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ylojgtr · 7 months ago

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ooh this is perfect! i can tell you all about revolutionary harmonica players!! i will give neil a little credit since he introduced me and im sure many other harmonicists to the instrument, but i assure you there are SO many better players out there

definitely gotta check out deford bailey (pronounced dee-ford). he was a master at and greatly popularized the train imitation and fox chase styles (<this video has flickering for some reason just fyi) and is largely responsible for country harmonica, being a founding member of the grand ol opry

little walter is obviously a must. his approach to the instrument, melodic, dirty and presice, set the standard for chicago blues playing. while he probably wasn't the first to do it, he certainly popularized the use of a microphone while playing which helped the harmonica stay relevant in the age of electric instruments and added a unique distorted tone

sonny terry is also blues, but a very different style. he used a lot of chordal rhythms for accompaniment and really was the first person to play anything like what he did, it's kinda hard to explain

all three of those guys influenced charlie mccoy, one of the most recorded session musicians in history and sort of the pioneer of country and bluegrass harmonica.

there's a direct lineage from mccoy to one of my personal favourite players, jason ricci (solo @1:48), whose mentor pat ramsey (solo @1:50) applied super-fast bluegrass style licks to blues. jason took it a step further, delving into punk, hard rock and funk with an extremely idiosyncratic style. (i had a hard time choosing which song to link but i think this one is a succinct, flashy example of an iconic era of his career. more are in the playlist!)

jason's style also makes heavy use of a technique called overbending, which is probably the most common way to play chromatic notes on a diatonic harmonica. typically, a harmonica is tuned to have only the notes of one major scale, which is why most players have different harmonicas in different keys. but it is possible to play some notes between the scale degrees by bending, which was pioneered by black american musicians before being widely recording, but there are still some notes that can't be played bent

that's where howard levy (solo @1:50 but you should watch the whole thing 😳) comes in (probably my favourite harmonica player ever). he was a jazz piano player before picking up harmonica and decided to start practicing scales on harp the same way he did piano. of course, not all the notes were there, but somehow in trying to bend a note that didn't bend he got a different sound. he ended up becoming the first person to really master this technique, finally bringing the diatonic harmonica into jazz and other more complex music.

last major suggestion, brendan power. his early influences include sonny terry and charlie mccoy but his style has become defined by his harmonica inventions. after learning that charlie mccoy tuned his harmonicas differently (there's a really cool story about how he started doing that) brendan set out to create the ultimate diatonic tuning, since standard tuning wasn't intended to be used in any of the stuff it's used in now, it just happens to work pretty well. but what if it worked PERFECTLY for whatever style you were playing? his most famous tunings include paddy richter (for irish music) powerdraw (for more ease of playing blues) and powerbender (my personal favourite that's great for everything from jazz to hard rock). he also invented half-valving, which i won't get into but basically gives you the ability to bend all notes in different ways, which works on diatonic and chromatic harmonicas. his work has really bridged the gap between the two instruments. he's also created double decker harmonicas, modular reed harmonicas, switchable octave harmonicas, extended range harmonicas and all sorts of harmonicas with extended expressiveness in about a hundred different ways. his playing is also exceptional. he's a very diverse but recognizable player capable of fitting in just about anywhere but you're always sure it's him when you hear that distinctive sound

so those are the main harmonica players id suggest. if you're looking for more id recommend will wilde (hard rock/metal player who uses his own tuning and WILL BLOW YOUR MIND), todd parrott (incredible bluegrass player who takes advantage of modern harmonica techniques in a traditional setting), carlos del junco (a blues/jazz/roots player with a very unique, technical style), jimmy reed (blues singer with a highly influential harmonica sound), joel andersson (innovative european folk player who uses many novel harmonica designs and is also a fantastic harmonica technician), p.t. gazell (western swing and jazz player who uses half-valved diatonics to get chromatic notes instead of overbends) and konstantin reinfeld (he really plays everything, from jazz to classical to hip hop to tango to bollywood music. all on diatonic harmonica)

here's a playlist with all the songs i linked and more! i hope other people will see this post too if there's one thing i can't stand it's harmonica ignorance

Like any person of culture, tonight I sought out a list of musical artists who revolutionized the usage of the humble harmonica. The list I found involved Neil Young's Heart of Gold.

Needless to say, I entered a berserker state.

#im sorry this is so long i get excited when people are interested in harmonica #harmonica #neil young #deford bailey #little walter #sonny terry #charlie mccoy #jason ricci #pat ramsey #howard levy #brendan power #will wilde #todd parrott #carlos del junco #jimmy reed #joel andersson #p.t. gazell #konstantin reinfeld

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