great harp players

[aznxtasy341]

JUNIOR WELLS

[teleman65]

The thing I find about L.D. Miller's playing is that it's the harmonica equivalent of the adolescent guitarist's shredding. He's got some chops but he hasn't developed his sense of music enough. I think if he develops his sense of music he could mature into a great harp player but he's not there yet.

[Tremo]

Originally Posted by teleman65

The thing I find about L.D. Miller's playing is that it's the harmonica equivalent of the adolescent guitarist's shredding. He's got some chops but he hasn't developed his sense of music enough. I think if he develops his sense of music he could mature into a great harp player but he's not there yet.

Only time will tell, hopefully so. Popper never did though, still a wanker. Telling that LD is on tour with Bonamassa. Birds of a feather. More rock than blues.

Lots of notes played real fast, with no apparent direction other than shred, does not impress the more mature bluesmen.

[professor]

Originally Posted by Tremo

Only time will tell, hopefully so. Popper never did though, still a wanker. Telling that LD is on tour with Bonamassa. Birds of a feather. More rock than blues.

Lots of notes played real fast, with no apparent direction other than shred, does not impress the more mature bluesmen.

At first I though you were talking about Jason Ricci... LOL!

I saw him open for Little Charlie in the summer, and after about a song-and-a-half, I was ready to stick icepicks in my ears...

Incredible mastery of the instrument, but no soul in his playing.

It was a great relief when Estrin finally took the stage, and said so much more with so much less.

[soltwanger]

Yeah, unfortunately L.D. Miller's playing is garbage. I actually watched a couple of those youtube videos, and thought "well, maybe if I was 16 years old I would think he was great." Then I remembered that when I was 16, I was listening to Paul Butterfield, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, James Cotton, Charlie Musselwhite, Junior Wells, and Jim Liban.

Jeez what a wanker, you gotta be kidding. Reminds me of Popper. Too many notes being played too fast. Musical masturbation. Yeah, he has skills, but he's also completely devoid of SOUL, which is what blues is supposed to be about.

hey, less of the ''what a w***er'' and the ''well maybe if i was 16 years old i would think he was great'' you cannot deny that kid has talent, the video i posted was L.D's solo spot in the show. an intro to a song that the band was about to play. i respect everyone's opinion, just lay off the more abusive criticisms. I got slammed recently because I said openly in another post:

''i dont like Johnny Hiland Much and hate his new signature guitar, although i respect him as a musician.''

Those were pretty much my exact words and i got absolutely nailed for it, i was told i was disrespecting him as a musician. I publicly apologized which i stand by, i meant no disrespect.

L.D miller is 50 times the harp player you could ever be, i could bet on that 99:1. either you have a problem with kids playing music, or don't understand how music works, that we are all in the same game together. peace.

[stratavox]

Mark Wenner, 30 + years fronting DC's "The Nighthawks". Better live, but the early studio lp's are worth looking for too. As an added bonus, Pete Kanaras's guitar playing is on several disc's worth- check out "Live Tonight", or "Pain and Paradise" for great examples of both. Mark also has several solo discs available...

[Tremo]

Originally Posted by soltwanger

hey, less of the ''what a w***er'' and the ''well maybe if i was 16 years old i would think he was great'' you cannot deny that kid has talent, the video i posted was L.D's solo spot in the show. an intro to a song that the band was about to play. i respect everyone's opinion, just lay off the more abusive criticisms. I got slammed recently because I said openly in another post:

''i dont like Johnny Hiland Much and hate his new signature guitar, although i respect him as a musician.''

Those were pretty much my exact words and i got absolutely nailed for it, i was told i was disrespecting him as a musician. I publicly apologized which i stand by, i meant no disrespect.

L.D miller is 50 times the harp player you could ever be, i could bet on that 99:1. either you have a problem with kids playing music, or don't understand how music works, that we are all in the same game together. peace.

The kid has technical skills at physically playing the harp, yes. But blues talent, not yet that I can see much of. His playing bored me to death. And I would be similarly bored if ANYONE, young or old, were to play like that. If you have a problem with an honest assessment of his "blues" playing, with no personal animosity intended, well, I guess that's just going to have to remain your problem. Likewise, if you got slammed in another thread for something you posted, please take that up with those who slammed you, it has nothing to do with this thread.

I don't play harp at all, so I guess anyone who does "play" harp is perhaps a million times the harp player I am, but BFD, it matters not. I think you don't understand what it is to play blues. It's not wanking or noodling or playing 50 notes a second. It's about soul, emotion and feeling. None of which was exhibited in the kid's playing, at least none that I heard. Hopefully, in time, he will mature in his approach, slow down, and start playing real blues, instead of trying to shred. I look forward to hearing him again when that happens.

