blues whistle

Whistle
1

I have reached the conclusion that
whistles are serious blues instruments.
I got hold of some BB King tapes.
I can play the notes he plays on Lucille
(his guitar) on whistles–The Thrill is
Gone takes an A whistle, Everybody Wants
to Know why I sing the Blues takes
a Bb. Do this enough and you can play
pretty mean blues, bending, wailing,
rolls and cuts work too.


This transfers nicely to a
Copeland nickle D on the street, where
I’m playing with an acoustic guitarist.
The blues is folk music, principally;
the notes are all there on a metal
celtic whistle–which sounds a lot rougher
than a recorder or a flute. The combination
can be pretty impressive.

2

Hey Jim, I’m using my Reyburn Low D to do just that. Its a great instrument to do blues on, has a most incredible tone and an incredible range of dynamics. The wooden head joint gives it a smoother and warmer tone than the metal head joints. Having played other brass whistles, I am completely sold on the Reyburn.
Constance

[ This Message was edited by: Constance on 2001-07-28 16:18 ]

3

Hi Jim (and others…), Do you have any suggestions for tunes (and whistle keys) for someone to try their hand at blues whistle?

Are there any good Web sites for sheet music for blues standards, or are most of them copyrighted?

Thanks for any info you might have.

-Brett

4

Hi. I don’t know any websites or
sheet music, I’m afraid. The trick, for me
anyway, is to listen to good blues on CDs,
find the right whistle in the right key,
and play along. This is usually an A whistle
or a Bb whistle, sometimes a D whistle.
I often use a Susato A and Bb.
Also water weasels in those keys.
Find the right
whistle and the notes are all there, you see.
You will probably need to do some
half holing, but that’s helpful in
bending notes. I play along and/or play the notes the guitarist plays. As said, BB King is
helpful, cause he plays only the notes that
count. Maybe I’m getting carried away,
but there was a time when the idea
of playing blues on a harmonica, of
all things, seemed pretty weird. Why not
the whistle, too?