General Discussion

While on vacation recently I came across a brand new Sonny Terry CD for 4 Euros so grabbed it. I'm reasonably familiar with Sonny Terry having bought a Sonny and Brownie album more than 40 years ago and being a Joe Filisko fan. The whoopin' and hollerin' thing still eludes me though. Sonny sings quite a bit and has a really good blues voice. Was there something about the 30's and 40's that made the falsetto and its variations popular? Was it a fad? Was Sonny doing something through the harmonica that was a display of unusual technique? 

Hey harpers,

I'm new to this website and so far I'm loving it. I just wanted to share this video with the community. It's about Robbie Robertson (Canadian musician, Bob Dylan's guitarist) talking about the day he met Sonny Boy Williamson II. The story in general is amazing, but what really gripped me was the racial question it brought up. It was quite sad. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90-O6c20PLk continue reading...

Though the music Stevie Wonder plays may not be strictly blues, his harmonica playing is a great inspiration to me.

I never found any interview with him specifically on harmonica technique and improvising.

His playing and comping is amazing, e.g some live performances with Sting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu9R4egeg_I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnZgNYoZkeU

Any chance at all that David Barrett could ask him a few questions?

I was fortunate to have been asked to assist with a video project by a friend for a video that was being created. The discovery of a missing WW2 airplane in a remote part of Vancouver Island  initiated the concept of the project by Nick Versteeg, a local videographer. 

  continue reading...

Hi everyone. Does anyone have any experience with recording on the Audacity application? Ive been messing around with levels and my mic, but the harmonica still sounds really buzzy and awful. I think that I might need a better mic as the one that im using is a very cheap webcam :( Would be great to hear from you if you know anything about this. Thanks!

I hear reference to Artist Studies but cannot find them on the site.  Could someone please direct me?  Thanks!

WHat a great set of videos by David and Mark. Informative and to the ppoint. Loved it!! Big time thanks to Mark and David for putting this series together.

Hi Folks,

I'm trying to sing and play the harp with Willie Dixon's "Bring it on home". Does anyone know a playalong or karaoke/jamversion, which I could buy?

Hi there,

so I had this "Hohner special 20 in key C" few months ago, on my way to learn more about music production and step inside this magnificent world that someday i can at least make covers for my favorite bands/artists.

I picked harmonica 'cause it's almost the cheapest music instrument and "i thought" it's easy to play with, and of course 'cause i love rock, blues and jazz. continue reading...

I have two low F harps (Seydel Session Steel, and a Lee Oskar that just showed up in the mail today). I know it will get used for one of the LOA study songs. I enjoy chording and noodling on the low F, however I don't know any actual songs that use it. Would anybody know of songs they could recommend that uses the low F?

Thanks

Brian