I have a little brainstorm of an exercise that I want to share with you today. A way to explore scales or licks that could give your practice time a new life. The last time I posted, I wrote about putting some feeling
Read MoreG_Major_Pentatonic_Scale Earlier this summer, I got bored with practicing Pentatonic Scales. A few years ago, I decided that these scales would be my main foundation for playing the harmonica, and I don’t regret that decision at all. They are by far, the most useful scales I have ever worked
Read MoreTime Machines I like to think of some of my favorite things as time machines. As a kid, I was fascinated by the idea of getting into a time machine & walking into another world – like Philadelphia in 1776, or the New York Worlds Fair in 1939. When
Read MoreTags: Beginner harmonica lessons, Blues harmonica, harmonica lessons, harmonica practice, harmonicas and metronomes, metronomes, Rhythm harmonica
“It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing” You can take what you already know, tighten up the timing, clear out some space here and there to create tension, hit accents like you mean it, and BOOM! you catch on fire, your friends won’t know what got
Read MoreDennis Gruenling – Rocker Dennis Gruenling – Crazy Legs In the two videos above, Dennis Gruenling shows you what it looks like when your entire body is a metronome. Not a standard tick-tock metronome, but a living, breathing, rhythm machine that puts down a groove. Notice how he shifts his
Read MoreI grew up during the heyday of hot rods, and owned a few old cars that I had a lot of fun with. The problem with cars is they take up a lot of space and cost a lot of time and money. I gave up on my last automobile
Read MoreTags: Beginner harmonica lessons, Blues harmonica, Harmonica, harmonica practice, harmonica practice space
What you are looking at above is a photo of my new improved practice space. My goal is to do a short practice that uses: A time limit (7 minutes) Focus on one thing (the tab on the page in the practice journal) A metronome (using the metronome for the
Read MoreThe Power of Embarrassment, or One Good Reason to Teach Harmonica…. Last week I taught classes at an event called the “Harmonica Collective” in Indianapolis. I wanted to focus on a few things that I have found very useful in my own life and as a harmonica player.
Read MoreTags: Blues harmonica, Harmonica, Harmonica Collective
The Harmonica Collective- Indianapolis Indiana, April 24th – 27th, 2013 If you would like to do some deep work on your chops and fill up your tank with new inspiration, come to Indianapolis April 24th – 27th for the Harmonica Collective: Winslow Yerxa, Jason Ricci, James Conway, RJ Mischo,
Read MoreOCD loops vs Practice Schedules I ran across the term OCD loops recently, and I knew it applied somehow to me even before I got the translation: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder loops – when you start some activity and it keeps triggering you to stay on the merry go round. Like
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