Blues harmonica for dummies
(Book)

Contents note continued: Taking the time to make it happen -- Becoming fluent in the language of blues harmonica -- Getting in the blues harmonica groove -- ch. 2 Getting Your Harmonicas Together -- Finding Good Harmonicas for Playing Blues -- What harmonica you need to study this book -- What features to look for in a harmonica for blues -- Shopping tips -- Acquiring the Most Useful Keys and Types of Harmonica -- The most often used harmonica keys for blues -- Smashing the limits with the low and high keys -- Adding to your kit with a chromatic harmonica -- Using harmonicas in alternate tunings -- Organizing and Protecting Your Harmonicas -- Carrying your harmonicas around -- Organizing your harps when you play -- Keeping Your Harmonicas in Good Working Order -- Knowing the parts of your harmonica -- Protecting your harps from damage -- Keeping your harmonicas clean -- Servicing and repairing your harmonicas -- ch. 3 Deciphering the Code: A Blues Guide to Music Symbols --

Contents note continued: Getting to Know the Shorthand of Harmonica Tab -- Understanding Musical Time -- Beats and tempo -- Time values and rhythm -- Bars and measures -- The ABCs of Melody and Harmony -- Vibrations and pitch -- The notes of the scale -- Sharps and flats -- Semitones and whole tones -- Intervals -- Keys -- Scales -- Chords and chord progressions -- Using chord shorthand with I, IV, and V -- Shaping Musical Statements -- Phrases -- Verses and musical form -- Communicating with Other Musicians -- Naming the key of a song -- Counting off to begin the song -- Indicating tempo and rhythm -- Conveying a song's arrangement -- pt. II Doin' the Crawl: Your First Harmonica Moves -- ch. 4 Breathing Life into the Harmonica -- Preparing Your Body and Your Mind -- Relaxing and getting ready -- Aligning your posture -- Focusing your breath -- Adding the Harmonica -- Getting the harmonica in your mouth -- Breathing gently and deeply -- Holding the harmonica --

Contents note continued: Making Your First Musical Sounds -- Playing long, medium, and one-beat notes -- Repeating notes with articulation -- Dividing the beat -- Balancing your breath -- Chugging with train rhythms -- Whooping -- ch. 5 Moving Around with Single Notes -- Isolating a Single Note with Your Lips -- Singling Out a Note with Your Tongue -- Making Your First Moves -- Finding your starting hole -- Changing between inhaled and exhaled notes -- Playing your first single note blues -- Playing Your First Blues Phrases -- Moving to a neighboring hole -- Question-and-answer phrases -- Finalizing your musical statement -- ch. 6 Creating Blues Harmonica Licks and Riffs -- Combining Breath Changes and Hole Changes -- Taking your first step -- Extending the pattern -- Getting Acquainted with Licks and Riffs -- Discovering five common blues riffs -- Getting your licks in -- Building Licks and Riffs with Pathways -- Creating a pathway -- Finding short pathway licks --

Contents note continued: Extending pathway licks into longer lines -- ch. 7 Progressing Through the 12-Bar Blues -- The Three Parts of 12-Bar Blues -- Setting the stage with the first part -- Going somewhere with the second part -- Raising the roof and taking it home with the third part -- Relating Each Part of the Verse to the Harmonica's Chords -- The magnetic lure of the home chord -- The I chord and the first phrase -- The IV chord and the second phrase -- The V chord and the third phrase -- Dodging through the fast-changing chords of the last part of the verse -- Playing tunes to explore these approaches -- Shaping Your Statements in 12-Bar Blues -- Leading into the first beat with a pickup -- Starting after the first beat -- Combining both approaches with riff-and-vocal phrasing -- pt. III Beyond the Basics: Getting Bluesy -- ch. 8 Working with the Low and High Registers of the Harmonica -- Getting Low and High Notes to Sound Clearly --

Contents note continued: The dying cow syndrome in the low register -- Reluctant notes and squeals in the high register -- Unlocking the Power of the Low Register -- Making sense of the missing notes -- Working with the duplicated note -- Exploiting the strengths of the low register -- Demystifying the High Register -- Making sense of the blow-draw shift -- Adapting riffs and licks to the high register -- ch. 9 Modulating and Punctuating Your Sound -- Starting and Stopping Notes with Articulation -- Making "p" sounds with your tongue -- Forming "t" and "l" sounds -- Creating the "k" sound -- Combining "k" sounds with "p" and "t" -- Making cough sounds -- Adding heft with the diaphragm thrust -- Making Vowel Sounds -- Forming tongue vowels -- Shaping hand vowels -- Undulating Your Sound with Vibrato -- Tongue vibrato -- Throat vibrato -- Hand vibrato -- Combining different vibratos -- ch. 10 Enriching Your Sound with Textures -- Playing Warbles and Shakes --

