Rhythm Harmonica ... with Deak Harp

Q&A: Deak Harp on Rhythm Harmonica and Learning From James Cotton

Deak Harp is a renaissance man of the harmonica. He plays in a one-man band and has released the critically acclaimed album Clarksdale Breakdown. He crafts revered custom harmonicas in his Mississippi shop and even offers to host guests in the Delta and teach them the intricacies of old school blues harmonica. Harp learned from one of the best ever: the late blues master James Cotton. He talked to us about what the master taught him and how players can beef up their rhythmic chops. RHYTHM How did you start playing harmonica? I was in sixth grade right around when Whammer Jammer (The J. Geils Band) came HARMONICA… out. Someone was playing part of it in the bathroom that day. I talked to my Mom and ...with Deak Harp told her I needed to get a harmonica; that I found what I wanted to do. I bought the Justin M. Norton harmonica and asked the person I heard playing if they could show me to play. And there was no showing me – he actually said he wouldn’t show me shit (laughs).

So then how did you learn?

I think it might have been a Three Dog Night song and Black Sabbath’s The Wizard (with a harmonica intro from Ozzy Osbourne, who many years later visited Harp’s shop while filming a reality show). I learned those for a little while before my brother hipped me to James Cotton. I found out Cotton was playing in town at a place called the Stanhope House in New Jersey. I got there early and met James, and we hit it off right away.

He became a mentor to you, correct?

I ended up following him all over. He could be playing in Pittsburgh and I would go see him and he’d ask, ‘Why do you keep following me?’ He offered to hire me for a hundred bucks a day, and on off days he’d pay for my room. He said he had a tour next week, and if I could get to Chicago, he’d get me working. I drove on and off for him for about eight years.

Did you have formal lessons with him, or did you just absorb his style being around him so much?

I wanted to get the big sound he had. He would sit right beside me and say, ‘Alright now, listen’. At the time I was still puckering, and I couldn’t get

that sound. He would pull chords in and make things sound big. I started doing soundchecks for him at shows, and he’d be in the booth which was right in the middle of the audience. He’d hear me playing and go: ‘Deeper, deeper’, and I tried to get that sound. I was indirectly able to play through some of the biggest sound systems in the world and work on capturing that sound.

Did he teach you specifically about the importance of rhythmic playing or was it just hearing how he presented ideas?

He wanted you to listen, for the most part. He wanted me to use my ears, and it helped unbelievably – the difference was astronomical. A harmonica player needs to use their ears before anything. That’s why you can hear 100 harmonica players and there is only one good one. A lot of people are just novelty players.

Do a lot of modern players both within and outside blues not latch onto the importance of rhythmic chops?

Yes, and there’s nothing worse than a guy who is just sitting there on stage waiting for his part and doing nothing.

What would you suggest to players to improve their rhythmic chops? Is tongue blocking important?

It would be ideal to find a teacher, because otherwise it will take too long to learn. But as far as the mechanics of it, you need to tongue block to get the rhythm. Your root note (in second position) on the 2 draw is a great starting place. Some guys try to do rhythm with the pucker technique, but that’s not the right technique. I chose to be on the ‘raw’ authentic side of the harmonica. Tongue blocking allows you to get dirt on the notes and also get in chords – that ‘intentional slop’. That’s great on those lower tuned harps.

Is learning to play songs on your own a crucial part of growing as a rhythm player?

Well, you need to be a seasoned player to be able to accompany yourself. There is a lot to think about. A more important thing is to have timing, and some people just don’t have it. You can’t get them to go anywhere. Even something like overblows – putting them in time is where it stumbles. If you can’t hit something in time you can’t use that lick. I don’t ever want to hit an overblow unless it’s by mistake because they sound like duck notes (laughs).

If you had to give an emerging player one tip on rhythm playing, what would it be?

Learn to vamp on the root note – that’s the meat of the early stuff. Put your tongue down on the damn harmonica. Once you add your diaphragm and all these other things, that’s when you can develop a big tone.