Tip of the Day

Simply put... bending! Once you've presented the big sound of the chromatic with the use of octaves, fake octaves, slaps, pulls, flutters, two-note textures, shakes, etc., when switching to the diatonic focus on the use of bluesy single-note bending. Though the diatonic can present the same heavy textures as the chromatic, what the chromatic doesn't have (beyond basic dips and cuts) is bending, so making a point to focus on bending is a wise choice for contrast in your song. Listen to the two recordings again that I mentioned yesterday and you'll hear this approach.

Our most famous version of this is in the instrumental by George "Harmonica" Smith titled "Blues for Reverend King." In this he starts on the chromatic and then switches to the diatonic (C Chromatic in 3rd to the G Diatonic in 2nd Position). Listen to this track, along with my instrumental influenced by George titled "Dark Night" that I just posted on the BluesHarmonica.com Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/bluesharmonica). We're not just switching to the diatonic and playing... what are we focusing on?

West Coast Down Home Harmonica - 60's Harmonica continue reading...

The video recorder is your absolute best friend for bettering your skill set. After each jam session, rehearsal or show sit down and study what you hear and see on recording and make notes of how you can better yourself. Audio recording is fine, though sometimes without a visual reference it can be mysterious why something happened the way it did. In many cases, signals/cues... or lack there of... cause issues on the bandstand... and thus in the music; this can be seen and analyzed from the video recording. So, the tip... continue reading...

Yesterday was the School of the Blues Student Concert. Though students did many things right, ending signals were more wrong then they were correct. Here are some tips...

1) Looking back at the band (and scanning all of the musicians as you nod your head) around bars 9-10 works well. You can also say, "Here we go." This works very well, though most students don't feel comfortable making a quick break in their playing to do this (for harp players and vocalists that is). What's good about these two are that the band will play an ending with you, circumventing the issue of #2 below. continue reading...

Building on our conversation from yesterday... listening to your recording you probably also noticed your bends were louder in volume than your non-bent notes. Players still developing their bending skills tend to perform their bends with more volume, thinking that this will help them to achieve a deeper bend. Knowing that this is not the case, make a point to perform your bends at a softer volume in order to help them to balance with your other notes. Again, record and adjust... recording is the key.

Most likely you noticed a slight hesitation for the start of your bent notes when listening to your recording, causing you to play the bends slightly out of time... late. Now practice the scale and play your bends a split second early, counteracting the time it takes to set up for the bending process. The better you get, the less of an adjustment is needed, but this will help your playing to stay in time. Record yourself and listen to how much of an adjustment is needed. Recording is the key.

To bend a note on the harmonica requires that your tongue is in place to tune your mouth the desired pitch. Play and record the basic C Major Scale 1+ 1 2+ 2" 2 3" 3 4+ 3 3" 2 2" 2+ 1 1+... do this and listen to it. What do you notice for the timing of the bent notes... or more specifically what do you have to do to play them in time?

It's not the most talented students that become great musicians, it's the most tenacious.

Last week my tip focused around changing your car/travel harp often... you don't want to become really comfortable with one key of harmonica at the cost of not being able to play the others well.

My students and I tend to grab an A Harmonica as our gut reaction for a key of harp to pickup that's very neutral across its range (not too low or high)... rightfully so, it IS the most common harmonica used, BUT... again, we don't want to become overly dependent on one key of harmonica. Grab the G or Low-F for a lower harp... the D for a mid-high harp... and an F for the high harp. continue reading...

We all have a harp that we either carry in our pocket or stays in our car for that opportune moment to blow a little. If you're a busy individual, that harmonica may be the harp you get the most practice on. Change out that harp with a different key each week... you don't want to become really comfortable with one key at the cost of not being able to play the others well. We're mostly speaking of bending and some of the issues of how reeds respond differently on the higher and lower harps. So, a simple fix to make sure you're good on all your keys of harmonica.