Posted Wed, 01/28/2015 - 11:38 by David Barrett Admin
In our latest episode of the BluesHarmonica.com Recording Study series Gary Smith, Aki Kumar and I rehearse our harmony tunes together and I provide you with MP3 scratch tracks and PDF music/TAB for you to play along with.
Posted Wed, 01/28/2015 - 10:47 by David Barrett Admin
Chico Hamilton in "The Checkout" podcast interview stresses the importance of movement, specifically to "dance when you play." He states, "No one knows which one came first, rhythm or movement."
Posted Tue, 01/27/2015 - 08:08 by David Barrett Admin
My music instructor in college would often say for us to move our bodies while playing music, it helps with the rhythm. I sure have found this to be true through my years of playing and teaching. Though tapping your foot is a valuable tool, it's a fast muscle structure and can easily rush or drag without much indication to you while playing. When moving your body, the pendulum effect of the bodies large mass makes rushing or dragging less likely. Instead of your foot being influenced by your playing (faster/slower tapping), your body is influencing your playing (more consistent rhythm). continue reading...
Posted Fri, 01/23/2015 - 11:20 by David Barrett Admin
In our last handwritten TAB example I add standard rhythm notation. Most of the time this isn’t needed while learning by ear, but if you’re having difficulty with the rhythm of a particular passage it’s beneficial to take the time to figure it out (better to spend the time to own a rhythm than cower from it when it comes up in the music). Note that I’ve also changed the 1 and 2 draw chords found on upbeats to a “P,” which indicates the technique Walter is using to sound those chords, the tongue block Pull.
Posted Thu, 01/22/2015 - 08:37 by David Barrett Admin
I've now added what I feel are two important elements to a basic hand transcription... bar lines and chord changes.
By placing a vertical line after the last note of a measure (which in turn is before the first note of the new measure) you're helping to give a basic visual reference of where you are in time. Though you're not providing standard rhythm notation, which would show you exactly where you are in time, this is a good intermediary step when playing by ear. continue reading...