Tip of the Day

Here's a great one to have pinned up in your practice room...

“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm”

It's always interesting to hear about other styles played on the harmonica.
http://youtu.be/SJd2wGnwnw4

A student asked in the forum this morning how to achieve good tone while bending. I thought I would share my answer with you, it's a common question. continue reading...

If you're new to recording and don't own a microphone to place in front of your amplifier, you can use the Line Out on your amp. This sends a line-level signal (not powered, like the speaker out... don't use that) via cable to your computer. if your computer has a 1/4" microphone input, you can use a cable that runs from 1/4" (out of amp) to 1/8" (into computer). Though the tone of what you're sending doesn't include the sound you like from the power section of your amp, your speaker, or cabinet... it's better than nothing. Yesterday's tip was to use two amps for recording. continue reading...

The next time you find yourself in the studio, bring two amps to play through. Using a splitter or A/B box does the job to send the signal of your bullet mic into both amps. You can also plug in the Input 1 of one amp, and then with an instrument cable run out the Input 2 or Line Out of that amp into the input of the other. The studio engineer will mic each amp separately and will place a third mic in the room to pickup the ambient (room sound) of your rig, especially if it's a live (reflective) room. continue reading...

Fellow student SmokeJS has the following tip for you. The special mic he refers to is the bullet mic I had made for teaching mic cupping technique that has a halogen bulb in place of a mic cartridge.

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Bill Barrett - HOHNER Masters of the Harmonica
http://youtu.be/Lm_e2BZMbJM

Published on Jul 15, 2014 from Hohner Harmonicas continue reading...

The root of the tongue and pharynx walls are what move in the vibrato process. The tongue needs to be in a relaxed state as to allow the tremolo action of the throat (vocal folds) to move the tongue sympathetically... this is why it's important not to use tension in the bending process as one advances in their skills. continue reading...

The back of the tongue is used for articulation with all embouchures (it's the primary articulation for tongue blocking). This is commonly accessed by using "g," as in "ga" or "k," as in "ka." When bending this turns into "gu" and "ku." This is also the area of the tongue that's raised when bending lower-pitched reeds, like 3, 2 and 1 on an A Harmonica for example.

We're now to the part of the tongue that's not used for tongue blocking or articulation. "EE" is a good approximation for the movement of the middle of the tongue upwards in the mouth. The humping of the middle of the tongue is commonly the location for bending on the 4 draw and the first stages of the 3 draw (3' for example).