Sam Myers: The Blues is My Story

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

101-110

text excerpt

I got my harmonica playing style by not copying nothing from nobody. A lot of guys who blow harmonica will listen to another person to get their niche. But I didn't do that. I started out as a trumpet player, and I would use horn lines on the harmonica, transposed. That's how I learned it, because I knew more about other instruments than I did the harp. I don't know about Sonny Boy Williamson, but Little Walter, he did the same thing with the saxophone.That's why his style was so unique. Sonny Stitt was one of Little Walter's idols. When Walter wasn't working in Chicago, and if he went to where Stitt was blowing, he would always keep some of Sonny's notes in his head and then he would go back home, or maybe go to where a band was playing, and he would remember those notes. He would transpose it from the saxophone to the harmonica. Then the next time he'd have a rehearsal or just be practicing, he would try those same riffs and notes and would work it into his harmonica. That's why his style was so great. If other harmonica players would do the same thing, they could have the style just as good. It may not be no greater, but it could be just as good as his. That's the way I've been, ever since day one. I started out as a trumpet player, but a lot of the notes that I play, it don't sound just like a straight run harmonica. There's a whole lot of harmonica players that think they are playing the blues. But they don't play no classic stuff like "Stardust" or "Misty." That's where my style veers away from a lot of that.

excerpt from 'Sam Myers: The Blues is My Story' pp. 101-110 (294 words)

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