tip

Center your tongue and move it ever-so-slightly back (away from the harmonica) so that you're only covering two holes with your tongue. Again, focus on the convex shape of your tongue, there’s no need to use the tip of your tongue if you use a light touch. continue reading...

It's not guaranteed that a fast lick will have a movement pattern, breath pattern or both, but it's worth looking for... the discover of them can help make a fast lick much easier to play.

Your Tongue Block Study 3 song ("Gary's Blues") contains a great example in Bar 6 of Chorus 5. Note that each beat has you moving up one hole and coming back, all with the same breath. For the next beat you move down the scale and blow, then using the same movement. Rinse and repeat and you have the entire lick. This discovery will help you to play this lick much more easily. continue reading...

An alternative to the Flutter Tongue is the Side Flutter, where your tongue moves side to side. I commonly see three ways this is approached...

1) The tongue moves side to side on the face of the harmonica. When the tongue is to the right, the low note sounds (D for example on the C Harmonica when performing a 1 draw/4 draw side flutter). When the tongue moves to the left, the high note sounds (4 draw in this case). With a light touch on the face of the harmonica and a relaxed tongue, the tongue moves side to side quickly, jumping between the two octave D's. continue reading...

"Play everything — no matter how trivial or trite it might be — with dynamics and sound and musical expression."

From: http://arbanmethod.com/wynton-marsalis-daily-practice/ Thanks to Jon Harl for sharing.

Here's my basic handwritten TAB for the fist line of Little Walter's "Rocker." When a hole number stands by itself it's to be drawn (inhaled). When a hole number is followed by a plus it's to be blown (exhaled). Each slash that follows a hole number represents a half step of bend. If two notes are connected by a arched line, the bend is to be slurred (slides from one note to the next). I use a comma to separate phrases, making breaking down the phrase for study easier. This is also helpful for seeing how the phrasing works for dynamic presentation. continue reading...

If you use Method 2 from Tuesday's tip (see below) then I suggest you start with the C Major Scale starting on the 4+ (4+ 4 5+ 5 6+ 6 7 = C D E F G A B). Though F can be found on 2" and A on 3", your bending has to be dead-on for our purpose of key matching. If you don't think it's one of those notes, then use your Holes 1 through 4 range since it contains all of the chromatic notes that the middle octave is missing. The note Eb is not available in the first two octaves, so you'll need to jump to 8'+ for that one. I personally use this method for finding the key of a song. continue reading...

We need to take a quick break from the transcription series today for a fellow student in need of help with octaves. continue reading...

Turnaround licks (Bars 11 and 12) are in most cases just a short lick (around one bar) with a 1 draw tagged on at the end. Go to Improvising Study 5 - Turnarounds (http://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/improvising_study_5_turnarounds) and take a look at those licks. With this in mind, grab the looped turnaround jam track and experiment with creating your own turnaround.

Gary Smith, Aki Kumar and I were in the studio this last weekend and I was commiserating with Kid in regards to being anxious about being able to "bring it" for the recording. He quoted this phrase and thought I would share it with you...

"The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize." Robert Hughes

Not only does the use of a focus note answer the "what do I play next" question, it helps us to move around the range of the harmonica. A common trap new improvisers get into is overplaying their comfortable note range, commonly holes 2, 3 and 4. If you play a 2 draw focus note one chorus, then cross it off in your mind and don't start on that 2 draw again for the rest of the song. If the next chorus you play a 4 draw focus note, then it too is no longer an option in subsequent choruses. continue reading...