harmonica

Our latest installment of overbend studies has just released, featuring Jason Ricci. continue reading...

Congratulations to fellow student Iman Rahimipour from Iran on the article featuring him in the National Harmonica League magazine (harmonica.co.uk), written by Patrice Rayon. He's achieved LOA-L6 and Beginning Instructor Accreditation at BluesHarmonica.com. You can read the article here https://www.facebook.com/bluesharmonica. If you like the article, you can receive the magazine by become a member of NHL for a small annual membership. The magazine is filled with good harmonica articles and happenings around the world.

Yesterday I shared some reasons of why I don't like volume controls. Here are some reasons why a volume control can be good...

1) Set your volume control to 10, and the amp as loud as it can go just before feedback. Now drop your volume on the mic to 8. This 8 will be your normal volume, even for solos (remember to play softly as your normal playing volume... you want to have dynamic range so that you can play louder for your solo). If the band gets too excited and plays too loudly, then you know you have two more notches on your volume to get louder. continue reading...

Why I don't like about volume controls...

1) The harmonica is a wind instrument... you control your volume with how much you breath through the instrument. Why do you need a volume control to control something that's part of the nature of the instrument? continue reading...

Once you've dialed in your amp to sound great for performance, turn the treble and mid up half a number. The tone we prefer is often too bassy and lacks the cut needed to be heard in performance. By bringing your treble and mid up half a number it provides a boost in the frequencies that make our sound more intelligible without sacrificing too much of the bassy tone we dig.

Listen to "In Memory," the song featured in today's release of Recording Study 4. The pitch content of what I played and the textures I used in which to present them are of course important, but dynamics are center stage in this song to convey emotion. The use of dynamics (primarily volume change) is what's commonly missing from players in their first five years of study. The addition of dynamics easily doubles the emotional impression on the listener... I can't emphasize this point strongly enough. continue reading...

The rehearsal and recording of "In Memory," the final recording for the It Takes Three CD is now on the site http://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/recording_study_4_professional_studio

Yesterday I was communicating with an experienced player that recently began studying at BluesHarmonica.com. He sent in a study song submission and one of my suggestions was to play softer. He sounded good, but I could tell he was pushing the harp louder than he needed to. He replied that he's been playing with a band for a while, which is what I expected. Here was my response. These points are important for amplified players to keep in mind.

---

Yes, playing with a band tends to bring your “default” volume up. Here’s how Little Walter did it... continue reading...

In Intermediate Student Ryan Walker’s latest lesson (Lesson 33) we presents his final Solo Harmonica Study composition, we start Accompaniment Study 8 on Hooks, and start Music Theory Study 4 on Melodic Development http://www.bluesharmonica.com/contributor/ryan_walker

In this video for "Recording Study 4 - Studio Recording" Gary Smith and Aki Kumar construct and improvise a slow blues that turns into the song titled "A.G. Blues."