Tip of the Day

The key word yesterday was "gift," to "gift myself enough time to get bored." Our daily lives are full with responsibilities, so we naturally have to allot specific times for our various activities, with our practice sessions commonly starting and ending at prescribed times. This scheduling is part of what makes us successful, but some practice sessions should give you hours instead of minutes. When I was a teenager that was easy to do, I had hours on hours of time to do as I pleased. continue reading...

My most creative ideas come from moments where I gift myself enough time to get bored.

The faster the tempo of the backing (swing for example), the more repetitive Chorus Forms you'll use, AAA and AAB for example (listen to William Clarke's "Blowin' the Family Jewels," it's all AAA and AAB). The slower the backing, the more active Chorus Forms you'll use (listen to Little Walter's "Blue Midnight," the A B/A C Chorus Form is king in slow blues). So, the general guideline you can give yourself is that if the backing is active, you don't need to be. If the backing is slow and sparse, up your activity. As you can infer, it's about balance.

Translation...

When students start working on pulls (found on the upbeat), they forget to slap their other notes (found on the downbeat). This sounds strange... don't do this. The main reason why we tongue block is to use the slap technique, so make it your default... you should have a reason why you're not slapping. Next, when using other techniques, like the pull, don't forget to record yourself and listen back so you can make sure you're not forgetting to use your other techniques, like slaps, dips, flutters, tremolo/vibrato and dynamics. continue reading...

Most bullet mics are between 2-1/4" and 2-1/2" in diameter (the round holes in harp cases are 2-1/2"). Many of the cups and glasses in your house are this diameter, including standard 16oz water bottles. If you're new to playing a bullet mic, time spent with it in your hands is needed to gain a comfort level. You can of course play with the mic plugged into your amp, or unplugged (with cable disconnected if it's detachable) or even a household cup to create a mic analog. Either way, you're getting used to having that bullet shape be part of your harmonica hold.

Here's a simplistic, but effective way to incorporate your hands while playing. Go to http://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/solo_harmonica_study_2 and study Ex. 1.5. While playing single notes, open your hands. When playing chords, close your hands (cupped). Playing this way emphasizes the melody (louder and brighter in tone) and de-emphasizes the chording (softer and more muted/bassy). This accentuates the impression that two harmonica players are playing.

Tremolo is created at the vocal folds, opening and closing in a rhythmic fashion. This controlled muscle is also often used for articulation. In fact, it's the primary articulation (think slight cough) used for blow notes in post war Chicago blues (except for chugging, where the "T" and "K" articulations are more common). Though not common for draw notes, you can use it as well, especial for fast passages when tongue blocking (a lick in Little Walter's "Evan's Shuffle" comes to mind where I consciously used it, the 5 draw at 1:04).

Current blues harmonica players that can perform the vibrato well (Kim Wilson for example), choose not to use it to sound more classic. Since players like Little Walter, Big Walter Horton and George "Harmonica" Smith used tremolo, if a player is inspired by those players, they'll commonly choose to use their approach to tremolo as well.

Magic Dick shared this with me today. It's great to see players expand what the harmonica can do and the settings in which it can play. Thank you Dick!

Magic Dick & Shun Ng - Papa's Got A Brand New Bag (James Brown Cover)
http://youtu.be/yxAZ3YyjtPg

Students commonly ask what the best model of harmonica is to play, or at least what I personally recommend. This is of course up to personal preference, but the gold standard has always been the Hohner Marine Band. The current flagship model is the Crossover... this is what the majority of my students play and the model I play if I'm not playing my custom Marine Bands (by Joe Filisko). The Marine Band Deluxe is my second choice. continue reading...