harmonica

A reminder to all students that tremolos and flutters should not be locked to a specific rhythm. It's common to receive submissions where the student is playing all of these at the triplet rhythm (three pieces of the tremolo or flutter per beat). This is mechanical sounding... they should float. A general rule of the thumb is to have them be slightly faster than the triplet. This floating quality is what makes your music sound smooth, and when coupled with dynamics, emotional.

Gary Smith, Aki Kumar and I were in the studio this last weekend and I was commiserating with Kid in regards to being anxious about being able to "bring it" for the recording. He quoted this phrase and thought I would share it with you...

"The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize." Robert Hughes

Margie Goldsmith for Harmonica Happenings (SPAH, Fall 2014, Vol. 48 No. 4): "What advice do you have for advanced players? What's the most important thing to for them to learn?"

Paul Oscher: "Don't try to play better than your peers just try to play better that yourself"

In this video snippet (Recording Study 2) I show you how to record to a study song jam track and reference it with the original track to check your rhythm: https://www.facebook.com/bluesharmonica

A student asked about the V-IV-I area (Bars 9-11) part of the 12 Bar Blues in regards to accompaniment. It's commonly an active area and he was wondering how to approach this area without grabbing too much attention (interfering with the vocals). Here are some general guidelines for everyone. Remember... no rule book exists, but here is what I have personally observed in my studies...

1) Playing Chord Tones is best

2) Repetition is better than activity continue reading...

In this study we look at software recording. I'll be using Garage Band, but the principles taught in this lesson will help you with whichever computer program you use for multi-track recording. This study is for all skill level players and no harmonicas are needed for this study. Videos include: Introduction to Software Recording; Setup to Software Recording; Reference Recording; Recording; Editing and Exporting; Closing to Software Recording

Harmonica player Will Scarlett has been described as outstanding, original, cosmic, visionary, unconventional and pioneering. Since the mid-1960s, Will Scarlett has played with a wide range of musicians and in a host of different musical styles. He collaborated regularly with guitar virtuoso Steve Mann and toured with folk blues master Brownie McGhee. continue reading...

Harmonica customizer and tool maker Richard Sleigh just completed his website redesign. If you're into harmonica technology and the tools used for customization, I suggest you check his page out, paying specific attention to the Archives at right.

http://hotrodharmonicas.com

Here's a little known fact...

If you play 2 draw and 5 draw at the same time (blocking holes 3 and 4 with your tongue... a standard octave embouchure size) you get G on the bottom (2 draw) and F on the top (5 draw). This creates a great bluesy dissonance that's used often by players.

You probably already knew this, BUT, did you know you can bend the 2 draw G down to F, without affecting the 5 draw F, creating an F octave? continue reading...

You of course have the "Share" portion of BluesHarmonica.com to share your recordings with fellow students, but here's another avenue to interact with harmonica enthusiasts... continue reading...