learn blues harmonica

Our 1959 Fender Bassman Reissue from 1990 hits the stage in our latest installment of the Bassman Chronicles!

We all have areas of our body that are tense while playing. Tension leads to poor tone (when this tension is from the neck up), slower playing (tense muscles are slow muscles) and fatigue (upper back, neck and tongue). It should be a goal of yours to practice and perform as relaxed as possible (body and mind). Put a jam track CD on and play through the entire CD. You could also make a playlist of the songs you've learned so far and play through all of them in one sitting. After this long playing session make note of where you're getting fatigued... continue reading...

Join Mark Hummel for his insights into Little Walter's sound...

Are you a loud player? Most likely you're compensating for your lack of technique by playing loudly. Take a study song you know well and each day strive to play it softer and softer, until you can play it at a whisper-quiet volume. You'll find your bending to improve from this exercise as well as of course your dynamic control (we ALL can use work on that one).

P.S., volume is the #1 killer of harmonicas. Are you guilty of harpslaughter?

Many of you will be using jam tracks for your backing for the King of Swing. Jimi Lee's GrooveTrax - Every Groove a Bluesman Needs To Know 2xCD Set is a good example of what can be used. This can be purchased in the US at: http://www.harmonicamasterclass.com/groove_trax.htm and outside of the US at http://jimileeband.com/

Shoji Naito has been providing harmonica-specific jam tracks of famous harmonica songs for years and has just added more to his available list for purchase. Here's just a sampling of the titles available: Baby Scratch My Back, Big Boss Man, Don't Have to Hurt No More, Please Throw This Poor Dog A Bone, Bye Bye Byrd, Key to the Highway, I've Got Love If You Want It, Good Morning School Girl, Evening Sun, Ends & Odds, Juicy Harmonica, Honest I Do, Boogie, Juke, Just your Fool, Keep It To Yourself, Last Night, Ludella, My Babe, and many more. continue reading...

Many years ago I was "helping" at the end of a show to clean up... unplugging cables, rolling them up and such. An apprentice sound man came up to me and said, "ah man, not that way, my boss'll make me redo all of these cables when I get to the shop," and preceded to show me a way to roll cables so that they didn't get tangled. I've used it ever since... it works great!

Here's how you do it...

1) Hold the cable in your left hand. continue reading...

Today's tip comes from the HarpSmith. Thank you Kinya!

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Hello Everyone. For those of you having a challenging time identifying the correct key signature and tempo to a song that you would like to solo over ... check this out!

A DJ friend of my recently turned me on to a terrific piece of software called, "Mixed in Key." It will analyze any song located on your computer, then identify both the key signature and tempo. continue reading...