[Harp-L] chromatic choice

[chris smith <harpshredder@xxxxxxxxx>]

     Well,thank you all for taking your time to listen
to my art. Thanks also for the very kind words. I've
been doing this a
long time with mixed success (I'm probably doing
better than
ever now) so a little encouragement goes a long way.
I'm usually the one encouraging my students but hey
we're all
only human.
     These recordings are so old I'm ,of course,
somewhat embarassed by them but I think there's still
merit.The CD "Down But Not Out" was released in 94 and
"Livin' On My Own" in' 96 so
I've been able to perfect the original songs from them
on literally over a thousand gigs.  When we recorded
them they were mostly
brand spankin' new so a lot of phrasing, etc. was less
than
optimal. I didn't even play the melody right on " L.A.
Shuffle" which has some very quick triplets  in it and
is pretty tricky to play Definitely not a cliche.
Speaking of which on "Paths I Haven't Tried"  I would
venture seguing into "The Mooncoin Jig" was not
exactly cliche either.
     I think I've pretty exhaustively explained I'm no
longer an
OB guy though I like to slide in the raised 9th (6th
hole OB)
on occasion. They just don't sound good on my stock
Marine
Bands. I think I'll get a Filisko and give it a whirl
but I have
such demands on my time a whole new discipline ? I
don't know.
     So Chris M. ,my constant prod, to answer your
question:
I never even considered playing this (Pass The Test Of
Time)
on diatonic. Of course i could have but it wouldn't
have sounded nearly as good as it does. I'd have to
bend the low tonic note (for 4th pos.) and other notes
as well. Because
my main axe has always been the diatonic and I'm a
blues
guy but I've had a reasonable amount of classical and
jazz
training. I tend to the chromatic pretty hard not like
Toots at all.
When I hear my performance of that song it  sounds to
me like a blues guy playing a jazzy pop ballad. You
couldn't get
the 6ths  I  played on a diatonic either. Also, the
chrome has
a pretty thick tone to it. It might have been
interesting on diatonic scooping some of those notes.
Chris, maybe you
could do it that way. I could use another ASCAP check
!
I think the way I play chromatic harp like a diatonic
( in some
ways) is my style. Now isn't this an interesting age
when an
artist actually defends his work before the world ! 
                                                      
   Chris "Hammer" Smith
     

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