learn to play harmonica online

If you have a band, take each new song you learn and place it in your set to give it context. Not only does playing a new song with the band in an upcoming gig give you the impetus to practice hard, the great thing about having a band is that you have the opportunity to use your new and old material often... the licks, movement and technique stay active in your playing.

I don't gig often, so I when I get a high-profile gig, I use it as an opportunity to write something new.

Since most of you will not have a band, you can place that new song on the bandstand via a local jam session. continue reading...

Play that jam track again and improvise over the first ten bars without playing the 2 draw or 6+. At the end of your V-IV-I Transition lick allow it to resolve to the 2 draw or 6+.

What you're doing is building musical tension... tension that gets released on the downbeat of bar 10. Think of it as musical foreplay. continue reading...

We're most familiar with Post War Chicago Blues... essentially the 1950 to 1955 time range (before Rock really took a foothold). Most players are unaware of the mastery our early country blues harmonica players possessed... and in a much different way than players of today. Our friend Joe Filisko really hits it out of the park in this History of the Blues Harmonica 2xCD.

http://www.harmonicamasterclass.com/historyconcert.htm

The 2 draw is overused. The 6 blow is underused. The 6 blow is the same note, one octave higher as the 2 draw. Improvise, focusing resolving your phrases on the 6 blow in place of the 2 draw.

Join us for the newest submission to the Bassman Chronicles where we hear musicians and student audience members comment on what they heard.

In this installment of the Bassman Chronicles Gary Smith and I take our amps to the Grand Dell to experiment with amp placement and to test the overall affect on what we hear on the stage and what the audience hears in the house.