Tip of the Day

Today, review the mechanics of the PULL (taught in Tongue Blocking Study 3). Do some blow pulls and draw pulls... some blow slaps on the downbeat with blow pulls on the upbeat... draw slaps on the downbeat and draw pulls on the upbeat... spend a moment defining (as if you were teaching a new student) what the tongue is doing, what happens on the harmonica and what the resulting affect is musically.

Let's see how you did in your description... here's mine.

1) Your lips are over 4 holes (standard size)
2) Your tongue starts off the harmonica
3) Start to breath... as your air ramps up place your tongue on the lower three holes, leaving the rightmost hole open to sound. The end result is a chord that leads to a single note (tongue off... tongue on...). Saying "HALL" is helpful... the "HA" being the chord and the "LL" representing the tongue on the harmonica. continue reading...

Coming soon to BluesHarmonica.com is a Rice Miller (Sonny Boy Williamson II) Artist Study. In this study you'll hear about the technique called the "Pull-Slap." In preparation for this we'll spend a week getting ready for it.

Today, review the mechanics of the slap (taught in Tongue Blocking Study 2). Do some blows and draws and spend a moment defining (as if you were teaching a new student) what the tongue is doing, what happens on the harmonica and what the resulting affect musically.

If you find yourself getting off rhythm when playing with a jam track or band, you're too focused on what YOU'RE playing and not listening to the band. If you know the piece well enough to play to accompaniment, you know it well enough to focus your attention on the band and how you're fitting in time with them. If you're not SURE where you need to be in time in relation to the band, I recommend highlighting the downbeat notes of each chord change (downbeats of bars 1, 5, 7, 9 and 11 should do)... this gives you target points reference.

The general goal is to have your nose closed unless you want to have it open to take in or get rid of air in order to balance your breath while playing. Sometimes remnants of the learning process stay with us. Play a 2" and then release, still holding the 2. When you release your bend does your nose open? It shouldn't.

It's common for students to say that they have an extra-low ability to remember/memorize songs. To their surprise this is a very common comment from students, but as this book (or audio book at iTunes) goes into detail about is that the more you play the harmonica and dig into your studies the better you are able to hear, imitate and remember the details on the fly. I'm just finishing chapter three and it's pretty good so far. There's a nice description, interview and video clip regarding the book in the link below.

Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything continue reading...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/musical-minds.html

Get your 2011 calendar out and for each month write down the name of a harmonica player you want to learn more about. For each player research their name and learn about their history. Listen to the tracks you have of them and write down the keys of each songs, the harps they used and the positions they played them in. At the end of the month summarize your research and attentive listening by thinking about what makes their style distinctive and how you can use this knowledge to broaden your skill set.

Some players (or customizers on behalf of players) place material on the harmonica (most commonly on the comb) that helps you feel if you have the harp right-side up. A rhinestone, an inset dowel or label for the key of the harmonica are all good examples. One of the fingers of you left hand commonly touches the back comb of the harmonica while cupping the instrument... if you place it there, you'll know immediately if you you're holding the harmonica right-side up.

How many times have you picked up a harp and started to play and it was upside down! No doubt this is an embarrassing moment. What's the simple answer? What do all the pro's do? Every time you pick up your harp give it a little puff on the bottom (left side) of the harp. If it's low, you're good to go. If it's high, flip it over and breathe a sigh of relief that you're a member of BluesHarmonica.com :-)