Tip of the Day

Guitar Center's Battle of the Blues Contest provides blues jam tracks on their website for their participants to use in the contest. Score for us... free jam tracks! Thanks to Nick for letting me know about the newly added tracks.
http://gc.guitarcenter.com/battleoftheblues/tracks/index.cfm

It's no secret that most of us have a tendency to rush. The most common reason for this in the blues is playing the upbeat eighth note too early in time, causing the following downbeat eighth note to be played early and the cycle continues until you notice it... usually three beats in where you swear that the dang metronome is slowing down!

Here's a great solution... continue reading...

In this newsletter (PDF link below), we dig into one of my favorite 3rd Position songs, “Telephone Blues” by George “Harmonica” Smith (this is the b-side to the transcription we looked at in the last issue). I announce the 20th Anniversary Harmonica Masterclass Workshop (hope to see you there!). I’ll also share some very cool video and audio interviews of “yours truly,” and some great new interviews at BluesHarmonica.com with two of my favorite players, Kim Wilson and Mitch Kashmar. In addition, there are links to some cool new recording and Internet finds. continue reading...

This has nothing to do with rhythm, but it does have to do with a feature of some of your metronomes (and tuners). Grab your metronome and tuner and see if they have a feature for pitch generation. For tuners, instead of the tuner "receiving" sound and identifying it, it "sends" sound by playing a reference pitch for you. Here are a couple of scenarios that I find useful...

Bending continue reading...

My interview with Bill Henderson is now online. In this interview I talk about and play examples of the early innovators of blues harmonica (De Ford Bailey, John Lee Williamson, Little Walter, Big Walter Horton, Rice Miller and George Harmonica Smith), as well as the important players that came after them (James Cotton, Junior Wells, Paul Butterfield, Charlie Musselwhite, Rick Estrin, Kim Wilson, William Clarke, Rod Piazza, Mark Hummel, Gary Smith, Howard Levy and Carlos Del Junco to name but a few). continue reading...

Playing loud is the #1 killer of harmonicas.

Each reed is a spring... a spring that travels in and out of the reed slot 880 times per second for a 7+ on your A Harmonica (1,760 for the 10+!). When playing louder, the reed doesn't travel faster (faster vibration equals a different pitch), it travels farther. The louder you play, the farther the reed travels in its arc and places stress on the base of the reed (this is where a reed breaks... right at the hinge... near the rivet). continue reading...

One of the required tools in your practice room is a recorder... one that you can easily record with and quickly listen back to for immediate feedback. When listening back to your recording you're freed from the act of playing, allowing you to focus 100% on your performance... rhythm, technique, articulation, tone, etc. Listening intently to your rhythmic performance relative to the metronome will clarify where you're speeding up and slowing down so that you can adjust accordingly.

This just came across my desk today...

Sugar Ray Norcia Video from Little Walter Tribute
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKJhBBLBmOg&feature=youtu.be

On December 6th, five of the finest harmonica players on the current blues scene - Billy Boy Arnold, Charlie Musselwhite, Mark Hummel, Sugar Ray Norcia, and James Harman - gathered to pay tribute to harp virtuoso and innovator Little Walter Jacobs. All are featured on the tribute recording entitled Remembering Little Walter. continue reading...

The time signature for blues is 4/4. The top number denotes how many beats per measure/bar and the bottom number denotes which rhythmic value receives the beat (in this case, the quarter note... 1/4). It's important we keep track of where each bar is. The emphasis of many licks starts on beat 1... many rhythmic patterns (such as chugging/chording) are one bar in length... and this is where chord change happens, which influences how we phrase. continue reading...

I know it sounds overly-simple to state this, but start by tapping your foot to the metronome before you play to the metronome. Tap your left... or your right... or even better, both, one after another.

If you tap your left (1), then right (2), then left (3) and then right (4) you're now effectively dividing the 4/4 timing of blues into its base duple meter. continue reading...