how to play blues harmonica

“Your creative capacity is determined by your musical and technical abilities, along with your available practice time. Your capacity will increase as your strength and skills grow. However, for you to make progress with basics such as on-stage confidence and ease of execution, your repertoire choices must be within your capacity. Musicians who pick unobtainable pieces foster destructive habits, such as anxiety and tension, and they miss out on learning how to present secure, poetic performances.” Pg 14, The Musician’s Way: A Guide to Practice, Performance, and Wellness By Gerald Klickstein

In Mark Hummel's latest submission he covers his thoughts on playing different positions to match the key, mood and groove of a song.

I'm in Trossingen, Germany at Steve Baker's Harmonica Masters Workshop. If you would like to follow my daily reports visit: http://www.facebook.com/bluesharmonica. Pictured here is Steve Baker, Joe Filisko and I video recording footage on the Marine Band Harmonica for Hohner Harmonicas.

Kirk "Jelly Roll" Johnson's distinctive, soulful style of harmonica has earned him critical acclaim, numerous awards, and a place among Nashville's top session musicians. A native of Lake Charles, Louisiana, Jelly Roll's career has spanned 35 years. He began playing harmonica at age 19 in Cleveland, Tennessee. After touring with several rock, blues and country groups, he settled in Knoxville to work with the Tommy Cole Band. From 1979 to 1989, Jelly Roll played concerts and club dates all across America with Warner Brothers recording artist Con Hunley. continue reading...

In Joe's latest lesson he covers the importance of posture.

“Have your student keep a special type of practice log. Instead of recording how much practice they did, or what type of practice they did, simply have them record what breakthroughs they made each day. What can they now do that they couldn’t do when the practice session started?” Pg 62, The Practice Revolution: Getting Great Results from the Six Days Between Music Lessons by Philip Johnston

The more airtight your cup is, the more muted your sound is. The more muted your sound is, the darker your amplified tone is and the stronger the difference between your closed and open cup for the Wa Wa and hand tremolo effects. continue reading...