San Jose Tone Seminar
On February 28, 2004 a seminar featuring Sonny Jr and his amp
was hosted by David Barrett and the Harmonica Masterclass. It
was a resounding success, with many aspects of tone, Sonny
Terry's style, amp mods, and other pro's views on tone detailed.
The day started at 9:00am with Sonny Jr
teaching a full house of 45 participants the in's and out's of the
basics of Sonny Terry's style. This style is so unique and
varies from the traditional Chicago style, so it was a new
experience for many to hear the differences first hand.
Chugging, whoops, how to form a note, Sonny's vibrato, were all
covered and just scratched the surface of the intricacies of Mr.
Terry's playing.
At 11:00 Fritz Hasenpfuch, Dave Barrett
and Sonny Jr conducted a seminar on microphones, their history,
shells, elements, and modifications.
After a short break for lunch, Sonny Jr
taught a basic amp modification class with hands-on tube
swapping of his Four-Ten, along with other amps fellows had brought
in.
At 3:00 Dave and Sonny did a class on
effects, processors, delay pedals, and their use with tube amps.
On to the tone seminar panel at 4:00,
featuring David Barrett, Gary Smith, Mitch Kashmar, Chris Smith,
and Sonny Jr. All aspects of playing amplified live, studio,
micing, cupping, and individual preferences of mics were detailed.
An extremely informative and unique presentation, it is one we hope to
do again in the near future. Then it was the students turn to
try all the various amps that were brought in; just not enough
time to truly test them, which could be a full day in itself.
Quick dinner break, then on to the live
performance which was a harp blowout in disguise.
Dave Barrett kicked it off with the Jon
Garcia band, showing why he is the foremost teacher of electric
harmonica with his big fat and nasty tone, followed by Chris "Hammer"
Smith who has his own unique style.
Each player that night used Sonny's new
Four-Ten, and even though it was in a conference room at the Hilton,
we got the sound dialed in after a short time to really showcase
the harp players.
Sonny Jr came out next and had his long
time friend Mitch Kashmar up for some heavy duets, as did most
of the players that night. It was just pure fun, no egos, just
hellafied playing.
Sonny Jr. finished with his Journey, a
compilation of Sonny Terry's style that was free flowing with
in-the-moment blowing, which got a standing O.
Gary Smith knocked us out with his sweet huge tone, absolutely nailing many of Little Walter's
songs, and with great stage presence to match. A true master of the
blues harmonica, Gary got his initial training, like many West
Coast players from the legendary George Harmonica Smith, and
his fat tone and flowing lines personified that.
Then came Mitch Kashmar, someone you
probably haven't heard of, YET. Mitch is the king of the high
end register with the sweetest vibrato you will ever hear.
First, second, and third position were expressed uniquely by
Mitch. Keep your ears and eyes open for this guy. Joining in on
guitar was Steve Freund, a Chicago native and super traditional
blues player, who played most of the night.
The evening show culminated in a
finale of head chopping harp licks by all the players, just a
good time of harpin like the old days.
Many thanks to all who attended, and to
David Barrett for his coordination of this first time event. As
stated before, judging by the overwhelming positive response of
the day, this may not be the last of such Tone seminars with
Sonny Jr. and his Four-Ten leading the way for harp players for generations to come.
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Click on image to enlarge.
Sonny Jr during tone
seminar demo'ing amp
Mitch Kashmar and Sonny Jr
Sonny Jr. hand slapping.
Sonny Jr. demonstrating Sonny's
cradle hand technique
Gary Smith cutting loose with
Steve Freund
Big finale:
L-R David Barrett, Jon Garcia, Sonny Jr. Gary Smith, Steve
Freund, Mitch Kashmar
Sonny Jr and two happy 410
owners.
L - R Doug Haines, SJ, Erik Stigter of Holland. They grow them
big overseas
Dave Barett |
