Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 10:27:25 -0400 From: "Howard Parks" Subject: re: Carlos Del Junco Tab or Hints
Hi Dejon,
Big Boy is a lot to chew on, and maybe not the best place to start getting his style. Carlos says himself he's basically a blues-based harp player, so with that in mind I'd recommend his earlier live album Just Your Fool or maybe the two earlier acoustic duo recordings. If you're a blues player (you hadn't said so), the tunes would be familiar to you, and you can start to grasp his approach & see where he's going with it.
He plays Golden Melodies (exclusively, I believe), and he gaps them himself to optimize overblowing. I think he basically plays pretty softly and lets the amp create his dynamics. For me, one key aspect of his playing is that little sort of hesitation you hear in his phrasing before each note... a tiny little sort of cough that activates the reeds and helps you integrate overblows more fluidly. I haven't confirmed this with him; it's just what I've figured out for myself (and from reading harp-l) in piecing together his style. But of course, even getting this aspect of his style is just a part of the overall; he phrases so well, and his bends are always right on, and he's such an imaginative player.
By the way, his latest CD Up and At 'Em is fabulous.
Howard Parks hpar~olger.edu
____________________________ Date: Sat, 13 Jul 2002 03:28:14 +0000 From: "Dejon Hamann" Subject: Carlos Del Junco Tab or Hints?
Greetings,
General query: has anyone ever tabbed any of Carlos Del Junco's Music or Riffs (Phrases)? I'm working solely from his "Big Boy" album. I'm trying to find a footing somewhere - maybe just grasp a few licks or short phrases and then "hopefully" move on to play a whole song in some rudimentary fashion somewhere down the line. My hope is that in doing so I might acquire some of his wonderful technique. Mostly it would be helpfull to have an analysis of a handful of snipits from the cd, so that I can start to realistically invision what he's doing. For instance: how many overblows is he using? How does he get the notes to almost melt together? And at a higher level what's happening when he's playing those simulataneous yet diverging melody and lead lines? I wonder what how he sets his harps (gap, tuning, etc.) to approach this music and style?
