Harmonica Teacher Reacts to Blues Traveler - Hook (John Popper)

Today I’m going to listen to John Popper’s playing on Blues Traveler’s song - Hook.
Original recording - • Blues Traveler “Hook” ...
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[@TomlinHarmonica]

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[@marcies3789]

John Popper is SO underrated. Between his harmonica and vocals, the guy is through the roof good. Through the fucking roof.

[@markkindermannart4028]

through the floor too lol

[@buckhorncortez]

Who is underrating him other than you? Is there some sort of government office of underrating? Or, is this just another Internet meme repeated as an attempted compliment? Why not just say, - "Damn he's good" and appreciate him?

[@galaxypeach2008]

@@buckhorncortez I've wondered this too. I see him being praised as one of the best harmonica players ever. Not once has he ever been unerrated. Ever. In any discussion.

[@jimlahey3919]

He’s not underrated. It’s widely accepted that he’s an amazing talent. Everyone rates him respectively

[@radsec]

I graduated high school with these fellows, they were a band even back then. John, joined Princeton High in his sophomore year I think. Happy for their success...

[@Ser_Arthur_Dayne]

I'm from Hopewell next door, and used to see John hanging out at The Mill Hill in Trenton, acting like a normal fuckin dude, just chillin, it was awesome.

[@edithboozy1000]

This is BY FAR my favorite type of react content. Watching an expert in a field genuinely appreciate something in a way that only an expert can. Very cool.

[@aaabbbccc985]

I just hate they act like they've never heard it.

[@gioscervelo]

Well said. I dislike it too.

[@Comodusprimus]

Popper had the sweetest voice in the business and his harp mastery has Bob Dylan looking like a baboon playing with a typewriter.🤣🤣

[@kenknapp2319]

I love this band... it was awesome to see a harmonica insider's reaction to John Popper (his harmonicas are a huge part of their sound)

[@Philharpo]

Yes JP is a real talent- as you explain - in that his playing is unique, distinctive and skilled. Thank you!

[@AndrewCarlson-wj7fp]

Totally agree..John is an amazing talent!

[@joelegere9920]

Most underrated musician of the last 30 years

[@taterttv]

What I wanna know is how the HELL he does that vibrato?!? Thats some next level shit right there!

[@jimlahey3919]

That’s all from the vocal chords. Throat vibrato. It’s similar to trying to mimic a panting dog. But more rapidly, and from deep in the throat. A skill that takes many months or years to develop. John Popper has insanely fit vocal chords and lung capacity.

[@ajnestler2304]

15:35. CST 02/08/23 Good job on breaking down how John is getting that incredible sound. I love and appreciate you that you are willing to go where I would not know how to interpret or analyze the music.

[@skeptik212]

Just curious: I am wondering if anyone else is as fascinated as I am that John Popper seems to model his singing (the inflections, runs and trills he does with his voice) after what he's able to do on the harmonica. I am amazed by it, but I've never heard anyone else point it out. Is it just me????

[@fluffhead917]

Great point man. I’m a musician and that never clicked..💥

[@bobbybluefancher8181]

He is awesome and has his own sound that’s just outstanding!

[@toriboy25]

Check out him playing with The Dave Matthews Band on "What Would you Say" He has a killer (and long) harmonica solo.

[@michaelt.2009]

Excellent juxtaposition with the chamber strings to show similar structures

[@fluffhead917]

His singing is VERY underrated because of his harp skills..🍺

[@jimlahey3919]

No it isn’t. I’ve never heard anyone underrate his vocals. Everyone who had heard him sing will tell you he’s an amazing singer.

[@ArtistDavidU7ub3]

Thanks so much Tomlin, really great addition and commentary!! The Best!

[@ramblin_harp]

Great insight into the song! Popper has always been in my list of favorite harp players, I like how he is different. Blues Traveler was one of my favorite bands in the 90's and still is now. Keep doing these videos they are awesome! 🙌🎶

[@TomlinHarmonica]

Thanks for watching! Don’t forget to ‘Subscribe’ and turn on notifications to never miss another Harmonica video. :-)

[@ckaykirby]

all done, happy subscriber 👍😎

[@thedude0000]

They purposely used pachelbel canon d. The entire song is a troll....including using pachelbel canon d.

