Tip of the Day

An enjoyable hour of popular music narrated by The Archivist (Roger Trobridge) from the 1960's containing harmonica https://www.mixcloud.com/PodKast/popular-harmonica-recordings-after-1962-a-personal-view/

Last week's tip focused on how repetition is the key element in making your improvising and songwriting memorable. Here are a few examples of famous classic blues harmonica instrumentals... note that repetition plays the key role in making the head (the opening 12 Bars) memorable. This happens just as much with modern instrumentals, but you most likely already have these songs in your collection for convenience of review. continue reading...

How do you tell the listener that what you're playing is important?... you repeat it.

If you're not using repetition, you're telling the listener that what you're playing is not worth remembering.

If it's not worth remembering, then it's forgettable.

Who wants to play music that's forgettable?

Sometimes students change the angle of their harmonica to perform a technique, feeling that the change helps them. Resist the urge to do this, your goal is to use the same angle of attack on the harmonica pretty much all the time.

What angle do I recommend? continue reading...

If you're interested in the development of recording technology (microphones, recording media, studio layout and mixing) you may like "Sessions with Sinatra: Frank Sinatra and the Art of Recording"

We currently have three resources for casual reading about the harmonica...

1) Harmonicas, Harps and Heavy Breathers: The Evolution of the People's Instrument by Kim Field

2) Blues with a Feeling: The Little Walter Story by Tony Glover, Scott Dirks and Ward Gaines

3) The Encyclopedia of the Harmonica by Peter Krampert

Pete has a public Facebook page for the Encyclopedia of the Harmonica (https://www.facebook.com/groups/321140011413686) and posts daily facts about the harmonica from his "Harmonica Almanac."

Once a player develops good bending chops on one key of harmonica their next goal is to gain proficiency on all keys of harmonica. A simple way to do this is to take a challenging bending song that you can do well on one key of harmonica (a song that preferably uses both deep and half step bends, such as the Bending Study 5 song "Half Steppin'," which has every bend represented on holes 1 through 6 of the harmonica in the first chorus!) and play it in all twelve keys. continue reading...

Overbend instructor Ross Garren just released an interview with Mark Hummel here http://www.rossgarren.com/interviews

A common question I get asked is how fast 4/4 time is. The 4/4 at the beginning of a line of music doesn't indicate the tempo of a song, it indicates how many beats are in a bar (4 in this case) and which note value receives the beat (quarter note in this case). This 4/4 is what's known as the Time Signature.

Tempo is up to the player, even when playing a known song. continue reading...

Today is the official release of "We do it out of Love," a tribute album to the 94 year old legend Toots Thielemans. Featured players are Franco Luciani, Antonio Serrano, Alex Rossi, Olivier Ker Ourio, Gabriel Grossi and Grégoire Maret. For those interested in jazz chromatic, you may find this to be your new favorite CD.

Available at iTunes, Amazon or wedoitoutoflove@gmail.com. Sample here: https://youtu.be/yTAugWXghHg