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Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 08:59:47
From: "Robert Eberwein"
Subject: Solos

From: Marc Kunkel
Subject: Re:Joke
- ---
From: "Robert Eberwein"
Subject: Joke
"Reminds me of the joke:



Mr. Kunkel replied;

that. Where did I say I was any better than him?
of work.

Understood completely. Hell, people cover YOU.

FIRST, let me say; ANYthing you add to the list is a great help, as it shows
us- who aspire [in delusional haze] to playing harp full-time, what is
necessary. You walk the walk and I have NOTHING but respect for you.

I was only reminded of that old joke because of the ~comparison~ [of
improvisation to ~note-for-note~]. I'd gotten quite a few responses to my
~note-for-note solo~ post-- as if I'd disparaged improvisation.

I improv my solos for studio work too. What else could we do? There are very
few Toyoto exec's, or Country music producers [or whatever] who are going to
write out a note-for-note solo for the harp player. Same as slide guitar, or
something. The music is already done usually -so one has to folow the basic
progression, and they tell you if they're looking for Bad-to-the Bone or Ry
Cooderesque road movie sound.

I stand by my suggestion that many students should get their whole program
DOWN [to the point of tabbing out what they'd like to play and being able to
do it everytime, and knowing what the changes are- when they hit the
dominant, etc.]. But that's just for intermediate players like myself- who
do do covers [many of which, truth be told, we don't even like much]. In
such cases [your 3rd wedding that month, and 40th ~Thrill Is Gone~]I found I
made the most progress after commiting to arranged pieces- -and not allowing
myself to, under ~pressure~ on stage, slipping into the ~easy~ licks. I use
gigs as rehearsal. The last thing I want to do is improvise to Thrill Is
Gone- it's more fun/productive for me to commit to sticking a #6 overblow in
among planned TB'd chords- - - and try to hit it exactly [even though I'll
be tempted, on stage, to take an easier route]. That's all. I'm not anti
Improvisation. I learned harp through improvisation and the opportunities to
improv never go away. In my case though, commiting to ~note-for-note~ taught
me tons.

Sorry if I was glib. [I do that]. :->
Robb

PS: You ARE better than me!
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