General Discussion

Hello i'm new to the site. I've been playing Harmonica for 3 months and i take lessons with a great blues player here in Quebec, Canada

I'm very pleased with the content. David really is a great teacher. The song study goes well with my private lessons. Interview are amazing, and one of the best feature of the site.

I think a section for newcomer/introduction would complete the forum, it's usually the first place i post to introduce myself and check out other members from the community.

Mac

The piece Joe Filisko plays in the 'Closing' section of his interview is amazing, and rich with all kinds of technique. I've been trying to figure out the opening part - not that I can play it, but it's cool to try. I think he's doing this: the opening drone is one draw and three draw at the same time, but with only the three draw bent (how?). Next I think he's playing three blow and then shimmering between one blow and three blow. Does anyone know a) if I'm on the right lines here and b) how you do the split with only one note bent?

In Search Of Jeffery M. Carp

Carp Played Some Harp on the CDs
''Muddy & the Wolf'' and ''The Best of John Lee Hooker 65-70''

Who was he, and what happened to him?

Are There Any Blues History Buffs Out There?

David, your mention of the position play lessons in "What's New" got me wondering - are there video lessons that are not included in the basic, intermediate, and advanced lesson plans? I assume there are (Solo Harmonica Study and Position Playing as examples). Is it possible to arrange all of those unaffiliated lessons into a separate page so that those of us going through the lesson plans can easily know which ones we can add to our learning process? As I go through this process, I don't want to miss a single lesson. continue reading...

Going through these lessons, I'm finding that a softer touch seems to help me hit the notes and even go faster. Blowing lightly helps me with my tone and technique - even with things like shakes. My breathing seems easier to manage, too. On the other hand, while the sound is not too soft, it's not too loud either.

So I'm wondering, how much do we really need to blow in these things? Is a nice, light touch all that is required, or should I be practicing blowing like there's no tomorrow?

I have always used Suzuki Promasters....and have been able to bend on the C but with the D it seems it is more difficult to get the bends going esp. on 3 draw. Is this my imagination?

Hello, all. I joined BluesHarmonica.com last week, and I have spent the time since then reading the forum posts, looking through the instructional material, sampling the interviews, and such. With that done, I thought I would become active here on the forums.

I think that introductions are helpful on forums just as this. Knowing something about other members can help in getting better understanding of each other. I also think it can help foster a sense of community.

My name is Gregg, and I live in rural Colorado between Denver and Colorado Springs. I will be 58 next month. continue reading...

As someone who's newish to harmonica (about a year), it'd be helpful to hear what more experienced players think of the different harps available. I've got a couple of Marine Bands, a Special 20, a Honer Blues Harp MS, a Big River, a Lee Oskar and a Suzuki Pro-Master. The Marine Bands sounded great but are dying - the combs on both are swelling up. The Blues Harp plays unbelievably well, despite the generally poor reviews I've seen. Hard to compare the Suzuki since it's a low F - any difficulty I have bending notes could be down to the key. continue reading...

Thought I would let folks know about a couple of Facebook harmonica groups. I formed a group for Harmonica Masterclass Alumni to keep in touch at:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=81901343170

and another group that I like called Harmonica 411 which has over 1500 harp enthusiast members

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=81901343170#/group.php?gid=3891104...

I am really excited about Dave's new venture, and hope to see lots of HMC alumni on the facebook page.

Kevin Rudolph,
Manhattan Beach, CA

I'm going through the Solo Harmonica 1 Study and I'm having some trouble with what seems like very leaky notes on two and three BLOW on my G harp. Playing with the harmonica, the two and three blow notes sound airy whether I tongue block or pucker. It seems much worse than any of my other harps. Is it a leaky harp, or I do I just suck?

I'm using Special 20s.