Tip of the Day

In this series of tips I stated you should always be working on three things... technique, song and application. Let's focus on application for a while. continue reading...

As blues harmonica payers we spend a lot of time on low harmonicas. We get used to using more of the back of our tongue and when it's time for us to play a D Harmonica or above it can be challenging to make the transition to using more of the front-middle of the tongue for these higher harmonicas. When this happens, remember the Shee-Kee-Koo exercise in the Bending Study #1 lesson... this is very helpful in the refinement of your bends.

Try playing the first four choruses of the study song "No Sweat" (Blues Chromatic Study 1) with your 4-hole Hohner Little Lady... that song will be a great way to learn to play it in a bluesy way (this is 3rd Position by the way).

Here's Joe's response. I had it wrong... it wasn't a D Mini Harmonica!

"What I have is indeed a 5 hole harmonica in "C" tuned one octave higher than
holes 4-8 of a standard "C" diatonic. I do use it to frequently play in the
"modal" positions but 3rd position in "D" is my favorite. The 1 & 2 inhale
bends work reasonable well, 3 inhale is tougher and 4 & 5 exhale bends are
nearly impossible for me. I have always heard a rumor that Hohner made some
at special request of the Harmonicats and I do believe that I have seen them continue reading...

Did you figure out what Joe was using? Pull out your standard D Major Diatonic Harmonica and play along with the upper four holes in 1st Position (you'll need to know how to blow bend to get all of the notes). There's one note you can't hit though... 2nd Chorus... 4th Bar... it's the equivalent of the 8 draw (E in this key), but an octave higher. Joe has a mini harmonica, the first four holes tuned to the upper four holes of a D harmonica, and a fifth hole that has that E as the draw and most likely F# for the blow. A rare 5-hole mini. Did he re-tune it? I'll have to drop him a note and see.

There's some discussion on mini harps on the forum and Eddie shared his home video of Joe Filisko playing his mini harp in Trossingen, Germany last year. Here's the link: http://gallery.me.com/evconsult#100074 Thanks Eddie. continue reading...

Kinya Pollard (The HarpSmith) shows the differences in cover plate designs in his first lesson for the site. The main three are tabbed-vented (Marine Band), tabbed-non-vented (Special 20) and full-cover (Golden Melody). Which is better? That's totally up to you... it's a personal choice... try all three (in the same key) to find out.

Reminder to everyone that when playing acoustic, your hands should not be fully cupped... we want to hear you! The only time you should fully close your cup is in preparation to a WA (hand starts closed and then finishes open... and then stays open for further play) and when playing with a bullet mic (amplified). continue reading...

If your amp is modern and has a distortion/lead/gain channel, don't use it. Practicing with the clean channel makes you work hard for every bit of tone an amp has to offer... helping you to develop great technique. Too much distortion hides poor technique, is more prone to feedback and is inferior in tone to a tube amp that is driven with good cupping and technique. With all this said, the one nice thing about a distortion channel is when you're trying to play whisper quiet (sensitive neighbors, sleeping kids... you get the point) with a distorted tone, you can still achieve it.

Practicing amplified is a great way to develop your technique. It's very helpful to hear what you're playing from somewhere else (the amp across from you) other than yourself. Rule #1 is to make sure your amp is not too distorted... you don't want to be hiding your good or poor technique. What I love is if your technique is good, the amplifier will make it sound that much better! If your technique is not good (bleeding air into an adjacent hole = dirty, your embouchure is not open = wimpy tone, etc.), the amp will make it sound that much worse! A great tool.