Paul Butterfield - Blues Harmonica Master Class Book/Online Audio

Each time you hear Paul Butterfield say "Hi, my name is Paul Butterfield and I'd like to share a few insights on the harmonica if I could..." in his somewhat crackly worn voice, you'll be filled with a premonition that he's about to leave us. And it's sad to know that he only had a few years left when he made this recording with Happy Straum. But you can't help but love the recording, though I guess I'd almost prefer to have bought it alone without the mediocre, error-riddled book that accompanies it. Here's what the recording has to offer.1. A conversation between Paul Butterfield and the listener that almost makes you feel like he and Happy are with you. Paul's language is different/better than plain old English. He says stuff like, "Happy and I are going to do a little guitar/harmonica thing."2. Funny moments like when he says that he's playing a Marine Band harmonica with wooden stops and little metal reeds, and you can hear Happy laugh in the background. And another after he's done playing a tune with Happy and he exclaims, "Well, that was fun!"3. Performance quality songs, with Happy playing guitar, that are so raw you'll tingle when you hear them. Of the 76 or so tracks on the CD, about 10 are full-on recordings of 12-bar blues songs, and each one of them is a gem. You'll be surprised when you hear Paul Butterfield sing too. Though his voice is somewhat tired, it is quintessentially bluesy and gritty. You won't want the songs to end.The material itself is incredibly advanced. Even the first simple riff he introduces, upon which you are supposed to build and advance, has several nearly impossible-to-reproduce pre-bends and bends. Just a few pages later, the material is so dense that each page will take you weeks to get through. If you're a beginner, don't even think about learning anything from this material. This is a course solely for experts. But you might still consider getting the recording just so that you can hear Paul and Happy. It generates some of the same ruminations as The Last Waltz: These are extraordinary people from an era in our history when people dared to be different, creative, and free, and they will never come again.

I've played blues harp since I was 16 years old. In 1967 I attened the Montrey Pop Festival where Paul and his band played. I was blown away by the performance of the tune Drifting and Drifting (it's on youtube). I was amazed; How he could make that harmonica sound. I was hooked. Over the next 43 years I've listen and played along with Pauls albums, CD's (in addition to other blues harpest). I've perfected most of his harp licks into my own style of sound and playing, (and you should too). I just purchased this instructional book with CD only becasue I can't get enough of Pauls playing. This is a very easy course to start with. It flows along very good, progressively adding to the instructional content. It's a good tool to learn Pauls basics. It sould be repeated over and over again and practiced to regularly. I highly recommend that you import this instructional CD into iTunes on your comupter that way you can view each area of instruction on your screen and practice only the areas you want to by clicking the mouse. If your interested in learning more of Pauls masterful blues licks, I can't say enough about the CD The Paul Butterfield Blues Band LIVE (recorded in March 21-22 1970 at the Troubadour in Los Angeles). It some of Pauls greatest harp playing to practice too. You can't go wrong by buying any of The Paul Butterfield Bules Bands CDs to practice to here on Amazon.com A great selection of hard to find blues harp master CDs.

Butterfield was my door into the Chicago electric blues world in the mid 60's. I'd been playing in rock bands since elementary school (vocals and keyboards). Being from R.I. I'd been exposed to folk blues from the Newport fests, but I'd never heard anything like "Butter". He played with a passion and fury missing on the scene.While this tape doesn't have the intensity of his early work, it's a glimspe into his head. I've messed with harp for a number of years and recently started to get more serious. This is not for a begineer or someone who looking for traditional teaching. As he put it "these notes are there, you just have to find them". It's more like sitting next to someone who's been there, listen, try it, let him rub off on you.I would recommend this to anyone who has been working on harp and needs a fresh prespective.

What a treasure. I've been playing blues guitar for a long while and just picked up the harp about 6 weeks ago. As a huge fan of The Butterfield Blues Band, I was eager to learn about Paul's approach to the instrument. It's not everyday you can take lessons directly from one of the greats. You'll need to be a little beyond the beginner stage to tackle the majority of the content, since it does contain an abundance of bends, but I feel like I'm getting a lot out of it and only learned how to control my bends about two weeks ago (about a month after first picking up the harp). This book is more about how things should sound than it is about teaching the mechanics of how to make the sounds, but if you take it for what it is, I think it's a great, unique resource, from a legendary bluesman.

Not to insult or starve other performers via their appointed meanings. Sometimes nothing helps more.

The audio CD with Paul talking and playing is incredible, but I'm disappointed with the transcription of the music. I doubt Uncle Joff (the transcriber) can even play harp. There are basic mistakes, for example there are "transcribed" lines from St. James Infirmary, which you can not play in second possition (cross) as it is wrote, cause Paul plays it in third (and he said he's gonna play in third possition before playing the tune). Nonetheless the transcription is not necessary for those who can hear anyway, cause Paul tell you everything you need.

ここに書き込んでいる人は、超難しいと言っているようですが、そんなに難しくないと思いますよ。ハーモニカのキーはＣでいいと思います。ただ個人的には叔父さんの喋りは必要ない、あとこの方の事をよく知らないのですが、吹く音が蚊の鳴くような音であまりいいと思わない、あと表紙の写真で頬を膨らまして吹いていますが、本当はハーモニカは頬っぺたは膨らましてはいけないんですよ。内容はそんなに悪くないのでその内暇になったら練習したいと思っています。

優れたプレーヤーは早逝する。リキんでないところがまたこのか他のお人柄なのでしょうが、Woodstock人脈に名を連ねることとになんとなく納得します。

To CD alone was priceless. And, as has been said before, listening to Butterfield's relaxed and personal delivery was a real pleasure. Although this is definitely not for the beginner, the examples given are dealt with very thoroughly and in a steady easy to follow way. Be warned there are very few direct descriptions of which notes to blow or draw, but if you have a little experience you can work it out. The book is a support to the disc, not the other way round.

Der weisse Blues-Harmonika-Spieler Paul Butterfield lebte nur kurz von 1944-1987.Er hinterließ uns mit dieser CD einige Ratschläge aus seinem Erfahrungsschatz.Es handelt sich um eine Art Hörspiel, in dem er erklärt, wie er auf der Hohner Marine Band C in G und auf der D-Harmonika in e-Moll spielte.Die Audiobeispiele sind auch als Noten im Violinschlüssel beigefügt.Die Noten enthalten gleich von Anfang an Sechzehntel und Triolen.Das ist so nicht für Menschen gedacht, die noch nie ein Instrument nach Noten gelernt haben.Erwähnte Spieltechniken: Bendig, choking, blocking, thrills, octaves.Paul spricht den Stil von 3 seiner Vorbilder an:Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter, Junior ParkerVorgestellte Melodien:Rock me, my baby, St. James Infirmary, caress me baby, why do people act like that, nobody's fault but mine, key to the highway.Ein schöner Schatz an Tradition und Überlieferung.Voraussetzungen: gutes Englisch, Harmonika-Spiel, Notenkenntnisse, Diatonische Richter Harmonikas.

Über das Buch möchte ich gar nichts schreiben - wer sich für die Blues Harp interessiert, findet hier ein großartiges Werk, welches einen in die Welt dieses einzigartigen Instruments einführt. 5 Kekse.Allerdings muss ich einen Keks abziehen - der Titel dieses Artikels ist "Paul Butterfield - Blues Harmonica Master Class: Book/CD Pack [With CD]". CD ist aber keine drinnen - dafür ein Code, mit welchem man sich die mp3 Dateien runterladen kann.