[@JBCavern]

Thanks for posting reaction videos. John Popper is a beast and it was good to hear you explain how he plays fast.

[@gw14bb]

Love this series and your thoughts on John Popper, Tomlin. I think he sometimes gets a bad rap from other more traditional blues harp players, but his speed and accuracy on the upper range of the harmonica is amazing!

[@IdentityQuandry]

Tomlin, you bring us the reality of the art! Thank you!

[@MariliaCoutinho]

You asked what we think about your "reactions" series: I think it's brilliant. I think we need more of that from the elite harmonica instructors, educators, musicologists and composers. You are offering all the community, the less advanced players and less experienced musicians as well as your colleagues, a technical perspective that we wouldn't reach on our own. I don't even think it matters whether we like the subject-player or not. What matters is that you show us what to hear there. Popper and the blues travelers is not one of my bedside bands. No favors here, I prefer your vocals (a lot) and the interaction of the harmonica with the other voices in the songs with your band, Delacroix, for example. But I would *never* hear Pachelbel's Canon in D major there. The moment you started singing the chord progression it was there, the "aha" moment. So thank you very much.

[@TomlinHarmonica]

Thanks for your kind words Marilia!

[@heiko6983]

Cool Tomlin😀 Thank You for sharing your perception on Popper. I like this format

[@shamsbt]

Big fan of your depth analysis!

[@annettepetersen4470]

Year....it was great. And I like your entusiasme!!!

[@tmakinthehouse]

I'm just amazed there are harmonica teachers. Good video.

[@barkerbikepirate4916]

Oh my lord you're right! It's the Pachelbel chord progression!!!! No wonder it's so catchy.

[@buttcheeks985]

The song is a rip on how the music industry is filled with no talent pop songs that have "hooks" to keep you buying records. The chord progression was done as a joke because so much pop music follows the same chords. The lyrics are actually really funny!

[@DUANEYAISER]

However, there are a few differences in the chord changes that make it slightly unexpected and more interesting.

[@KeithRice1984]

That's the hook!

[@tubewae]

Thanks for this Tomlin. I have been a Blues Traveller/John Popper fan since I saw them on Blues Brothers 2000 (not as good as Blues Brothers but still a fantastic film) I love the sound and could never reach that level although I would love to. John Popper was sponsored by Fender for a while - and I have a full set of Fender Blues Deluxes' as a result and my pride and joy is a Fender Blues Deville in C. It sounds fantastic and looks so cool in Black and Gold (also the only harp I have with no numbers on it). In my opinion Run Around is Blues Travellers best song and such a cool video too. I like Hook too but I wont be able to listen to it without hearing Pachelbel's Canon anymore. Thanks for the review and maybe do the same with Run Around sometime - now that's fast

[@harpninjamike]

It would appear that he is using a Mesa Boogie head in this video. It might be what's off to the side of the stage by the bass player. At this point in time, the Axe hadn't been invented yet. He was using a full on pedal board with the signal split various ways and controlled that with a looper or midi controller. For this particular performance, he was just playing though the amp, IMO, with no effects being used. His use of effects at this time were largely levels of gain/distortion and a pitch delay. He would occasionally use an envelope filter or octave down effect too. He frequently used a rotary speaker for an organ sound too. Over the next ten years of so, he'd really get into more pitch and time based effects. I'd say in the last ten years or so, he's really paired that down. Although he still has a very complicated rig using various gain stages, his effect use is much less. I have a rig run down of his current rig on my YT page an a video of me sitting with him several years back.

