Tip of the Day

Did you know your study songs at BluesHarmonica.com help to prepare you for the most common blues forms, grooves and keys out there?

Form continue reading...

As your bending skills develop on the harmonica, your tongue and jaw learn how to dynamically tune your mouth to the pitch of each reed you're playing. When playing the 2 draw your jaw is slightly dropped and your tongue is lowered slightly in the back... for the 4 draw your jaw doesn't drop and your tongue is slightly (emphasis on "slightly") humped in the middle... and for the 6 draw your tongue is slightly forward in the mouth... all of this allowing a bend to happen the moment the tongue moves upward to start the bending process... continue reading...

Yesterday I stated that to fix note issues (airy tone, bent, squealing or stalling) you should lower the back of your tongue... tuning your mouth to a pitch LOWER than that reed's fundamental vibrating frequency and lower than the reeds ability to bend. continue reading...

I was at S.P.A.H. last week (not "the spah," but S.P.A.H., www.spah.org ;-) and I found myself often working on a student's tongue position to help them fix issues with their tone. The #1 issue was they had the back of their tongue humped up, causing problems with sounding notes and generally giving them a very weak tone.

Here's how to check it for yourself.

Go in front of a mirror... close your eyes... open your mouth enough to see your tongue position once you open your eyes... drop your tongue in the back... confirm that it feels correct... open your eyes! continue reading...

One of the great signature sounds of the harmonica is the shake (also known as warble or in classical terms a trill). This is where you play the 4 draw for example and move up to the 5 draw, alternating between the two, either fast or slow, depending on the affect you're going for (usually fast).

A clean shake is where you move from one to the other, never both at the same time... this is generally the primary shake used by players. continue reading...

Take a moment to watch fellow student Dr. Victor Yun in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPFty6B6Vxc

This is a good example of using one's expertise to share their perspective on the harmonica with others in their, and in Victor's case global, community. As a medical doctor and educator Victor decided to focus his energy in teaching harmonica to those with C.O.P.D. Thanks for sharing this Victor and keep up the great work!

What do you have to share?

This journey of a musician in an improvised music style is very representative of the levels of awareness students go through in their path to mastery of the blues harmonica. I love the metaphor, "When you do, come back again. We'll be around.” The idea that the music will be there for the student to play once they’ve matured enough to approach it is wonderful. Not only do I see my students' journey in this story, I see mine. continue reading...

Continuing in from yesterday...

13. “on top of the music”… where most new improvisers spend their time.

14. “inside the music”… awareness of all levels within music.

15. “what to say in the music”… final level of musicianship—a personal voice.

16. “full or rage—raw and ugly”… use of dissonance for emotional purposes (outside tones… such as those used within the Blues Scale)

17. “triumphant notes”… understanding of the power of chord tones

18. “happy notes”… Major Pentatonic for example continue reading...

Continuing in from yesterday...

8. “When you do, come back again. We'll be around” is a metaphor for the journey of musical discovery—the music will be there for the student to play once they’ve matured enough to approach it.

9. “listen to jazz records”, listening being the key element here.

10. “but you don't know how to play with people (he had been listening only to the trumpet player, and not to what the other musicians were doing)”… once a musician moves beyond their instrument, they’re ready to become musicians, not just operators of their machine. continue reading...

I'll now spend some time on the areas I footnoted.

1. “three to six every afternoon” represents the average amount of daily practice time for the serious student of music. Dr. Anders Ericsson, expert in skills acquisition, states that it takes commonly ten thousand hours to reach a basic level of mastery.

2. “scales” represent where a music student’s study begins, preparing them for muscle memory on their instrument of the patterns needed for playing songs and the basic ear training required for tune recognition and ultimately creation. continue reading...