blues harmonica

Congratulations to our winning top three: George Bisharat from San Francisco, California for "Chromaticism," Steven Troch from Mechelen, Belgium for "Hanging Out with Peter," and Steve Molitor from St. Louis, Missouri for "Shim Sham Santa." All of these winners have been contacted and have confirmed that they will be able to make Mark Hummel’s Blues Harmonica Blowout Saturday, Jan 28th at the legendary Yoshi’s Nightclub in Oakland, California to compete for 1st Place! continue reading...

Now that you have your hands, lips and tongue set into a relaxed position...

Place the harmonica a little deeper in your mouth, lower the middle and back of your tongue (the tip-top is on the harmonica, but the middle and back are able to move interdependently to lower for good tone), drop your jaw a bit, and finally open your throat.

A simple way to perform all of this is to use a slight yawn... it will place everything in the same position. continue reading...

Happy New Year to all of you!

Here's something fun for you to watch today if you have the time...

This is the footage of Gary Smith and I testing amp setups on the bandstand from an upcoming episode of the Bassman Chronicles. This is the part where we play each amp setup, each time making notes (strategically placed students in the audience, the band and us). The goal is to make note how each amp setup affects...

1) How well we can hear on the bandstand

2) The tone we get on the bandstand

3) How well it fills the house and what it sounds like to the audience continue reading...

When placing your tongue on the face of the harmonica for the tongue block embouchure, use the tip-top of the tongue (the top of the tongue just past the tip). Since your tongue is commonly blocking the holes to the left (except for hole 1, where your tongue is at the right), you do use a a slight amount of the right side of the tongue, but not much... it's still mostly the tip-top (if you feel like you're using only the side of the tongue you'll need to adjust this). continue reading...

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.

Grab a jam track and matching harmonica to play in 2nd Position (A Harmonica in the Key of E for example). Check that the jam track starts on the I Chord (one chord... beginning of the form), if not, wait to play until the introduction is complete (visit "Performance Training: Openings" if you're not sure you're hearing it correctly). continue reading...

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...

To focus on everything is to focus on nothing

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...

If you're working on bending accuracy (when are we not!), then you already know you're wasting your time if you're not using a tuner or at least a piano to reference your pitch. There are times when we're not around such helpful devices and it's handy to have a different kind of reference...

Part of ear training is to develop a tune list of intervals. Here are some good references...

Whole Step Bend - "Three Blind Mice" 3 3" 2, 3 3 3" 3" 2

Half Step Bend on 3' - "Spoonful" = 3' 2 3' 2 3' 2

Half Step and Whole Step Bend - "There's a Place in France" 2 3" 3' 3" 2, 2 3" 3' 4 3' 3" 2