Tip of the Day

Hohner released this video today with Joe Filisko speaking on camera about the history of his harmonica customizing work. Check it out, it's very insightful.

Customizing Joe Filisko
https://youtu.be/SHBXPaWyrTg

Center your tongue and move it ever-so-slightly back (away from the harmonica) so that you're only covering two holes with your tongue. Again, focus on the convex shape of your tongue, there’s no need to use the tip of your tongue if you use a light touch. continue reading...

It's not guaranteed that a fast lick will have a movement pattern, breath pattern or both, but it's worth looking for... the discover of them can help make a fast lick much easier to play.

Your Tongue Block Study 3 song ("Gary's Blues") contains a great example in Bar 6 of Chorus 5. Note that each beat has you moving up one hole and coming back, all with the same breath. For the next beat you move down the scale and blow, then using the same movement. Rinse and repeat and you have the entire lick. This discovery will help you to play this lick much more easily. continue reading...

Fast licks can be challenging to learn due to the number of notes packed into a small amount of time. Difficulty is heightened with awkward breathing patterns or the addition of challenging techniques such as bending or note treatments (dip, cut, gliss, slap, flutter or octave for example). Students will struggle to fit all of the notes of a passage in time, and in their struggle they'll often unknowingly play a lick too fast in order to get to what's next in the music. continue reading...

Be aware that when a passage contains a repetitive lick, e.i., a string of notes that are rhythmically the same (such as a triplet passage for more than two beats), most players will have the tendency to rush. Knowing that this is common, when you approach such a passage make sure to feel the pulse of the music and hold yourself back from rushing.

The second part of Joe Filisko's informative radio show is now up...

Rare Early Blues Harp Recordings by Singers and Sidemen introduced by Joe Filisko - Part 2
https://www.mixcloud.com/PodKast/rare-early-harmonica-recordings-by-voca...

John Németh is featured in this month's Blues Blast Magazine: http://www.bluesblastmagazine.com/issue-9-17-april-23-2015/ You can see John's video interview here: http://www.bluesharmonica.com/john_nemeth

I often get asked where to purchase replacement tubes for an amp. Here you go: https://tubedepot.com
Thanks to Mark Overman for sharing this website with me many years ago.

An alternative to the Flutter Tongue is the Side Flutter, where your tongue moves side to side. I commonly see three ways this is approached...

1) The tongue moves side to side on the face of the harmonica. When the tongue is to the right, the low note sounds (D for example on the C Harmonica when performing a 1 draw/4 draw side flutter). When the tongue moves to the left, the high note sounds (4 draw in this case). With a light touch on the face of the harmonica and a relaxed tongue, the tongue moves side to side quickly, jumping between the two octave D's. continue reading...

Start with a slap and continue to make the slapping motion with a fully supported airstream (not individual pumps of air like that of individual slaps).

TIPS:

Most importantly...
1) Keep your tongue to the left. The most common error is to allow the tongue to drift to the center, essentially causing the technique to turn into multiple pulls. continue reading...