General Discussion

Hi everybody, I'm the new kid in town.  The past several years I've mostly been a blues guitar guy, before that clawhammer banjo, before that bluegrass banjo.  A tiny bit of harmonica over the years but nothing serious.  Last week I injured my right hand (nearly lost my index finger but surgeons were able to save it--hopefully permanently).  Needless to say, I wont be playing guitar for a while.  Making lemons out of lemonade, I figured it was a good time to dive into blues harmonica.  This seems like a good program and a supportive forum.  I look forward continue reading...

I have question.   I'm a member of a gospel harmonica group on Facebook and on two occassions I've heard something in technipe or style that I can't quite pin down.  it's some version of single notes and chords, but it's not a slap. It sounds like maybe a single note ending its duration with a pull to the chord but the same technique is ussed on almost every note played. 

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Not having a background in music, most things I learn here at bluseharmonica.com is new to me.  I’m just about finished with LOA3 and was struggling to evaluate my timing with the study song. 

I discovered this trick which greatly helped, and I thought I would share it with others. continue reading...

How many harmonicas. I have one harmonica a Suzuki olive It is not in the key of A. I don't want to buy more harmonicas, but still want Togo through LOA lessons. Is this possible or not?

ok.  this gets so confusing to me still I'm not even sure I can ask it so that it makes sense, but here goes.

I'm getting closer to actually getting on the stage at church. (I'm my own biggest hinderence) but I'm constantely thinking about what / how I would approach something.  I got chord sheets from last Sunday's service to study how they were playing the songs and what I could do, and of course they throw a monkey wrench into my thinking.

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Hey everybody! 

A friend of mine was asking me, if I want to play along the song "Worrisome Heart" from Melody Gardot with her. 

I said yes and was listening to the song. It's a beautiful song in D Minor, original played with an saxophone. So I have to take the parts of the sax and my friend, who's singing the song, want to sing that song in exactly that key. 

Usually, I need an F-Harp to play in D Minor, but I don't have one. So, here is my question:

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What might I try to improve my ability to quickly get a 2 draw sound out? My 2 draw rarely sounds (still getting used to the "yawning" relaxation of the tongue and throat) and when I can get it to sound it seems like that embouchure makes my 1 draw bend unintentionally.

50 seconds of example practice.

What do y'all recommend I focus on as I practice this lick?

I have spent the last few months switching from lip pursing to tongue blocking and am surprised that it is coming along better than expected based on the the online instructions.  However, I can bend find lip pursing and get a good idea of what my tongue is doing to produce the bend but when I try to bend tongue blocking I'm not having much sucess.  Keeping my tongue on the face of the harp and working my tongue at the same just isnt working.  Any suggestions?  Thanks, Brent

It's just me or the session steel need a little more ufff and puff to play?

30 years ago, I was convinced I was allergic to being married.  My wife insisted I was allergic to the wedding ring.  I stopped wearing my ring so long ago that I forgot about the problem. continue reading...