Big Walter Horton and his tone (especially Have a Good Time)
Hi,
I watched your interview on Bluesharmonica.com, very entertaining and you are definitely a really good speaker, it was pleasent to hear you speaking and sharing your wisdom.
I have now been studying Big Walters Have a Good Time recently, really great tune with bunch of cool licks (not a single bad idea in the song I think).
I can pretty much pick the notes what he is playing, no problems. Played/studied his Boogie before and he uses some of the ideas here as well.
A part of not getting same tone might be that I'm using a Special 20 and he is using Marine bands, but in terms of technique he is doing something else as well to make that sound that awesome. For example here http://youtu.be/WQI4MP2T6gs?t=54s at the turnaround when he is playing around one hole. I have now being experimenting tilting the harp (moving the right side away from my face), narrowing embouchure to only three holes (slapping holes 2 and 3, with the 4 hole it gets too bright), not having harp so deep in the mouth etc. But I just can't get it. The example given (at 54 seconds) is just an example, he is doing it all the time in the song (this lick here is a good example as well what I'm meaning, bars 9 and 10 http://youtu.be/WQI4MP2T6gs?t=48s).
Here is another question, is he just doing pulls or is he kind of chugging (same happens as well in the intro)? http://youtu.be/WQI4MP2T6gs?t=2m16s
I have tried to make some research of him on the internet, and on another blues harp forum someone was pointing out that his breath control is really solid and which makes so good. Do you agree and if so could you explain a bit the concept?
Thank you in advance and have a happy Easter!
-teba
Both of the examples you give sound like pulls involving Holes 1 and 2. The sharp attacks give it away. Try playing these with and without the tongue cutoff that starts the pull and see which sounds right to you. I think you'll agree that these are pulls.
Seomtimes he's also doing a sharp cutoff, possibly by slapping his tongue down on the harp to stop the sound completely (including any residual reed vibration after the breath stops). He's also using Blow 3 on the more extended patterns (and then substituting Blow 2 later on - same breathing patern, diferent hole).
I agree, the tone is deliberately less thick than some of what you hear from Big Walter, and pulling away from the right side of your face helps to thin the tone. You have to have the harp in your mouth at least enough to cove the two holes required for the pulls he's playing.
Why not get a Marine Band to see whether that makes a difference?
The comment about breath control is spot on. He knew how to enlarge his air column to get the most out of a harmoncia. He also had huge hands, but I'm not hearing their influence much in the specific licks you're focusing on.
You're never going to competely duplicate the sound of another player, but trying for the variety of sounds that you can reproduce is still an excellent pursuit.