do actually provide a very high level of your performance potential. The beautiful paradox is that if you think about feeling something, your thinking just takes you away from feeling it. LOL! All my life people said; âFeel it.â And I would say; âHow..â. What I learned is that you can do something very simple and mechanical and then automatically thereâs goosebumps, and very naturally you feel it and you are coming from the heart. I always tell the participants in my music masterclasses; âDonât worry about how it sounds just ask yourself âHow does it feel?ââ
When I toured with Howling Wolf and performed with most of the Chicago Blues masters anyone could tell they were putting every ounce of attention and effort to the task at hand. Thatâs the secret to feeling it. LOL! - Cousin Corky
Appreciate it!
I agree with you so much. I also feel like there isnât just one way to âfeel itâ because it has so much to do with the backgrounds that we have as musicians and how you approach playing music as everybody has their own footprint on how they got here in the first place. This is not even mentioning the people who think that how you âfeel the bluesâ is a one-size-fits-all situation when itâs not. Iâd honestly love to see more blues harmonica players who have influences outside of Chicago Blues or those who approach playing covers in a less restrictive way. The way blues harmonica is treated like that and how you are obligated to play covers exactly as they were recorded as if itâs classical music feels incredibly off to me. Because blues is a improvisation-heavy style like jazz, why shouldnât you do things your own way and push those boundries? Because of people who believe that âreal bluesâ harmonica only takes influence from Chicago Blues players like Little Walter and nothing else.
Indeed! In fact, I just left a reply on a different post that said âthis is the Arts, there is no such thing as the wrong way.â But there are healthy ways of thinking about it that make this a joy and not a burden, and there are easy ways as opposed to difficult ways to reach your goals. Iâve been digging deep into this psychology for over 50 years, contemplating it almost every day, writing about it almost every week. Offering workshops in every genre with every instrument and every kind of ensemble all over the world for 50 years. I even wrote a highly praised book on the subject. So when I say âyou shouldnât worry about what other people think or say,â understand these are not just words. Individuality is the great gift we have been given. Why compromise? LOL! Thank you Keroro! Go for it! - Cousin Corky
I think it was my most recent thread where you commented that.
