Tip of the Day

On 3/1 I spoke about different ways of working your tapping foot into a new piece of music.

Why is it important to tap your foot?

It's the canary in the coal mine. If dangerous gases such as methane or carbon monoxide leaked into a mine-shaft, the gases would kill the canary before killing the miners.

If you're playing your song and your foot stops or stutters, this is your bodies way of letting you know that you don't quite know that passage yet.

In hour 2 of Science Friday's 02/10/12 radio program they speak with psychology professor and author of "Guitar Zero, the New Musician and the Science Learning" Gary Marcus. Professor Marcus started learning the guitar at age 38 and speaks about the science of learning and if there's a critical age range to learn an instrument or if there's still a chance for the older learner. In the second half of this program they speak of the science of audio and spend time on the CD verses Vinyl debate and about common compressions used for digital distribution such as MP3 and what they do to the sound. continue reading...

You've most likely heard that tapping your foot is a good idea while you play. You've also probably noticed that it can be hard to do, especially along to new licks that you're studying.

Give yourself a test... continue reading...

Apply the licks you learn into the Chorus Form system. Chorus Forms are the study of how great players and song writers use repetition to create memorable solos and songs that stand the test of time. Simply stated, students that do this develop their improvising skills exponentially faster that those that don't. For more information on this subject dig into the Improvising Study 1 lesson on the site.

Play them... often. Most of us don't have bands. The nice thing about having a band is that you have context for the songs you've studied. You also get to play these songs, at the very least, on a monthly basis to ensure retention. Mimic having a band. Make a playlist and once a week (if you don't have many songs at this point) or once a month (if you do have a lot of songs under your belt) hit play and don't stop until the playlist is complete. In the beginning I recommend you have the first track be the original and then the second track be the jam track for each song. continue reading...

It's common to have a new student that's been playing for a while come in for lessons and state that they're not where they would like to be in regards to their improvising skills. The first question I ask is, "How many harmonica instrumentals or solos have you memorized?" 90% of the time I get a quizzical look back, as if that were a completely foreign concept. continue reading...

Most harmonica players play too loudly. This causes excessive wear on the harmonica, decreases dynamic range during performance and often causes tonal issues (airy tone... slightly out of tune...).

Here's a fix...

Play a jam track on your stereo system. Set the volume very low, where you need to lean in a bit to hear.

Turn your amp on and set the volume higher than you normally do.

Now jam along! continue reading...

Supporting... spending your $

Helping... assist in the efforts of someone else doing something good for our community

Creating... taking the initiative to get it done

Our community is small, but dedicated. Make a difference.

Some subjects that I write about I'm an expert... something I have taught many times in many situations... the focus is to just write it down. Other areas I write on I am not an expert, and the research I do helps to educate me AND others. You don't have to be an expert to help the harmonica community by creating something new. Get started today on a project that excites you (and doesn't take away too much practice time... I'm dead serious about this).

Here are some Ideas for you:
- Create a listing
- Catalog something
- Gather historical data on an artist or artists that interest you continue reading...

If you're not interested in participating in something someone else is doing, then create something yourself. Do you like history? Are you mechanically inclined? Do you like working with databases? Do you like design?