Tip of the Day

The first step of using a metronome is pretty simple, but many players forget it. Practicing is done best when done slowly. Start at a tempo that's slower than you think you need to practice... MUCH slower than the targeted tempo. Your goal will be to play the passage of music you're working on accurately at the slow tempo and then click the metronome one notch higher each practice. This is called the Metronome Method. continue reading...

The #1 challenge students are having with their LOA testing submissions is playing with a metronome... even the more advanced players. We "think" our timing is good until we play to with a metronome. Playing with a metronome trains us to make micro-adjustments every beat... tracking what we're playing and how it matches with other musicians... in this case a musician with perfect timing. So, if you're not already using the metronome as a daily practice tool, you're passing up an important training tool. Your tip today... use a metronome. continue reading...

Nate at "The Blues Room" just released the second part of two of our recent interview. It's mixed with some fantastic harmonica-centric music... I think you'll really enjoy it. Go to this page: http://thebluesroom.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/h-is-for-more-harmonica-maste... and scroll down to the bottom and click on "Download link for this episode: 387" to listen. Thanks Nate!

Part 1: http://thebluesroom.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/h-is-for-harmonica-masterclas...
Part 2: http://thebluesroom.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/h-is-for-more-harmonica-maste...

I asked my student Steve B. to make some flash cards to memorize the C Harmonica and the four notes of the I, IV and V Chords. He came back for a lesson this week and showed me what he started to do at http://quizlet.com... very cool free service. So, if you're looking to memorize something, this is a great way to do it. Thanks Steve!

Okay, here were are... sorry about missing yesterday... blues harmonica land has been very busy! I analyzed the wave forms in "My Blues" with Pro Tools and found that the most common rhythm was 5 tremolo or flutter pieces per beat... a couple examples were 4.5... so this confirms that they are NOT fixed to a basic triplet rhythm. The shake was 6 pieces (6 combinations of 4 and 5) so this DOES confirm that the shake is fixed to the triplet (in this case sixteenth note triplet) rhythm. This was a fun project!

If you listened to "My Blues" (Bending Study 4) very carefully you would have noticed that the tremolo, vibrato and flutter techniques did not lock to the beat in a simple way... like 2, 3 or 4 pieces to the beat. In other words, if a transcription artist didn't know anything about the harmonica, if you were to play your tremolo, vibrato or flutter as a triplet rhythm for example, they may actuality write the pitch that you're doing a tremolo, vibrato or flutter on as individual notes. continue reading...

Listen to "My Blues" in the Bending Study 4. Included in this song are Shakes, Flutters, Tremolo and Vibrato. Listen to the speed/frequency of each one of these and we'll discuss this on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Nate at "The Blues Room" just released the first part of two of our recent interview. It's mixed with some fantastic harmonica-centric music... I think you'll really enjoy it. Go to this page: http://thebluesroom.blogspot.co.nz/2013/06/h-is-for-harmonica-masterclas... and scroll down to the bottom and click on "Download link for this episode: 386" to listen. Thanks Nate!

Here's a quick reference guide for all of the material in the Levels of Achievement program:
http://www.bluesharmonica.com/sites/bluesharmonica.com/files/private/loa...

Grab a C and G Harmonica of the same brand and model. Take their blow reed plates and swap them. The harmonica with the C draw reed plate will bend on all draw notes... the one with the C blow reed plate will bend on all blow notes. These two special harmonicas will help you to focus on similar technique between blow and draw bending.