That... is.... mind... blowing! I've played the harmonicas for 20 years but never would even dream of becoming as fast as she is! OOOHHH MYYY GOD she's good! Just... wow!
As a beginner I've just started with Steve Williams CD and a harp...had a break came across Rachel...she has left me breathless...and wondering whether to go back to school Triangle!
Talk about polish! Every video I see featuring Rachelle Plas she is as good as or better than the band. The only harp player I have seen who is maybe better is the great one himself: Paul Butterfield. And that is saying a lot. He does it sometimes when the band or soloist gets boring; just steps in and gives it the kind of electricity Rachelle Plas has, walks in and takes over! Rachelle is too polite to actually take over, she just challenges the rest of the band to keep up. Butterfield actually takes over. Rachelle Plas even takes on Butterfield when she plays 'Mellow Down Easy', but nobody I ever heard has the ease and mastery Butterfield did. They can play faster, they can (maybe) play better technically, but somehow nobody can ever play as well. To paraphrase Butterfield in his younger days: "I think I play better than all those people who want to reform me." Don't know what it is; timing, training, classical education? Or maybe just plain magic. In his earlier stuff you can see he is learning but at some unknown point (maybe 'Better Days') he played so well that you can't even copy it. Sure, sometimes you can copy the licks, but not the magic. (Copying sucks anyway, good for learning is all. Butterfield himself copied Little Walter note for note then went on to play it even better.) Maybe as some people have remarked, he had that unique ability to understand the form and play his own unique rhythms within it. Something from the East which he also studied. Somehow he tied it together with Western blues and rock and roll. Name some other musician who has done that. He was way ahead of his time and nobody has caught up yet. Maybe that is why he is so much harder than any other musician to learn from. He had The Gift. He did put out a VCR tape to explain what he was doing (and it is now available in cd form) which I bought and paid for, but it doesn't explain that magical relation he had to blues and music. Still it is definitely worth buying. Learn a lot of things but not recommended for the complete amateur. Believe it was titled something like: 'Paul Butterfield - Master Class in the Harmonica.' Means he ain't interested in teaching you how to play 'Tida dui tida da tida dah tidda dui'
