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From: Mike Curtis
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 14:10:06 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Re: Xerox machines

On Wed, 14 Jan 1998, Coolrays wrote:

> interesting than scales>

Whatever works for you. I don't condemn it. I just prefer doing it the
"other" way. You mention you've come up with your own style, which is
important. I find, though, that a lot of folks don't progress into their
own music, but stagnate in the music of others.

If (actually, WHEN) I play Margaritaville, I do it as an instrumental, as
is the case with a great many of my ten (not three :-) thousand songs. If
I have it in a fake book, I might sing it, but I enjoy doing
instrumentals.

BTW, that 10k is an actual count from a songlist I made several years ago
for an agent who requested a comprehensive songlist. I may have a few
dupes, and I _know_ I left a lot of songs out and have added tunes since
making that ridicously long list. Also, I don't include it in my bio,
because no one has ever bothered giving it anything more than a glance, a
wrinkled brow of concern, and moved on to the next material.

>I don't play licks, though, when it comes time to take an improvisational
>ride on a song. I play whatever's flowing through my soul. Sometimes it's
>muddy and murky but other times it sparkles. We all know how that can be.

Which is pretty much what I do, although I don't have nights where it's
what I would consider "muddy/murky". On nights when I'm not as much in
the mood, I hold back a little so I have plenty to do the job, and when I
warm up a bit, I'll REALLY push it on a couple of tunes. That will
_usually_ get me going. I've had some of my very best nights on what I
thought was going to be a really long, miserable gig. Also, the positive
feedback I get from this encourages me and gives me the confidence to know
that I'll never have _that_ bad a night.

And I'm sure Rick never has "that" bad a night, either. He's too good a
player for that to ever happen.

>Mike C. claims to be able to play any of 3000+ cover tunes on any spot and
>Robert B. performs classical music some of which was well-defined hundreds
>of years ago. For Mike to perform Margueritaville with different lyrics or
>for Robert to play a Bach piece with a different melody would be changing
>the song and in some circles be considered sacrilege. The end result would
>be that they were playing a different song.

Actually, a lot of tunes I half-know the lyrics, mumble a lot (especially
effective with Elvis tunes :-), or in the case of Cocaine (which is now
Rogaine) and Linda Lu, just make up new ones.

>Yet both of these accomplished harmonica players have a disdain for the
>path that I and others have chosen. I honestly don't see a difference worth
>noting. It seems very much like a glass-house situation. If there is a
>difference, I'd like to know what it is.

It doesn't bother me personally as long as it's a path and not a goal.

>[BTW, I have some friends who have a band that do pristine note-for-note
>just-like-the-record covers across a wide gamut of styles and make
>10K+/week playing the MGM Grand in Vegas.]

I agree - there's good money in copying the record. It's just that I
don't care for it MYSELF (personally, my opinion, not binding on anyone
else) as a GOAL. I consider music to be personal. I'd much rather hear
what YOU play than a copy of what someone else played. Just my opinion
and tastes. YMMV.

BTW, I cop licks. I use them in much the same way as I use notes - I
string them together as "musical fragments", with hand crafted notes in
between to make it flow. I find it's a lot easier to improvise by
sticking larger chunks together than to compose everything entirely of
independent notes.



-- IronMan Mike Curtis
My CD "Doin' It All Myself" available in Tower, Blockbuster, Camelot, PX