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If you're traveling or having family visiting over the holidays it will be challenging to get practice in, but you can use the lulls between activities to think about your music. Use this time to take stock in what YOU like... the style of music... specifically on the harmonica... the sounds... the keys... the techniques... use this opportunity to tweak your studies in the direction YOU want to go in the new coming year.

Currently an Associate Professor of English and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi with a specialty in blues literature and culture, Adam Gussow was one of the first amplified blues harp players to make overbends a key element of his stylistic approach, adapting Howard Levy's innovations in the late 1980s in a way that helped usher in a new generation of overbend masters such as Carlos Del Junco, Jason Ricci and Chris Michalek. continue reading...

Want more warmth, bass and punch for your amplified sound? The Lone Wolf Harp Attack fits the bill. A student just brought in their amp and mic and it was pretty ho-hum... but then he pulled out his new Harp Attack and with some turns of it's three knobs he was sounding like Rod Piazza! Unlike other pedals I've tried it's not that prone to feedback and it doesn't distort too much or in an unnatural way... just enough to give any amp a little more tone. continue reading...

The magic combination is to hear yourself well on the bandstand, be pleased with your tone and have the confidence that your sound is BIG in the house. If you can’t hear yourself well, you’ll play too hard, putting undue stress on your harmonicas (I’ve destroyed MANY harmonicas playing too loudly) and hinder your dynamic range. Achieving what you hear to be good tone on the bandstand inspires you to play at your best. The louder a single-source is (an amplifier not mic’d), the less likely you’ll hear the same sound on the bandstand that the audience is hearing in the house. continue reading...