More is More was: Auto-Wah for Harp

["Michael Peloquin" <peloquinharp@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Iron Man wrote:
> >
> >I like to use effects like salt, lightly and sparingly, to impart a 
>slight
> >variation in my harmonica sound. A little salt brings out the natural
> >flavor. Too much makes it unpalatable.
>
>Well yes - too much of anything is by definition not a good thing.
>
>Pat Missin writes:

>Often less is more, but sometimes more is more...

How refreshing Pat! I count count the number of times I have heard harpers 
talk about "I like guys who say more with one note blah, blah" "keep it 
simple" "less is more"
Then...
I will hear the exact opposite in their playing. Music like speech has many 
different styles of communication depending on the situation, mood, etc. The 
best "one note" players (BB King?) also have fluid 1/8th note lines with 
rhthymic complexity & variety. A good player can play simple to complex and 
everything in between.

If you want to warble between 4 and 5 draw on every chord change, then more 
power to you!
If I want to play a scale in triplets to connect one warble to another, I 
will and I don't care what anybody thinks.
Don't knock a player's ability to express a complicated musical idea just 
because you don't like it (many non-musician audiences do!) or you just 
can't cop the more complex line.

I heard the greatest living Blues Harper, Gary Smith on Tuesday night. What 
a player, very LW (not a one note guy himself) inspired that night, but I 
know that Gary is capable of swinging, complex ideas that I have heard him 
expertly express on other nights.
I played through his rig, it was killer. RI Bassman with a RI Fender Reverb 
Tank. I sounded like me and played as many notes as was necessary to express 
my soul.

Thanks for the Rantwidth,
Michael Peloquin
http://www.harphouse.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=4

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