solo

In this submission Gary has us "Thinking on our Feet," taking what the other player gives us when trading solos. We trade 12's, 4's, 2's, 1's and even... to our great surprise... 2 beats!

Jot down some notes this weekend on what you think are the challenges of learning to play above hole 6 in 2nd Position and why you may think it's not used as much as it could be. I'll share my observations starting Monday. Have a great weekend everyone!

Yesterday I was communicating with an experienced player that recently began studying at BluesHarmonica.com. He sent in a study song submission and one of my suggestions was to play softer. He sounded good, but I could tell he was pushing the harp louder than he needed to. He replied that he's been playing with a band for a while, which is what I expected. Here was my response. These points are important for amplified players to keep in mind.

---

Yes, playing with a band tends to bring your “default” volume up. Here’s how Little Walter did it... continue reading...

Now that you've had a chance to enjoy and analyze Aki's killer instrumental "Bombay Stroll," here are the Chorus Forms (CF) he used. Mr. Aki Kumar, can you please share with everyone on your Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/akikumar) how these CF came about? As you worked on writing this song, did you experiment with different CF's for each lick/chorus, or have you so internalized CF's now that you played the new lick at the beginning of a chorus and the CF flowed out? I assume that you worked out the first three or so choruses and then improvised by the time you reached Chorus 5? continue reading...

In Friday's Richmond Browne quote he states, "The listener is constantly making predictions; actual infinitesimal predictions as to whether the next event will be a repetition of something, or something different. The player is constantly either confirming or denying these predictions in the listener's mind. As nearly as we can tell, the listener must come out right about 50% of the time--if he is too successful in predicting, he will be bored; if he is too unsuccessful, he will give up and call the music 'disorganized.'"

Let's use the Af Af At (AAA with fills) Chorus Form as reference. continue reading...

Yen Ming Chen speaks of the Sirius Harmonica Ensemble and the Chord Harmonica.

Yen Ming Chen - HOHNER Masters of the Harmonica
http://youtu.be/AuNspLIWEMw

"Walkin' By Myself" by Jimmy Rogers and Big Walter Horton stands the test of time as one of our greatest harp accompaniment and solo recordings every produced. Thanks to the "You Missed Monday" crew at the B1 Blues Room for sharing this.

Article by Scott Dirks
http://www.deltagrooveproductions.com/2014/03/07/walkin-by-myself-scott-...

Solo Transcription by Joe Filisko
http://ots.youmissedmonday.com/transcriptions/WBMsolo.pdf

Check out William Clarke's "Pawnshop Bound" on the Serious Intentions release at 1:44, it's a killer solo that not only includes high end work, but high end work with 5-hole octaves. He's on a C Harmonica in 2nd Position.

Instead of taking just one lick and moving it up an octave, try it with an entire song. Use "Temperature" from Tongue Block Study 2 and move it up an octave. Though by now you've probably already memorized the notes on your C Harmonica, you can visit Music Theory Study 1 for a note layout. The process is simple. The first lick of the song is 3 4+ 3, which are the notes B C B. Move these notes up one octave to 7 7+ 7. Print out the sheet music for the song and write below the TAB the octave above version. continue reading...