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David's Tip of the Day: Openings, Part 4 - The Pre-Count

Posted Wed, 07/20/2016 - 12:47 by David Barrett Admin
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The common way to count a song in is to just count 1 2 3 4 and away you go. If the bandstand is loud and you need to get the attention of the band, use a pre-count. The pre-count is 1 (skip a beat) 2 (skip a beat) and then proceed with your standard four count. The end result is 1 . 2 . 1 2 3 4.

The pre-count is also useful/needed when the tempo is very fast and 1 2 3 4 is too quick for all of the musicians to get ready to play (the drummer to sit up on their throne... bass and guitar players to turn their volumes up... harp player to get their harp to their lips, etc.). continue reading...

What's New: Beginning Student Hob Bosold - Lesson 8

Posted Wed, 07/20/2016 - 10:35 by David Barrett Admin
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Beginning Student Hob Bosold learns how to count the band in, signal an ending, play accompaniment under a soloist and how to get back on track after getting lost. You can view his lesson here http://www.bluesharmonica.com/contributor/hob_bosold

What's New: Interview with Liam Ward

Posted Wed, 07/13/2016 - 23:39 by David Barrett Admin
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The first part of my interview for Liam Ward is now available here https://youtu.be/4kHXSLPxMis. In this snippet I speak about improvising.

What's New: *UPDATE* Performance Training Study 2 - Groove

Posted Wed, 07/06/2016 - 15:09 by David Barrett Admin
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Now provided in this lesson is a PDF list of famous songs that contain the grooves we cover in this lesson. For those that have not studied this lesson, join me and a group of the most experienced harmonica-backing blues musicians on the planet for a lesson on Grooves. Our band for this lesson is Rusty Zinn (guitar), RW Grigsby (bass) and Marty Dodson (drums). continue reading...

Gary Sloan - The man who introduced Blues music to Alaska

Posted Wed, 07/06/2016 - 06:59 by David Barrett Admin
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Here's an interesting short on Gary Sloan, supposedly known in Anchorage as the man who introduced Blues music to Alaska in the 1960's https://www.facebook.com/DODWMPW/videos/1081467821924832/

David Fullen LOA-L10 Performance

Posted Tue, 07/05/2016 - 07:08 by David Barrett Admin
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A big congratulations to David Fullen from Hilliard, OH for completing Levels of Achievement Level 10 Testing at BluesHarmonica.com! You can see his performance of original arrangements and instrumentals here: https://vimeo.com/173452298

David's Tip of the Day: Openings, Part 3 - Hearing the Tempo Before You Count

Posted Thu, 06/30/2016 - 06:57 by David Barrett Admin
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Last tip I spoke briefly about counting the band in. The most common error on the bandstand is to count the band in at the wrong tempo (commonly too fast due to being excited). The key point I stated was to hear the song in your head before tapping your foot and counting. continue reading...

What's New: Fox Chase Study 2 with Joe Filisko - Artist Studies

Posted Sat, 06/25/2016 - 18:17 by David Barrett Admin
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In this lesson Joe Filisko spends time covering the artists that have recorded memorable versions of the Fox Chase. Joe start this series with Henry Whitter, the first recorded versiob of the Fox Chase.

What's New: Hohner Rocket Low

Posted Thu, 06/23/2016 - 06:25 by David Barrett Admin
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Hohner has just released their low series of the Rocket model. Lower keys (below G) have only been available in the Hohner Thunderbird series. Though the Thunderbird series is great, it's also more expensive than standard-keyed models. I haven't seen any price points as of yet on this new model, but it looks like we'll have a low series of harps below the $100 price tag now. Here's a video demonstrating the new model https://youtu.be/0CgLsZ0O7as

David's Tip of the Day: Openings, Part 2 - From the I (Common Jam-safe Blues Openings)

Posted Wed, 06/22/2016 - 06:40 by David Barrett Admin
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Our first type of opening is simply from the beginning of the 12 Bar Blues Form, from the I (from the one... we use Roman numerals for chords). The speech will be as follows for "Need My Baby" by Big Walter Horton...

1) "G"

2) "Shuffle" (in this case with a Quick Change)

3) "From the I"

4) Count the band in and play continue reading...