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Our next step is to tip our hats to the V7 Chord in Bars 9 (the beginning of the V-IV-I lick) and 12 (the last piece of the turnaround). The V7 Chord is D F# A C, making 6 A, 8 D and 10 A from our scale available as notes of the V7 Chord. continue reading...

In Improvising Study 2 you learned about Focus Notes. These are the most common notes to start a lick on, and are based on the I7 Chord (G B D F on a C Harmonica in 2nd Position). Now that you've worked on Focus Notes on holes 1 through 6, it's time to work them from holes 6 to 9. Improvise again to the jam track you played with yesterday and now play one chorus starting, or playing a pickup to, the 6+ G (Root). Then the next chorus on the 7 B (3rd). Another chorus on 8 D (5th). Then 9 F (flat-7th). And lastly 9+ G (Root again). continue reading...

Let's start a series on getting to know the high end of the harmonica.

Step #1 is to get used to the switch at hole 7 (where the blows are higher than the draws... thus why blow bending is available up there).

Play this lick 6+ 6 7 8 7 6 6+ all day today... 100's of times... and you'll be one big step closer to playing the high end well.

More to come...

P.S., watch the Gary Primich interview (http://www.bluesharmonica.com/gary_primich) on "High-end playing" when you get a moment... it will help in our discussion.