harmonica

Joe Filisko continues his series on the Fox Chase and Lost John with DeFord Bailey’s fox chase. You can study this lesson here http://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/fox_chase_study_2_artist_studies

Today's tip is a simple one, but an important one for learning material. For most people, the first thing they do when digging into learning a lick or solo is to play along with the recording. When playing along with the recording there's a percentage you'll miss... rhythm, notes (notes that you'll miss or replace with incorrect ones), nuances (such as pulls and other articulations that help speak the notes) and dynamics. This can easily be fixed by listening to the lick you're trying to copy once and then playing along with it once. continue reading...

The video of Beginning Student Hob Bosold's concert is now up at http://www.bluesharmonica.com/contributor/hob_bosold

The video of Beginning Student Hob Bosold rehearsing for the student concert is now up at http://www.bluesharmonica.com/contributor/hob_bosold

Join me for an interview with Texas harmonica player Lonnie Joe Howell. Some of you may be familiar with Lonnie through his country harmonica method material (books, CD's and videos). Interview topics include: Lonnie Joe’s Early Years; Texas Harmonica, 2nd Position and Tongue Blocking; Country Tuning; Accompaniment Playing and Breathing; Accompaniment Playing, Part 2; Improvising; and Engaging the Audience

In Gary Smith's 54th submission for BluesHarmonica.com we continue our series on blues bridges... this time with the standard bridge (IV I IV I IV I ii V) in different groove types http://www.bluesharmonica.com/contributor/gary_smith

Ronnie Shellist's musical career began in 1997 working with singer/songwriter Hugh Fadal from Austin, TX. Blues great Gary Primich was a huge influence on his music as well as Guy Forsyth and Walter T. Higgs who lived and played in Austin in the mid 90's. Thanks to a great blues scene in Austin at the time, Ronnie had an up close and personal experiences in the scene that heavily influenced his ultimate musical direction. His style is a combination of mostly Chicago and West Coast blues influenced by funk and jazz greats such as Grant Green and Maceo Parker. continue reading...

My personal favorite way to open a song is to play the opening four bars of the I (one) chord by myself, with the band entering on the IV. The band will interpret the tempo of the song from my playing, so there's no need to count anyone in (tempo errors are more likely to happen when you count the band in verbally). You also don't need to tell the band the feel of the song in most cases (shuffle, slow blues, swing, etc.). What you'll play will be rhythmic, and the use of eighth notes (swing or straight) will tell them the groove. continue reading...

The next most common place to open a song is from the V. This is bar 9 in the 12 Bar Blues Progression. Even though there is a V Chord associated with the turnaround in bar 12, it's known that "The V" only means bar 9.

There are three options to this opening type...

1) You and the entire band starts from the V ("All In")... "E, Shuffle, From the V, All In" continue reading...

The common way to count a song in is to just count 1 2 3 4 and away you go. If the bandstand is loud and you need to get the attention of the band, use a pre-count. The pre-count is 1 (skip a beat) 2 (skip a beat) and then proceed with your standard four count. The end result is 1 . 2 . 1 2 3 4.

The pre-count is also useful/needed when the tempo is very fast and 1 2 3 4 is too quick for all of the musicians to get ready to play (the drummer to sit up on their throne... bass and guitar players to turn their volumes up... harp player to get their harp to their lips, etc.). continue reading...