As a gigging harp player, I’m always struggling to find musicians who will put up with the instrument in a band, much less think of it as a really worthwhile addition. There are several factors that could be blamed for this: The harp is a cheap instrument and thus attracts a lot of wannabe and never-will players; it doesn’t fit all styles of music; and sometimes it doesn’t work even when the music seems complementary (for example, harp just clutters up the classic Stevie Ray-style power trio).

But the biggest reason for resistance, I’m convinced, is Little Walter.

He’s the primary reason harp moved from the background to the foreground in so many blues songs — and of course, he kept it in the foreground when he played, even when Muddy Waters was playing the guitar and fronting the band. Ask harp players who they want to sound like and guess who gets named the most? You know the answer to that.

So there are legions of harp players  out there who want to sound Just Like Little Walter. But that also means there are legions of harp players who blow all over everything, can’t take a rest, won’t modulate their volume and especially can’t imagine sliding in and out of the background. This generates ill will from pretty much everyone else in a band — especially from tasteful and/or spotlight-hogging guitarists — and thus are the seeds of enmity planted.

I’m not that guy. I can blow the leads, but I get a lot of joy in using harp the same way I use punctuation. I don’t! Put! Exclamation! Points! Everywhere! when I write because they soon lose their power. I feel the same way about harp leads in a song — they’re musical exclamation points and you should use them accordingly.

The rest of the time, as far as I’m concerned, playing harp is all about supporting the song. Learning to use chords, octaving, diaphragm or throat vibrato, tongue fluttering and so on is all about adding depth to a song, not begging everyone to pay attention.

So, Little Walter, you kind of messed things up for those of us who see a broader role for harp. Then again, you had a hot temper and purportedly got killed in a fight, so I don’t know why anyone would have expected you to play any other way.