Blues Chromatic

I have some basic guidelines about what not to do when cleaning a Harmonica that has wood parts.

I use a jewelry Ultrasonic machine for my Diatonic harmonicas, but do not do so with my Super Chromatic 270 Deluxe.

I wipe it off and use Mi T Mist to sanitize it.

What should I do after playing to give it a little cleaning and then having it set up to dry.

I am unclear how to use water and toweling.

Thank you so much in advance

Will

Sweetening the scale with C# - third of three installments.

So far, we've connected C# with E and D to the right, and to B on the left.

This time I'm going even farther to the left.

Before we start, remember the tab I'm using:

Hole number, followed by B for blow or D for Draw. Slide-in notes have a <, as in 1B< (Hole one, blow with the slide held in).

You may remember that the standard chromatic tuning has two C's - and, with the slide in, two C#s, side by side, in Holes 4 and 5, and again in Holes 8 and 9. continue reading...

Blues in E on chromatic - Part 9

Sweetening the scale with C# - second of three installments.

In the last installment, I walked your through adding C# to the E scale and moving between C# and E and then also between C# and F# (which, if you've been following the series, was also the last slide-in sweetener note I added).

Now it's time to connect C# to D, and connect C# to B, two other important notes in the scale. continue reading...

Sweetening the scale with C# - first of three installments

In keys like E that use sharps to create a major scale, those sharps are like sugar. And the blues needs a little sugar - a little sweet to go along with the sour and the bitter, and a little sunshine to contrast with the seductive darkness.

So far in the previous installments we've:

-- played a five-note minor pentatonic scale

--then added the flat five to make it a blues scale.

--Then we used the slide to sweeten up the sourest note- the flat 2, or F natural, turning it into F-sharp. continue reading...

I'm not a chromatic player, and I'm just learning music theory on this website. I just watched the Mark Hummel interview, and he and Dave talk about 1st, 2nd, and 3rd position on a chromatic. I'm confused. I think of a chromatic as a piano: it has all the sharps and flats on it without a need to bend. Are 2nd and 3rd position on a chromatic just playing in G and D? Or can you play a song in a different key and a different position? IE, can you play a song in E in first position or second position on a chromatic?

Part 7 – Sweetening Avoid Note #1 – third of three parts

Over the last two installments I’ve been showing you how to avoid the sour note F (Draw 2) by raising it to F# with the slide, and moving to and from this note.

In this installment I’ll walk you through connecting F# to notes located one hole to the right: A (slide-out draw note) and G (slide-out blow note).

Tab review: Hole number, breath, slide

4B = Hole 4 Blow (no slide) 3D< = Hole 3, Draw, Slide pressed in

So far you’ve connected F#, or 2D< with: continue reading...

Part 6 – Sweetening Avoid Note #1, second third

Last installment you started using the slide to get the note F#, sweetening up the sour note F. You approached and left the F# (a slide-in draw note) via E (slide-out blow note in the same hole.)

In this installment you’ll start connecting F# with D, the slide-out draw note to the left. (in the next installment, you’ll connect F# to A and G, the notes one hole to the right.

To get started, move between the notes D and F in Holes 1 and 2:

1D – 2D – 1D – 2D (etc.) continue reading...

Part 5 – Sweetening Avoid Note #1, first third

If you’ve been following the previous installments, you’ve learned to play the E minor blues scale on chromatic, including one slide-in blue note (B-flat, the flat 5).

The slide can help you sweeten up a couple of sour-sounding notes that will expand your palette of sounds when you play in E. Both these notes sound very sour in a blue context. continue reading...

So far I've:

-- showed you the two most important notes in the key of E (E in Blow 2, and B in Draw 4),
-- found some usable surrounding notes for each of them
-- then connected them into a five-note scale.

Now let's put the slide into play to add an important blue note -- the flat 5 -- and create a blues scale in the process.

NOTE: Shorthand for a slide-in note is <. For instance: 3D< Is hole 3, draw note played with the slide pressed in. continue reading...

In the first two installments, you found the tonic (home) note E and the dominant note B and played them over a 12-bar progression.

In Part 2 you found clusters of neighboring notes that were in adjacent holes and played in the same breath direction:

Tonic note: Blow 2 (E) and neighboring Blow 3 (G)

Dominant note: Draw 4 (B) and neighboring Draw 3 (A) and Draw 5 (D).

Now it's time to connect those two clusters of notes into a 5-note scale.

Try playing this sequence:

Blow 2 -> Blow 3 - > (play these notes on a single continuous blow breath) continue reading...