General Discussion

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.

I noticed Rick Estrin mentioned that he did not use overblows in his playing. In playing a song in C in 2nd position that required an Ab would you just go to the high end for the fourth in the progression, then back to the low end to get a required B for the fifth. Just wondered what approaches would be used to get around not using overblows.

David, could you give a brief list of the things you do tongue blocking verses when you normally pucker. I know at times I have heard "pucker for bends", while it seems that at other times it seems that everything is done tongue blocked. I think I recall you saying years ago that you did not use overblows - did I dream that.

I understand that we are practicing tongue switching but would it be wrong to just continue to tongue block out the left side and slide to the right for the 2 blow and then back to the left still Tb'ing out the left for the 1 draw again? I've been practicing the way you describe and can play it fine that way but just thinking for this passage that it would be less movement of the tongue.
Are there times when one might TB right and left besides only the 1 hole?

Thanks 528hemi

Hello Krister... your email is bouncing, so please write via the posts from now on. To answer your questions, I play it (some things are subtle). Best wishes on your studies!

"I'm working on Garys blues chorus 2. In bar 6 I can't hear you play 6+ twice. I'm I wrong or is the tab wrong?
Regards Krister (Great site!)"

Hello everybody I've been a lip blocker for awhile now. Started tongue blocking a couple months now and the tip of my tongue is sore. I have been trying to press lightly but it still pretty tender. Is part of the process or am I doing something wrong.

I just received today the complete set of David Barrett's gig saver guides. Flipping through them, I'm finding them very informative as a newbie in the art. The first three books help with learning harmonica and positional playing theory. They are: Essential Scales for the Diatonic Harmonica, Essential Quick Charts for the Diatonic Harmonica, and Essential Theory for the Diatonic Harmonica. The last three concern gigging and equipment. They are: Harmonica Microphones, First Harmonica Gig, and Harmonica Amplifiers. All of these books are actually booklets, just a few pages each. continue reading...