[@clivehalliday9636]

Hi Tomlin t very good the guy can sing as well love it

[@ckaykirby]

Awesome review, great to see/hear honest comments and tech style info without too much detail, keeps the joy and intrigue of the artiste your discussing, great vid, well done Tomlin, your found a unique niche to progress with,, the harmonica can be used in many styles and there is so much on "The Blues" it's refreshing to see another facet of Harmonica Music - long may you prosper 😎 Ps. There are some great players using Diatonic Harmonicas in Chromatic style with a great empathy for more melodic music - use google and see who you come up with , keep on harpin long and strong 👏👏👍

[@TomlinHarmonica]

Totally agree with the amount of amazing diatonic/chromatic players out there!

[@ivanopaolocci564]

I really appreciate your modesty, although you are an excellent teacher.

[@BarryMiller2956]

Very nice explanation and tribute! Also nice playing yourself. ;)

[@jazzman5368]

You can point out thinks that I didn't hear or understand - very informative!

[@blakerh]

John is the best!

[@Ironman-harmonica]

Nice analysis

[@42Mrgreenman]

3:45 "Yeah, that's a kickin' glissando." ~Frylock (Aqua Teen Hunger Force) But yeah, John Popper is one of the few that can uplift you with the blues, Run-Around especially, all the metaphors he uses to say how much he loves that girl...lol...

[@duckduckoduck]

Super cool, who knew that this was the chord progression for Pachelbel

[@CamDMC123]

They used pachelbel's on purpose because the same song is making fun of how you don't need to sing about anything to make a hit you just need a good hook and a tried and true chord progression.

[@backwoodsrose4410]

Nice job!😊

[@msgretrogamer]

Johm Popper is sooo good!

[@progrocker2112]

I love that (after hearing Howard say that why aren't all there songs like Run-Around) Blues Traveler played this song at his birthday as an FU.

[@lanechasek5560]

Wait, he was using an octave pedal? I've been convinced he was doing octave splits for a while now. This is kind of mindblowing.

[@BillySoundFarm]

I have a theory that John poppers singing is really influenced by the fact that he's a harmonica player. He does these weird decorations that sound like something that you would do on a harmonica, almost like a end of phrase momentary tremolo effect. What do you think?

[@jwrpodcast]

The AXE-FX has been used only for the last years. In the 90s he used a MIDI board, then went in the early 00s to have a full guitar EFX board for the harp. If you want anything specific to know, I probably have the answer

[@finch2213]

Hey man, how hard would you say it is to jump into his vocals ( the patter/ rap vocal) after such a breathy harp solo? Scale of one to ten?

[@mattwilson8298]

It makes sense that Hook would be another reworking of Canon in D. After the huge success they had with Runaround, the record company of course wanted a repeat. So what did they do? They took the paradigm of all pop music and made another hit. 😂

[@g2D1]

Hey did Mr. Tomlin do air harmonica?

[@spencerboaz2385]

Just as there are a endless number of great guitar players , there are a good number of great Harp players . But John's style is so unique it puts him in a class pretty much of his own . There are far fewer like Will Wilde that can play or play along with almost anything . Myself , I'm pretty much stuck in the blues & rock rut . I just can't rap my mind around a lot of other music types . I think when it gets too slow my mind wanders off track lol . This was a great take on John Popper's kind of playing . You have a blessed one .

[@TonyTigerTonyTiger]

2:32 Nice. I loved the chord progression but didn't know if had classical roots.

[@djaybeetoo]

Being Serious, John is pretty sweet as a harmonica player

[@corralescoyote3360]

My fav harp man is Junior Wells

[@carlhenriksvedberg9148]

Sounds great ! - I Will try to use that scale in the upper octave - by the Way I use a guitar pedal ; Mad Professor Royal Blue OD , and play a Laney Cub 8 😉

[@sfckrbec]

The truly funny thing about this solo is that it was in a song that blasts the music industry. This song was just a FU to music execs who pressed him to write more pop music and he made it a formula song that was a piece of art as well as the lyrics that just wrecked the pop music scene. The best part is that most people never listened to the lyrics, they just smiled and bobbed their heads.

[@k.s.nichols4060]

I am not at all an expert at all, but i admire that you tell folks what Popper is doing even if you can't do it.

