#69 Why Spread the Butter? Part 4: The Paul Butterfield Sound

Every ambitious blues harmonica player wants his own signature sound. It could be their tone, or maybe even a repetitive phrase that resonates with their audiences, but they all want some aspect of their sound to be instantly recognizable. The ultimate compliment is when a listener hears only one note, and they can immediately identify the player. Paul Butterfield is a good example of a blues harmonica player who can play one note on his ten hole harmonica, and everyone knows it is him. There are thousands of ambitious blues harmonica players who still try to duplicate the Butterfield sound, but while some might come close, none ever achieve their goal.

Remember, John Lee Curtis, the first of the important electric Chicago blues harmonica players, creates his unique sound almost by accident because there were so few players amplifying, and inventing new phrases for the instrument. Then there is Marion Little Walter Jacobs who develops sounds on the blues harmonica that no other player achieves before him. However, Paul Butterfield’s signature sound may very well be more noticeable than any other blues harmonica alive or dead. Consequently, his sound is one of the many very important contributions he makes to post war urban blues harmonica. 

Another sign that Butterfield has created a unique sound because it spawns hundreds of imitators who often spend copious quantities of money on equipment, and then expend time and energy, all in an effort to duplicate the Butterfield sound. While this might be an honorable exercise, it is futile. Butterfield himself testifies to this fact in his 1984 instructional series. Attempting to learn another player's tone and phrases is a great learning tool, but it should be a means to developing your own sound, not an end. Let’s discuss some of the features of the Butterfield sound in an attempt to understand why it is so unique.

Firstly, you may remember in blog #66 &67 we discuss the tongue blocking technique of tone production that Curtis, Jacobs and most other Chicago blues harmonica players use from the thirties forward. However, while Butterfield does periodically use a type of tongue blocking technique, he is primarily a lip purser  (sometimes also referred to as the pucker method).

This mean when he places the harmonica in his mouth, he forms his lips around a single hole of the harmonica at one time, and then either pushes or draws air through the harmonica. As we discover in the previous discussions, tongue blocking allows for a fuller tone, but limits the speed with which the player can move up and down the harmonica. The lip pursing technique however, allows Butterfield the option of moving from note to note with a great deal of speed. As an example, listen to his solo in the instrumental Number 9 from his LIVE album. You should notice the speed and accuracy with which he moves on the his harmonica is impressive. It is quite possible that there is no other blues harmonica player before him, not even Jacobs, moves with this much speed.

Here is another minor point of interest to people who are fans of the Butterfield sound.  Some players notice that Butterfield plays his Hohner Marine Bands upside down (Country bluesman Sonny Terry uses this technique too), and so they consider that it may influence his sound, but it probably doesn’t. He more than likely plays his harmonica upside down because he is left handed, and playing it this way is just a more efficient use of the instrument.  

Why is it more efficient? Most players hold their instrument in such a way that the lower notes of the harmonica can fit into the cup their hand makes around the lower register of the instrument. This makes it easier to manipulate the tone when playing acoustic harmonica. If you watch the video of Butterfield  playing his acoustic solo during the song Driftin’ Blues at The Monterey Pop Festival 1967, you will see the way holds his harmonica. There are some other more important physical techniques he uses which play a greater role in his unique sound.

Let’s consider some of his amplification equipment next. Remember, Curtis is the first of the Chicago blues harmonica players to cup his hands and instrument around a microphone, and then plug it into  either a standalone amplifier or P.A. system. Once a player does this he is no longer playing an acoustic harmonica, but rather as Butterfield calls it, an electric harmonica.  Jacobs builds on Curtis’ innovations, adopts the natural distortion, then adds echo, reverb and delay as part of his signature sound, and in turn, so does almost every blues harmonica player after him. Butterfield will then build on some of the techniques that both Curtis and Jacobs create or develop.  

The amplification technology that Butterfield uses during his career is the most advanced in history of the technology. Similar to most of the electric blues harmonica players working on the south side, he starts out using the now famous Green Bullet microphone. Since the player presses the harmonica close to the face of the microphone, the system is overloaded and consequently, produces a broken or distorted tone quality.  Butterfield will use this mic off and on throughout his career, but he is too ambitious to make it a staple of his sound and instead, explores other gear in an effort to differentiate his sound from all other players. 

