harmonica

El Watson Train Imitation Lesson with Joe Filisko is now up under the "Train Imitation Study 2 - Artist Studies"

The dip is a technique used often by harmonica players, but is a technique that sometimes draws confusion for new players. To define the dip... this is where we start a note bent and then release it quickly to the intended pitch. This is similar to a vocalist swooning into a note for dramatic effect. For example, a 4 draw can be presented by playing 4' D-flat and then quickly releasing up to its natural pitch 4 D. The dip is generally a fast technique, though it can be drawn out in a slow blues for a more dramatic, bluesy effect. continue reading...

Start your song and turn on your metronome. Adjust the metronome until it sounds like you're in the ballpark. Stop the metronome and start it again exactly on the first beat of a bar. If it seems fast, slow it down a smidgen, stop it again and start it on the downbeat of the next bar. Repeat this process until you find a tempo that matches the band for around two bars (these are live musicians, you won't get the metronome to stay with the band any longer than that).

Our best tool for bettering our playing is to record ourselves and listen back with a critical ear. If you use this tool correctly, by the time you send your final recording of a study song to me, it should be pretty dialed in. I shouldn’t be making comments about missed notes, they should be more about technique, tone and approach. When listening back to your recording, use your finger to follow along with the provided music/TAB and mark areas that need improvement. continue reading...

I had an opportunity to see Steve perform at the World Harmonica Festival five years ago. Steve's a very innovative player and super-nice guy.

Steven De bruyn - HOHNER Masters of the Harmonica
http://youtu.be/aXLXE4OIfcQ

Use more repetition. Students have a tendency to play lick-after-lick, not presenting a central idea for each chorus. This gut reaction is from the feeling that a solo should be exciting and full of fireworks. This may create an exciting solo for one or two choruses, but by the third chorus, or third song in that set, it gets old. Repetition is the only tool we have to tell the listener that something is important. By not using repetition, you're telling the listener that nothing you're playing is worth remembering. continue reading...

Use more space in your playing. Most of us have a tendency to over-play, especially when excited or trying to play a burning solo. Space not only gives the other musicians an opportunity to uplift what you're playing (by playing fills and pickups to chord change for example), but also provides the listener with the space to digest what you played so they can appreciate when you repeat, use variation or move away.

Today starts a series of observations from working with students at last weekend's Harmonica Masterclass Workshop.

Vocabulary continue reading...

Once you complete these Study Songs...

1) Tongue Block Study 1 "Walk with Me"
2) Bending Study 2 "Feelin' for the Blues"
3) Bending Study 2.5 (Repertoire Builder) "Take It Easy Now"
4) Bending Study 4 "My Blues" continue reading...

Released today on YouTube is Rick Estrin's video interview for the "HOHNER Masters of the Harmonica" series, recorded at last year's Word Harmonica Festival in Trossingen, Germany. Rick Estrin - HOHNER Masters of the Harmonica http://youtu.be/IXHrhVBSS_s