[@k.s.nichols4060]

No shame in being unable to match Steve Vai or Jimi Hendrix on the guitar. It still helps.

[@eprohoda]

hi, Like it~ very useful -be well! 😌

[@BillySoundFarm]

So recently I wanted to transcribe a solo on electric guitar, and I thought I was going to transcribe his harmonica solos, but I ended up transcribing his vocals... I think if I can teach myself to play my guitar like that guy sings then I'll be in good shape

[@dansmith5434]

How about a reaction to Indiara Sfair? Then maybe the lead singer/harp playe Anna Kristina for Zepparella in something like WHEN THE LEVEE BREAKS?

[@flipitdu]

My God….its Canon in D! Unbelievable!

[@tjzambonischwartz]

I started following Blues Traveler when I was 12 during their fall 95 tour. Started learning harmonica a year later because of it. Nobody plays like Popper.

[@Mehwei]

I love this performance of Hook, one of my favorites. I think John Popper’s best harmonica is No Woman, No Cry live with Ziggy Marley. It starts off a little slow, but the second half gives me goosebumps. kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6vOYXt8fJqgetk

[@sebe1445]

Thank you for the link! I missed that all these years.

[@511sndman]

And ziggy is blown away! He just laughs lol

[@GrilloTheFlightless]

Am I imagining it, or is he wearing a harmonica bandolier? The only other time I’ve seen such a thing is on Sugar Blue.

[@TomlinHarmonica]

Yes! he totally is. Will Wilde also wears one.

[@goldenteledy2002]

Though John Popper's playing isn't exactly my taste, I'm often recommended his stuff by the people around me. I appreciate what he does with bringing good harmonica music back into the mainstream and being the forefather of using effects for harmonica. This dude can shred like Terry McMillan and I like his unique use of the upper register.

[@EmersonTanakaHarp]

how is that possible to play single clean notes so fast 🤔...Astonishing!

[@hrossaman]

In "canon", the 3 chord is not a *major chord*, as it is in Hook...

[@9inchsradius]

Canon, or as I like to call it "My Baby Takes The Morning Train"

[@fasillimerick7394]

There is a wealth of irony in "Hook" being their most well known song, and that John Popper brought it upon himself.

[@Kodarian]

Seriously, is this just a troll on people who like reaction videos? - If it is, I love it! If not it really blows...

[@Resinpro]

Usually reaction vids let the audience hear the song, and pause to introject their own thoughts, instead of talking over the ENTIRE performance.....

[@jimmy59ca2001]

do more react videos, Ricci etc, also some singers , take a look at Home Free and rendtition of when a man loves a woman, you are a very credible musician and videos could become popular along with your instruction videos, just an idea, i was in edinburgh at the music instruction week, loved it, suffered from cancer but i beat it, thanks, jimmy church

[@TomlinHarmonica]

Great to hear from you Jim! I'm so pleased to hear about the cancer beating!!

[@elmarko9051]

The presenter is stating this is a '4-chord' song...ref Axis of Awesome.

[@jeffbrehove2614]

At the time I'm typing this, this video is 2 months old..... ....what took you so long?

[@gioscervelo]

Its fun how they call themselves Blues Traveler and play blues instruments and then dont play blues.

[@zachary813]

Well, Tomlin, you've got some practicing to do to reach the speed and clarity of the Fat Man Blues.

[@TomlinHarmonica]

I know!! Maybe one day 🙂

[@paveldanilychev8690]

Like for canon D major !))

[@dustinhayes3682]

Right?!! All these years and I never made that connection?! 🤔🤯🤯

[@Sebuin]

been playing just mess around blues harmonica since I was 16 to hang with my band buddies at school and jam. Blues Traveler came on and I wasnt a big fan of this album compared to the prior ones but this is just jaw drop. My crush on his music died when this album came along and sold out and they started doing stupid bit parts in shows so I never became the deep lifelong fan that would have learned about the classical song behind Hook, and that he used a pedal omg.

