Whammer Jammer! Let me hear it Dickie!

I've mentioned before that I have an interest in the harmonica. I have some learning CD's, an old video tape lesson, MANY clips I've DL'ed from Youtube, a couple books I've downloaded, and of course I have tons of harp-centric tunes on my hd. . .but I still wouldn't call myself a harmonica player.

One of the really cool things about being interested in this instrument is the close, giving community. Fairly well-known ppl will BS with you on forums, post helpful how-to tips to web pages, forums, and Youtube. . .I never quite know what I'll come across next. I just DL'ed a one hour mp3 of Kim Wilson (of the Fabulous Thunderbirds), Jerry Portnoy (has a set of great, but boring master-class harp lessons out) and Rick Estrin (of the Chicago blues band "Little Charlie and the Nightcats) BS'ing about harp playing, and answering people's questions - no charge!

One guy has over 100 lessons on Youtube. Adam Gussow. He's not very well-known outside of certain circles. He's best known as the white guy who played harp in Harlem with the black guitarist/singer. 🙂 The U2 movie "Rattle & Hum" had a short clip of him. . .but he's pretty good, and is also an English professor and has written a couple books, so he's really above-average in communication skills as well, which is a great bonus in a teacher.

Well, one of the big things that got him interested in harp was J. Geils' "Whammer Jammer", which featured "Magic Dick" on harp. "Whammer Jammer" has had that effect on a lot of people, myself included. Adam had several lessons on that song alone, in which he discussed what Dick was doing, what he THOUGHT Dick was doing, and where he and some other harp players disagreed on what Dick was doing.

Well, about a month or 2 back, Adam got hold of Magic Dick, and he agreed to do a lesson on "Whammer Jammer" with Adam by phone. What followed was a 50 minute talk about that song, and harp playing in general. How cool is that? It's pretty boring for ppl without a big interest in the harp, but if anyone wants to hear it, I can link it.

Anyway, I thought I'd post a few "Whammer Jammer" related things in honor of this great song, and the fact that Dick would take an hour out of his day to BS to total strangers for free about this landmark tune.

A recent rendition in an intimate venue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0q2Vy3fx2I...feature=related

Gussow's three takes on "Whammer Jammer'. In this format, he stops and tries again when he doesn't like what he hears, but as any musician will tell you - if you make a mistake on stage, do it again and everyone will think you did it on purpose!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8nMHuRJD3I&NR=1


And now for something completely different: The "manualist" Whammer Jammer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxRvUFrFFFw

Harrumph. 30+ views, no comments. At least the hand-farts guy should've drawn a giggle! 😄

If any of you mugs picked up an instrument, this might sound cooler to you. Maybe if Satriani or Vai posted how-to's, or Eddie Van Halen talked for an hour about, say, "Eruption". . .that shit would be about this cool.

You know, the harmonica is supposed to be this easy-to-play instrument. I bought into that myth at first. . . drop $25 on a harp, and just have some fun. You can do that, but it's a Hell of a lot more complicated than "Camptown Races" if you get into it. The harp is an amazingly organic instrument. It's more than draw and blow, and making 2 notes. Much of the harp is about shaping your mouth, moving your tongue, closing off the nasal cavity, breathing from the diaphragm. Your embouchure forms the sound. I don't know how many sounds you can make from just one hole, but it's amazing. Form your mouth, make new sounds. Cough inward, articulate the tongue, drop your jaw, form vowels, consonants, purr, talk, sing, howl through the harp, play single holes, play multiple holes, block off some holes with your tongue & play just the outer holes, bend notes a half-step, a whole-step, a step-and-a-half, overblows. . . these are things you had to learn on your own, or track down some harp player and bug the shit out of him until he gave with the info. . .but not anymore.

Even such a simple sounding harp piece as "Love Me Do" has caused a fair amount of controversy - what harp did Lennon use? What did he do to achieve that sound? So much of the sound is in the hands (or the mouth) of the player, and often times there is much debate.

http://www.patmissin.com/ffaq/q29.html

Interestingly, the harp made me appreciate drummers more. . .rather than just beating on something rhythmically, I began to understand how ORGANIC the drums were. . .precisely WHEN do you hit the drums, where do you hit the drums, with how much force, at what angle, how much do you flex the wrist, etc? You could just beat on them and have fun, but when you get into it, I imagine there's so much more.

I wonder what you can learn about other instruments from the internet if you were so inclined. I wonder what you could learn about in-depth on the Internet, in general, if the urge struck.

These are interesting times.

The internet has certainly revolutionized the music scene from all sides, but especially for budding musicians. It seems to me like the harmonica is one of the few instruments where it would be difficult for two people to make is sound exactly the same.

As a teenager and in college I spent entirely too much time listening to music and talking about it with my friends but these were the days before we had the internet in dorm rooms and houses for the most part (I did know one guy that had AOL or something) and it was just plain difficult to find out about lyrics, guitar tabs or techniques or anything else. The more I see what is out there now, the more seriously I think about trying to play an instrument. The one thing holding me back is a lack of time....which is probably not as much of an excuse as I think it is.

Sarge wrote:The internet has certainly revolutionized the music scene from all sides, but especially for budding musicians. It seems to me like the harmonica is one of the few instruments where it would be difficult for two people to make is sound exactly the same.

As a teenager and in college I spent entirely too much time listening to music and talking about it with my friends but these were the days before we had the internet in dorm rooms and houses for the most part (I did know one guy that had AOL or something) and it was just plain difficult to find out about lyrics, guitar tabs or techniques or anything else. The more I see what is out there now, the more seriously I think about trying to play an instrument. The one thing holding me back is a lack of time....which is probably not as much of an excuse as I think it is.

There is so much going on with the harp that you cannot see, it's real hard to pick up on it unless you spend weeks and months doing weird stuff to see what noise you can make. . .or get someone to give you a clue. When I was younger, I had a cassette tape with a harp lesson on it, and a couple books, and that was it. There was no Amazon.com, no message boards, no live chats outside a barroom or a music store, certainly no videos you could pull up for free like Youtube.

As for no two ppl sounding exactly the same, I don't know if it's more or less difficult to copy someone on harp than on other instruments. . .from my knowledge, I'd say it's possible, but I'm sure there are many subtleties involved with any instrument.

You've said you were interested in playing the guitar, right? Sometime when you have some free time, why not see what's available on Youtube? From there, you can look for some good msg boards, where you can find out more info, and more sources of info. If your wife doesn't already play an instrument, this might be a good way to expose your children to it as well. And you're not too old to start - my brother-in-law was in his mid 30's when he started, and picked it up fairly well, well enough to play in bars anyway.

If, for some strange reason, you decide to pick up the harp, I can get you off to a good start with a lot of good websites, good youtube links, and about a DVD full of info, mp3's lessons, etc.