IMO, YMMV, etc.....

[bluetele54]

...I like me...not that I demand the attention for my harp playing,but I have the respect of Rick Estrin,whom I 've known since 1971,and Mark Hummel,who I met in the early 80's in San Francisco...after listening to John Mayall and Paul Butterfield(1969 or so),a fellow high schooler asked me if I'd ever heard of Little Walter...well,just after that,I went into Doughty's Records on Geary St at 14th Ave,and in looking through the bins I found "Hate to See You Go",with a picture of the life ravaged smiling face of Little Walter!!!...bought it,listened once,I said "What???",listened the second time,I went "WHAT!?!?!?...",then I listened the 3rd time,and I hung my head and said ,"oh,no..."...there have been many great harp players since,but Walter was sooo musical,and to this day,is the prime (not the only one,so don't get 'yer knickers in a twist)inspiration for practically every Chicago harp stylist I've ever heard...in an earlier post I mentioned my favorites,and I did leave out some that have been mentioned by others...I obsessed over Walter,so much so,I felt I WAS Walter,BUT,there's only one Walter...so after several years of non-stop mic to amp playing,I became a totally acoustic player...I love the sound of just playing open on a vocal mic,and I can play...some would listen and disagree,as I'm not flashy,but frankly,I wouldn't care,as for me,I'm about being musical(subjective),and because of my love and experience playing New Orleans feel (Dr. John,Zigaboo Modeliste),it's very present in my phrasing...If you need to hear a pure Chicago stylist,I probably wouldn't be your guy,but I do have the flava of the blues and the respect of my mentors,and THAT means everything to me...

[soltwanger]

Originally Posted by Tremo

The kid has technical skills at physically playing the harp, yes. But blues talent, not yet that I can see much of. His playing bored me to death. And I would be similarly bored if ANYONE, young or old, were to play like that. If you have a problem with an honest assessment of his "blues" playing, with no personal animosity intended, well, I guess that's just going to have to remain your problem. Likewise, if you got slammed in another thread for something you posted, please take that up with those who slammed you, it has nothing to do with this thread.

I don't play harp at all, so I guess anyone who does "play" harp is perhaps a million times the harp player I am, but BFD, it matters not. I think you don't understand what it is to play blues. It's not wanking or noodling or playing 50 notes a second. It's about soul, emotion and feeling. None of which was exhibited in the kid's playing, at least none that I heard. Hopefully, in time, he will mature in his approach, slow down, and start playing real blues, instead of trying to shred. I look forward to hearing him again when that happens.

IMO, YMMV, etc.....

ok fair enough, i just thought 'wanker' was a bit of an innapropriate assessment. I personally find most of the older blues artists boring and pretentious, but i don't go around saying that they are 'wankers'. and yes i understand the blues, it is my passion. I just have a different view to you.


hey, i respect that it is just your humble opinion, i'm not trying to get come over all pc, just that kids like these are the future of the blues. and i guess we will see him mature with age as i am hoping, although nobody can deny he is an exceptional talent.

I am sick to death of the cliched 'you cant have soul if you play fast, you dont understand what it is to play the blues, it is about the soul and the emotion YAAAAWWWWNNN' mentality, it goes with the boring 'blues pretentiousness' attitude. Im not putting words into your mouth, I'm not saying that is your opinion; i am just saying that as a general opinion taken by certain people which might be a reason why somebody might hate someone l.d miller.

JMHO :-)

[Big John]

Sol, don't worry about the "wanker" thing, it kind of means something different in the US, one of those big haired kids in your local music shop 'noodling' for hours on end at 120mph on a Jackson on '11' in the states would be "wanking", errr - we think of it as something else don't we ?
I'm sure Tremo just meant it from the US meaning of the word, there's a post here about the difference in the two languauges, this might be a good example.

Least they dont speak Norfuk boiy !

[soltwanger]

haha yeah i know, just like the words 'fanny' and 'humour' mean something different over here in the uk

oi can't read and oi caant write but that dont really matter, oim a norwich city fan and oi can drive a tractor!

^^^^^haha someone should invent the 'norfolk ole fuzzy' haha he might sound a little like that. should be called 'ole sugarbeetface'

[stevieboy]

Yes, wanker is derived from your usage (as Johnny Rotten defined it when asked in a Rolling Stone interview, "One who wanks") but in guitar guy talk, not in general usage BTW, it means a particular form of wanking that consists of self indulgent over playing.