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David's Tip of the Day: Exhale Before You Play

Posted Fri, 01/10/2014 - 11:42 by David Barrett Admin

Simple tip today... exhale before you play. continue reading...

Band Training, Part 11 - Quick Change

Posted Thu, 01/09/2014 - 07:58 by David Barrett Admin

I usually see a blank face when a student is asked by the the band before playing their song, "Is there a quick change?"

If you don't know, then say no... most blues harp songs don't use one... it's a safe guess. continue reading...

David's Tip of the Day: Band Training, Part 10 - Volume & Tone

Posted Wed, 01/08/2014 - 08:39 by David Barrett Admin

Tone is created by the player... with their embouchure (for a harmonica player) or with their hands for guitar, bass, piano and drums. Good players can play at a whisper-quiet volume with huge tone. They can also use a rig (mic, amp, etc.) that the average player may feel is lacking and make it sound glorious. If your rig doesn't break up until you have it set real loud, then tame it with lower-gain tubes or use a smaller amp so that you can drive it harder. continue reading...

David's Tip of the Day: Band Training, Part 9 - The Person

Posted Tue, 01/07/2014 - 07:38 by David Barrett Admin

Show up on time. Show up prepared. Be easy to work with.

This sounds too simple, but these are the main reasons why musicians are hired and fired.

David's Tip of the Day: Band Training, Part 8 - The Journey

Posted Mon, 01/06/2014 - 10:26 by David Barrett Admin

Replace the word "Jazz" with "Blues" and this is pretty accurate to what the new blues musician experiences. I've provided the text and my notes for your review to go along with your watching of the video.

"Journey Into Jazz" by Gunther Schuller
Narrated by Leonard Bernstein (1962)
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x15bpi_leonard-bernstein-journey-into-j... continue reading...

David's Tip of the Day: Band Training, Part 7 - Volume

Posted Fri, 01/03/2014 - 09:22 by David Barrett Admin

I've never heard the comment... by anyone... ever... that a band was too quiet. The usual comment is "the band was so loud I couldn't hear myself at all." It's also common to hear from those in the audience, "I think you sounded good, but I couldn't really hear you."

So, our rule of thumb...

While playing on the bandstand, if you're not able to follow the story the soloist is crafting or the tale the vocalist is weaving, you're playing too loud. The vocalist/soloist has to at all times be heard well enough that not only their strong notes come out, but the subtleties as well. continue reading...

David's Tip of the Day: Band Training, Part 6 - Listening

Posted Thu, 01/02/2014 - 08:14 by David Barrett Admin

The highest art of performance is to hear and react to what everyone in the band is playing as you play. If you're too focused on what you're playing, your ears close and your timing and groove suffer... along with your note selection relative to what the band is playing to support you (it's common for a soloist to play too light to a bluesy backing and vice-verse). continue reading...

David's Tip of the Day: Band Training, Part 5 - Endings

Posted Wed, 01/01/2014 - 08:15 by David Barrett Admin

This is the #1 challenge for new bands. At School of the Blues we CONSTANTLY work on this with our house bands.

The most common ending for blues is where the ending lick happens in Bar 11. There are two common ways to approach this ending:

1) If the leader (singer or last person to solo) looks back to the band at Bar 10 (the IV Chord) and nods there head or says "here we go," or saying something of that nature, then EVERYONE should play an ending lick. continue reading...

David's Tip of the Day: Band Training, Part 4.5 - Break Signal, Part 2

Posted Tue, 12/31/2013 - 07:48 by David Barrett Admin

Here are the two most common breaks used in the middle of a song: 1) Downbeat of Bar 1 - This is where you start your slow hand raise (remember, count of 4) in Bar 12 and drop your hand on the downbeat of the next chorus. You play for 4 Bars by yourself and the band enters back in on Bar 5 (IV Chord). A good example of this is George "Harmonica" Smith's instrumental "Juicy Harmonica" (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/filiskobarrettgruenling) 2) Downbeat of Bar 12 - This is where you start your slow raise in Bar 11 and drop your hand on the downbeat of Bar 12. continue reading...

David's Tip of the Day: Band Training, Part 4 - Break Signal

Posted Mon, 12/30/2013 - 08:54 by David Barrett Admin

This one is messed up all the time, but is an easy fix. Raise your hand to the count of 4... slowly raising it high over your head in an arcing motion and drop it quickly on beat 1 of the next bar. This "up slow" (4 counts) and "down fast" (downbeat of the next bar) is key. Practice this to varying speeds of music. More on this tomorrow.

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