Tip of the Day

One of the best compilations of post-war blues harmonica recordings.

Harmonica Classics, Blues Masters Volume 4
http://www.bluebeatmusic.com/product_info.php?products_id=5060

1. Juke - Little Walter
2. Ends and Odds - Jimmy Reed
3. Rocket 88 - James Cotton
4. Help Me - Sonny Boy Williamson II
5. Messin' With the Kid - Junior Wells
6. Blues With a Feeling - Paul Butterfield
7. Sugar Coated Love - Lazy Lester
8. Steady - Jerry McCain
9. I'll Be Around - Howlin' Wolf
10. I Was Fooled - Billy Boy Arnold
11. Take a Little Walk With Me - Big John Wrencher continue reading...

Today starts a series of what I feel are the "essential" harmonica recordings to have in your collection. We'll start the series in the beginning... what we call Pre-War Blues Harmonica.

Harmonica Blues, Great Harmonica Performances of the 1920's & 30's (Yazoo 1053)
http://www.bluebeatmusic.com/product_info.php?products_id=9186

Fellow student Taylor Ward (thanks Taylor) reminded me of the jam tracks that Dennis Gruenling sells for harp players. Each essential groove is provided, in ALL keys... very cool. You can either buy individual tracks or sets. More info here: http://badassharmonica.com/jam/

A fellow student shared this with me and it hits home for the practicing musician. P.S., Kenny has a well-received book in the market titled "Effortless Mastery."

A Master Class in Jazz Performance and Creativity with Pianist Kenny Werner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un3p614XExc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

At Steve Baker's Harmonica Masters Workshops I met Ivan Saric. Ivan has an interesting hand technique where he's able to cover all sources of air around the harmonica and then with the release of a finger (see picture 7) the air rushes through hole 10, sounding hole 10 as the other notes he's playing. Interesting effect. Take a look at the pictures on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/bluesharmonica

Part 2 of Steve Baker, Joe Filisko and I speaking of the Marine Band Harmonica is now available...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PydwiDH-s0

I'm at Steve Baker's Harmonica Masters Workshop on lunch break preparing for my concert tonight. The last thing I do is check tempos. The #1 mistake made by performers is to count the song in too fast or slow. If you count it in too fast then you're playing catch-up the entire song... causing more mistakes to happen if it's a technically challenging song to play. If you count too slowly, then the song lacks drive... it drags.

So, the answer... continue reading...

Your Tip of the Day comes from one of the students of the Harmonica Masters Workshops, Hendrik Sudhaus. Pictured here (http://www.facebook.com/bluesharmonica) is his green bullet mic (Shure 520) fitted with a standard female 1/4" output connector. Instead of having an on-off switch or volume control installed he adapted the use of this Planet Waves cable that has the switch built in. He said that it doesn't make a popping noise when engaged and the cable has a lifetime waranty. Thank you Hendrik for this cool tip.

For a travel set of harmonica, five keys of harmonica will take care of the job in most situations... G, A, B-flat, C and D.

G - 1st Position = G / 2nd Position = D / 3rd Position = A
A - 1st Position = A / 2nd Position = E / 3rd Position = B
B-flat - 1st Position = B-flat / 2nd Position = F / 3rd Position = C
C - 1st Position = C / 2nd Position = G / 3rd Position = D
D - 1st Position = D / 2nd Position = A / 3rd Position = E continue reading...

I'm off to the Harmonica Masters Workshops (http://www.harmonica-masters.de/en/concept/) in Trossingen, Germany... see you all when I get back in a week's time!