harmonica

When working on an exceptionally difficult/fast lick, it can be a good technique to grab the book-end notes first.

Let's use the opening lick to Little Walter's "Off the Wall" for example...

If you focus on the the first note of the ascending passage you'll hear that it's the 2 draw. The next long-held note is 5 draw and then the last note is a 4 draw. continue reading...

I like using a pen when transcribing... the idea that it’s permanent causes me to take my time and confirm that what I'm hearing is correct before penning it to paper.

A turnaround lick with the last note... the 1 draw in most cases... changed to 2 draw will commonly work great as an ending lick.

Turnaround licks (Bars 11 and 12) are in most cases just a short lick (around one bar) with a 1 draw tagged on at the end. Go to Improvising Study 5 - Turnarounds (http://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/improvising_study_5_turnarounds) and take a look at those licks. With this in mind, grab the looped turnaround jam track and experiment with creating your own turnaround.

One of the tips to help new players create the vibrato is to slightly prebend the note before starting the throat tremolo (the motor for the vibrato). One you have a feel for this, stop this practice so that you can play that note in tune.

We work very hard as blues harmonica players to develop an air-tight cup to achieve a dark and bassy tone. A common issue though with an overly tight cup is a sound, that when placed into context with a band, is often too dark and muted. The next time you perform live or record in the studio, try relaxing your hands a tad to allow just a little bit of your cup to leak. You'll still achieve good volume, tone and bass, but some of the muted nature of your cup will decrease and the higher frequencies responsible for making your playing cut through and be heard better are increased.

For those that read the paper and watched the footage (http://youtu.be/I5kogDrivvQ) of me bending on the harmonica in the MRI last week, here's the story (four part video series) of the bending study with Peter Egbert MD http://youtu.be/I5ZjNUWnhgk

If you would like to see actual images of the tongue in the bending process (draw and blow bending, with both tongue block and pucker embouchures), read my paper on the bending process with visualizations from the MRI Bending Study I did at Stanford University with Peter R. Egbert, Lewis K. Shin, Thomas D. Rossing and Andrew Holbrook. Bending Process on the 10-Hole Diatonic Harmonica with the Visual Aid of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) by David Barrett https://www.bluesharmonica.com/sites/bluesharmonica.com/files/mri_bendin...

Some nice Junior Wells playing at the 27 minute mark...

Chicago Blues Documentary (1972)
http://youtu.be/EzAySaWy9sc?list=PLqCjLhOxHNnLzDFIHOc0F4E5oT-R-HR1c

In this lesson I'll show you how to record acoustic harmonica, mic a harp amp, do punch-in recording and edit multiple takes into one cohesive track. Many of the techniques I'll share with you are common to professional recording studios, just on a smaller scale. As a bonus, you get to follow fellow student Bill Bussell as he records his current study song ("The Tub"). This study is for all skill level players and no harmonicas are needed. continue reading...