He uses a Altec microphone in the mid 60s, which he plugs into a Fender Tweed amp, then uses a lot of treble and gain, plus, a little reverb for a much cleaner sound than most of the other south side bluesmen. He then runs his system through the P.A.. However, by the late 60s he switches his mic to a Shure 545 which he makes famous. (Many players still refer to it as the Butterfield mic). Later, upgrades his amp to a Fender Twin before running his system through P.A. You can see his gear set up in Butterfield Blues Band live in the Woodstock videos. There he is using two Fender twins, Daisy Changed, which undoubtedly give him the loudest electric harmonica ever heard in the history of the instrument.

It is important to remember that Butterfield is not playing in the same live situations a that Curtis, Jacobs or any other blues harmonica player before him experiences. He is playing primarily for Rock audiences, and the staple of the Rock sound is very loud instrumentation. Some of the bands of the era such as The Grateful Dead and The Who use a massive walls of amplifiers to play their concerts. Butterfield often sits in with these artists, and in the process he must learn how to adapt his instrument to these situations. However, most of  this technical information is not as important to the Butterfield signature sound as the next two features we will discuss.

First, let’s compare tone production using a guitar, and then apply the principle to tone production on a ten hole harmonica. If you pick up an acoustic guitar, and pluck a single string, it vibrates. The sound that vibration creates is then amplified by way of the hole in the guitar; the body of the guitar now acts as a resonator. The uniqueness of the tone depends on factors such as how hard you pluck the string, and more importantly, the type of wood the Luthier used and/or the age of wood. Producing a sound on the harmonica works in a similar way, but it is much more personal.

Suppose Butterfield picks up his harmonica, places it in his mouth, and either pushes or pulls air through the tiny instrument with his breath. The reed will then vibrate, and the material which is used to make the harmonica comb (Pear wood or ABS plastic) will act as the resonator. The sound he produces is the common sound nearly all ten hole harmonicas make - nothing special yet. However, if he cups his hands around the instrument he can influence the quality and volume of the tone, but here is where the guitar analogy helps us.

The quality of the sound and volume of his harmonica depends on the resonator (the harmonica comb), but there is another very crucial factor working here. When you play a harmonica, the inside of your mouth, the throat and chest cavity also act as a resonator. This is why as Butterfield describes it,  the harmonica is such a personal instrument. It’s like a horn from the heart.  No two humans are built exactly the same way, and so every harmonica will resonate differently, naturally producing a unique tone quality. When Butterfield plays a note, and cups his hands around the harmonica, even if he amplifies the tone; he is really just amplifying the very unique tone that resonates from his own body. This is why you will find that all fantastic harmonica players sound great with or without amplification. 

The unfortunate reality for harmonica players who want to sound like Butterfield is that it can’t be done. Imitators can buy his technical gear, adopt the lip pursing technique, and copy his phrases, but they will never sound exactly like Butterfield’s signature sound.

The actual notes Butterfield plays are quite straightforward. He basically uses one and half octaves of the standard minor pentatonic scale (the blues scale) in second position, and he creates most of his phrases with these notes. (Between the one hole blow and up to the six hole blow). Where many harmonica players will chug on the one chord by drawing on the first three holes, Butterfield will chug on the second hole draw, but at high volume. He also uses heavy triplet vibrato, his attack of triplet phrases is almost always aggressive, and consequently intense. Sustained intensity is ecstasy! You can master all of these techniques and then apply them to a Butterfield song or solo, and chances are you might get close, but you will not be able to sound just like him.

Here is an interesting point about Butterfield only using the partial blues scale in the first octave of the harmonica, and the complete blues scale in the lower and middle octave. Some people notice that he almost never ventures into the upper octave and conclude it is because he can’t produce the important minor 3rd or minor 5th (he doesn't use over blows or over draws, and probably doesn’t even know they are possible). The most likely answer to the question is that Muddy Waters prefers the sound of the harmonica in the lower register (the meaty end), and of course he has a tremendous influence on Butterfield's sound in the early days.

All blues harmonica players want to own a signature sound that everyone identifies as belonging to them. If imitators want to try and duplicate another artist's sound, they should know that it will never be possible. The Butterfield sound is probably the most famous electric ten hole harmonica sound in the world during the 60s and 70s because it resonates with listeners. You can clearly hear his work on records, movie soundtracks, television talk and variety shows, and at enormous Rock concerts like Woodstock 1969.  There is something about his unique sound that captures the imagination of listeners. All you need to do is watch the faces of audience members when he plays his harmonica for them. It is a sound which is unique to his body, and can never be duplicated. 

There are several very proficient harmonica players who have exerted quite an effort to make instructional videos on either Butterfield solos or his technique. Most of these are quite good and worth viewing, if your goal is to learn the Butterfield sound. However, remember, even Butterfield will tell you that you can never sound like anyone but yourself.