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From: Steve & Anne Price
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 1996 14:02:46 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: Second position mystery, and positions

On Tue, 27 Aug 1996 JfGindi~ol.com wrote:
fjm said:
> " 7 times out of 10 in a sit in
> or jam situation the harmonica player will be less competent than the
> rest of the band."
>
> Yes, but isn't true that 5 times out of 9, the rest of the band has rehearsed
> together and the harp player is just winging it? And isn't it true that the
> drummer knows what to do (keep the
> beat), the rythm guitarist knows what to do (play the chords) the bass knows
> what to do (keep the bottom) and the vocalist knows what to do ( sing the
> song), the lead guitarist knows what to do (drown everybody else out) and
> only the harp
> is left to wedge himself in, to determine when it's cool to play with a
> vocal, or behind a solo...with no rehearsal and little feedback...so
> naturally the harp, left to improvise, with matters of taste left up to him
> to decycpher, is often going to seem more amateurish than he would if his
> role were more tightly defined? (On the other hand, a lot of drunk guys with
> two weeks worth of lessons DO jump up on stage to jam. I agree that it's
> just the nature of the instrument. Boo hoo.)
>

Gee, whiz, guys, is it only MY home town that has excellent harp players
jamming? Dan Laughlin around here smokes, and we have harp-l's Jennie
Bergemann and Jim Rossen, and of course yours truly. It's the guitar
players who come to these things and play over the vocals, noodle between
songs at top volume, and noodle through everyone else's solo. Really.
Even Al Loomis is pretty decent, if a bit madcap.

Steve