[@FredrickTesla]

You could write a thesis paper on Hook. The entire song is a dig at how formulaic and meaningless the majority of the music industry is. They chose Canon in D because there had been a huge amount of popular songs in the previous few years using that chord progression. Even the lyrics themselves hang a lantern on how easy it can be to write a hit song.

[@earthworm7346]

'The Hook' is a beautiful troll.

[@koalanectar9382]

What?? There is no pitch shifting pedal lol

[@twodogs91]

Great stuff as always. But...how can any novice possibly understand what you understand? How do you know he's got a D; thats he's playing in A major; or that hes in 2nd position? What the heck is pentatonic?

[@harpdaddyone]

It’s pretty simple 🤷🏼‍♂️Google it 👍

[@ivankrmelic9899]

Good morning Tomlin this is grate I wish I could play only 1% as good ,best wishes and thank you

[@markstratman5628]

To understand these things buy a AU$70 dollar harmonica and join Tomlin’s school. Practice for 1 year and you will know it all.

[@TomlinHarmonica]

@@markstratman5628 Aw shucks!

[@TomlinHarmonica]

Hi Twodogs, it definitely takes a while to tune your ear in to this kind of stuff but it will come with practice and perseverance.

[@phantomimages7673]

Everything about this song is spot on, copying Pachelbel Canon D , the lyrics stating exactly what he’s doing and showing that lyrics don’t really matter and that it’s the “hook” or the chord progression that draws you in, and last but not least, his insane harp skills. This is another song like Blur’s “Song 2”. Where it was made to make fun of how easy it is to write a certain type of song and make a chart topper.

[@ponfed]

I was a 💯% convinced that he used a chromatic harmonica before this video. I'm not an harmonica player(I dabbled) but I was convinced it was a chromatic...

[@ponfed]

And so it's why I listen to videos like yours

[@sickntired6241]

“So so good” Damn !!!

[@tannerrussell9697]

Youre almost as good as John

[@Mephilis78]

I'm going to assume that since you are talking non stop that you aren't actually reacting to the song. You read about it, and listened to it before you turned on the camera, and then wrote a script to read.

[@peteaustin5327]

hey don't give the Canon secret !! too late i guess.

[@TimBowSpice]

2:10 Never heard it pronounced PATCH-uh-bell until just now. Always POCK-uh-bell. Pachelbel, Johann. I wonder if he pronounced Bach as Batch? Also a Johann.

[@Motivatedk9]

Please pause when speaking.. thanks

[@seanyoung7713]

Didn’t expect you to talk during the song, ruined the reaction completely

[@eddiemoney1093]

You do your thing but have you considered, you know, not talking over the entire song?

[@kungfumachinist]

Wow, my interpretation is entirely different. Am I the only harp player that doesn't care for Popper? Rather than the harmonica "lending itself to the Popper style", or whatever, I think the standard Richter-tuned harp is limited and Popper is simply staying within the bounds of it (unable to get out of it). It's boring.

[@TomlinHarmonica]

Everyone is allowed their opinion 🙂

[@kungfumachinist]

@@TomlinHarmonica Sure, we all like what we like, no arguing with that. But I think there's value in my analysis. Popper is doing what the instrument allows him to do easily. I think if harp students recognize this they might find their way to something better. Maybe not something you or I like better, but something the player likes better.

[@dennisferrell3662]

No, you're not the only one. When I first heard Popper I was highly entertained by his machine gun style of play and his mastery of those upper register pentatonic riffs. As Tomlin rightly points out, those things take incredible amounts of practice to really master. However, it soon became repetitive and boring to my ear. Popper is not just a one trick pony, though. His playing has other dimensions (check out his take on No Woman No Cry), and he is a credible singer. He and his band have had a fine career, thus he's entertaining a lot of folks, and they must certainly think he's worth the price of a concert ticket. I don't deny his talent or his dedication to his music, he's just not my favorite harp player, and not really even close.

[@user-hh9mr7sr7f]

I am happy he lost the lbs and is healthy now