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Forums :: Tip of the Day

Music Theory for the Blues Harmonica Player

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Tue, 05/29/2012 - 07:17
David Barrett Admin
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Head InstructorTeacher 10Level 10
Joined: 11/30/2009

Blues harmonica players are known for being illiterate when it comes to the understanding of their music, and that's generally a true statement. I sure was this way, and it has taken me may years of dedicated study to not only learn music theory, but parse out what was important to me as a player of a traditional music form. It makes sense that this is a common dilemma... we listen, copy, try to use... this is the tradition of the Blues harmonica player. We are not raised in an environment that fosters music theory from the ground up. This essentially allows us to make intuitive music sooner than our musical counterparts, but it also leads to inadequacies as performing musicians later in life.

I'm proud to start releasing this new series on Music Theory for the Harmonica (Study 1 is on the site now, and a matter of fact I'm going in early today to start editing Study 2). There are six studies in all.

Your tip today?... take your time and enjoy your journey... make sure not to skip any steps. It will not be apparent at times why things are the way they are, but as time goes on they will be revealed to you.

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