budge

Hi there,

I have always wondered what is the "proper" technique to produce a growl/distortion sound that is often heard in blues music. A good example is Minnie the Moocher from Blues Brothers where the solo comes in about 30 seconds into the song. Now I've experimented and the best I can do is sort of gargle with my throat to get a wavey sort of sound but it's not quite there. Could anyone suggest how they have acheived that sort of sound? Is it to do with the throat or embochure or what?

Thanks heaps,

budge.

Brekelefuw

For me, there are a few different kinds of growls.
The back of the throat growl, kinda like that "sexy tiger" thing people do using the dangly in the back of your throat to make the growl.

There is the singing growl, which is my favorite, where you sing into the horn and make it growl. This took me alot of practice to get down. I bought a pixie mute and a plunger and practiced with it. Using those two mutes together makes this kind of growl really easy. After I got good at doing it with those, I took out the pixie and used just the theplunger, and after that, I used just the horn.

There is an old education video series by Wynton where he teaches a student to growl. Try to get a whole of that. It is called "Sousa To Satchmo"

budge

Thanks Brekelefuw,

I'll take those suggestions and give them a go. Hopefully I'll be able to get it soon enought.

budge.