blues harmonica

Join Joe Filisko for his 18 Harmonica Insights. Tip #14 is about failing.

Moving the lick up an octave we get the following notes...

I7 = 6+ 6+
IV7 = 4+ 4+
V7 = 4 4

and another octave we get the following...

I7 = 9+ 9+
IV7 = 7+ 7+
V7 = 8 8

Do you have your C Harmonica pitch set memorized? If not, why!?

Let's now take a lick that uses only root notes for its construction... an accompaniment lick. Play the following lick to a jam track or favorite blues artist track in the Charleston rhythm (fist note on beat 1 and the second note on the & of 2). The lick below represents one measure of that chord change... follow the 12 bar blues progression when playing.

I7 = 2 2
IV7 = 1+ 1+
V7 = 1 1

Here's an example based on what you did in yesterday's lesson...

Lower Octave: 2 2+ 1 2+ 2

Middle Octave: 6+ 5+ 4 5+ 6+

Upper Octave: 9+ 8+ 8 8+ 9+

Experiment with this... try to make your own licks and move them up an octave and see if they work.

Gary Smith continues his insight into songwriting with his blues harmonica instrumental "Minor Mambo," recorded live at Moe's Alley in Santa Cruz California for the Mark Hummel Blues Harmonica Blowout 2xCD set. Note that this is the song taught in his Artist Study lesson... a killer song!!!

Today's tip of the day comes from student Eddy, "Far be it from me to contradict you but my viewpoint is that the software program with the same title is more pleasant to use. I bought both and the content is exactly the same. You haven't to choose between Mac and Windows, the cd-rom works for both. There are two ISBN on the box. Here are they: ISBN-10 : 0-7390-6861-X and ISBN-13 : 978-0-7390-6861-8. Hope that can help." Thanks Eddy, this looks like a great option.

Those of you interested in learning more about general music theory... such as reading music, learning about intervals, key signatures and timing... I highly recommend you work through the bookx2cd set Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory Complete.