Tip of the Day

Some of you know that I'm a student/teacher of martial arts as well. We just had our four-day test finish yesterday. At the beginning of each six-month countdown process that each group of candidates goes through before they test for their black belt you look at some of the physically and mentally unprepared students and think of how the heck are they going to make it. Time and time again, determination, focus and a plan of attack gets them through. For the extreme cases, they keep trying, and keep trying, failure after failure, and eventually make it. continue reading...

If you play harp, you carry one in your pocket.

Pocket lint does a number on reeds, so make sure to turn out your pocket and give a good shake before putting your harp in. Hohner used to make a thin vinyl case for their Blues Harp model and it was perfect for protecting the harp and not taking any extra room in your bulging pocket... eBay anyone?

Hohner's new formed cloth case with zipper for the Marine Band Crossover (same as the case Bends uses... harmonica manufacturer in Brazil) is form-fitting and smaller than a full-size case and can work. continue reading...

Your lips, tongue, shoulders, back and all other auxiliary muscle groups should not get tired when playing...

Your LIPS are just a gasket, all they do is create a seal on the face of the harmonica for air to not escape. If your lips are getting tired it's because you're confusing intensity with tension and most likely you're squeezing your lips when bending.

Your TONGUE just needs to be placed in the correct location in your mouth to tune your mouth to the pitch that you desire to achieve for a particular bend... no tension is needed. continue reading...

Here are the notes you would tape up to play in minor for these positions...

2nd Position: 2+, 5+. 8+, 3, 7

3rd Position: 3, 7

1st Position: Too many notes, try 2nd and 3rd! ;-)

Student Mike Cox and I were working on playing 3rd Position in Minor yesterday... specifically holes 4-10. As the study on the site states, you need to stay away from 7 draw. It can be challenging for a student to know where they are on the harmonica, especially when playing quickly while improvising, so here's a quick fix that I suggested for Mike. continue reading...

Work, family, "insert other life responsibility here" can get very busy at times and pushes out what little valuable practice time we have in the day. When life get's busy you go into maintenance mode. continue reading...

Along with the songs you know you can always take one of your jam track CD sets along with you. Blues Harmonica Jam Tracks & Soloing Concepts #1 (http://www.harmonicamasterclass.com/jam1.htm) and #2 (http://www.harmonicamasterclass.com/jam2.htm) are essential ones to start with. Jimi Lee's GroveTrax are also really nice (http://www.jimileeband.com/).

Take all the songs you know how to play from beginning to end and make a CD. If you have the jam track for a song, or something close enough to work, use it in place of the original. Take this CD and keep it in your harp case (make two if you have a home and car set... one for each). This way anytime you go somewhere where there's a CD player you can give a little performance as the situation presents itself (friend's house, party, karaoke, etc.).

Now take that same lick and try it with different jam tracks... slower... faster... change it from a shuffle to a rock beat... or a rock beat to a shuffle... etc.

This is a great idea for full songs that you're learning as well. I recommend that students try their songs to the matching jam track and then speed it up a bit too fast... and then a bit too slow... you can't expect to count a song off perfectly with a band each time... this prepares you for that. continue reading...

Now that you've placed the lick into all of the Chorus Form options, change it. Play the first set of notes... play the last set of note... play the middle set of notes... play the first set twice and then the last set... play the lick so that all or some of the notes are longer, play all or some of the notes shorter... add texture to some of the notes (the long notes are good choices)... move the lick up an octave. All of this melodic manipulation leads to creative playing and makes the most out of every lick you play. Students are commonly in a hurry to "complete" a study song. continue reading...