learn blues harmonica

“’Do you always know what you’re gonna say before you start taking?’ No. ‘And does that stop you from talking.?’ Not usually. ‘Okay, then play!’” Pg 30, The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music, by Victor L. Wooten

“If you do practice straight scales, practice them in a musical way. Change the dynamics, or even vary the phrasing or the time timing. Most important, listen to each note. A scale is a fantastic thing. It’s the basis of our musical language. Each note has a psychological value, a tendency to settle or lead to another note. Take the time to appreciate the effect of each sound. Notice how it feels in the context of the entire scale. You can discover endless possibilities by enjoying scales this way.” Pg 143, The Art of Practicing: A Guide to Making Music From the Heart by Madeline Bruser

“An exercise is simply a series of notes taken out of normal musical context, and usually sequenced and repeated. Many written exercises are lengthy and unmusical, and practicing them can easily become tedious.” Pg 17,
The Art of Practicing: A Guide to Making Music From the Heart by Madeline Bruser

This is why most of your study on the sight is focused study songs... one chorus equaling about two weeks worth of focused practice.

Which embouchure is fastest... Pucker or Tongue Block? There's no difference... they both can play as fast as the other, BUT, Pucker can play faster articulations due to the back AND front of the tongue is free to articulate (in Tongue Blocking the tip is on the face of the harmonica)... think Ta Ka Ta Ka Ta Ka... etc. So, in the end, we all need to know how to do both to be a well-rounded harmonica player.

I provide you with structured lessons on the harmonica... unprecedented in the history of blues harp education. This is your KNOWN element. If you follow the lesson plans I lay out for you, you WILL become a great player. In your journey there will be areas of bewilderment... and this is of course part of the process. You will not always know if you're doing something correctly, or if your time is best spent studying particular areas... but that's part of the process as well. For many, improvising and accompaniment playing is very daunting... it sure is... but again, it's part of the process. continue reading...

In this harmonica insight Joe Filisko discusses the importance of Tongue Blocking to the harmonica player.

Now play the same starting note at a...

1) Medium volume... going to a very loud volume and then very soft volume

2) Soft volume... going to a very loud volume and finishing at a medium volume

3) Loud volume... going to a soft volume and finishing at a medium volume

4) Soft volume... going to a very loud volume and back down to very soft

5) Loud volume... going to a very soft volume and back to a very loud volume continue reading...

Play a note on your harmonica... any note... for about three seconds. While holding this note try to keep the volume the same at the beginning, the middle and at the end. Did you just do it? Good. Now, never do that again! :-)

What were mentioned over the last couple of days as blessings also leads to one of our curses... since we don't have to learn about keys, scales, scale degrees and chords in our formative years, when it comes to communicating with musicians we're illiterate. Make sure to watch the Performance Training lessons on BluesHarmonica.com, specifically Groove; Openings, Endings & Breaks; and down the road the lessons on Theory and Accompaniment Playing. It's also a great idea to study books like Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory Complete. continue reading...