Contents note continued: Doing the hand warble -- Varying the sound of a warble -- Warbling along a melody line -- Mastering Tongue Action -- Tongue-blocked single notes in Holes 1 and 2 -- Tongue vamps -- Pull-offs -- Tongue slaps -- Hammers -- Rakes -- Splits -- Shimmers -- ch. 11 Bending Notes: A Classic Part of the Blues Sound -- Acquiring the Knack -- Tuning your mouth and activating the bend -- Finding your first bends in the middle register -- Your first bending tune: "Fishing Line Blues" -- Moving to and from Bent Notes -- Stopping a bent note and starting it again -- Stopping a bend and moving on -- Your second bending tune: "All Choked Up" -- Mapping All the Bends -- Playing Your Bends in Tune -- Bending in the Low Register -- Hole 2 bends -- Hole 1 bends -- Hole 3 bends -- Your third bending tune: "Tearing and Swearing" -- Bending in the High Register -- Blow bends with a pucker -- Blow bends with a tongue block -- Hole 7 bends -- Hole 8 and 9 bends -- Hole 10 bends --

Contents note continued: Your fourth bending tune: "Wailin' High" -- Bending on the Chromatic -- The uniqueness of bending on the chromatic -- Chromatic bending tune: "Blue Blossoms" -- Bending Notes Up with Overblows and Overdraws -- Why bending up is useful -- How bending up works -- How to do it -- Overblow tune: "Sass" -- pt. IV Developing Your Style -- ch. 12 Playing in Different Keys on a Single Harmonica -- Introducing the Position Concept -- Seeing the benefits of playing one harp in many keys -- Simplifying the possibilities with the circle of fifths -- Relating the key of the harmonica to the key of the tune and the position -- An Overview of First, Second, and Third Positions -- First position -- Second position -- Third position -- ch. 13 Working Your Blues Chops in First Position -- Relating First Position to the Three Chords of the Blues -- Finding the home note and the home chord -- Playing over the IV chord -- Playing over the V chord --

Contents note continued: Navigating the Three Registers in First Position -- Screaming in the high register -- Cooking in the middle register -- Growling in the low register -- Bearing Down on Blue Notes and Bendable Notes in First Position -- Exploring Pathways to First-Position Licks and Riffs -- Three First-Position Study Tunes -- "Jimmy's Boogie" -- "Madge in the Middle" -- "Tear It Down" -- ch. 14 Accelerating the Blues with Third Position -- Relating Third Position to the Three Chords of the Blues -- Finding the home note and the home chord -- Playing over the IV chord -- Playing over the V chord -- The Three Registers in Third Position -- Wailing in the middle register -- Floating in the high register -- Flexing your muscles in the low register -- Blue Notes and Bendable Notes in Third Position -- Exploring Pathways to Third-Position Licks and Riffs -- Three Third-Position Study Tunes -- "Blue Cinnamon" -- "Sizzlin' Ice" -- "Low Kicks" --

Contents note continued: ch. 15 Playing Blues Chromatic Harmonica in Third and First Positions -- Why Play Chromatic? Getting Accustomed to Its Face -- The chromatic from a blues perspective -- The chromatic's uniqueness -- Third Position Blues Chromatic: Tongue Blocking Is King -- Adding body with splits -- Study tune: "Grits and Grease" -- Using the Slide -- Locking into tenth position with the slide -- Adding blue notes and slide ornaments -- Study tune: "Blue Bling" -- First Position Blues Chromatic -- Adding the blue notes and slide ornaments -- Study tune: "Bumping the Slide" -- Playing splits in first position -- Study tune: "Splitsville" -- ch. 16 Playing Blues in Minor Keys -- What Is a Minor Key? -- Making Minor Keys Easy with Minor Keyed Harmonicas -- Using Familiar Positions to Play in Minor Keys -- Adapting third position to minor keys -- Adapting second position to minor keys -- Adapting first position to minor keys -- Getting Hip to Minor Positions --

Contents note continued: Playing in fourth position -- Playing in fifth position -- ch. 17 Groovin' with Non-12-Bar Blues -- Strategies for Adapting to Different Song Forms -- Finding familiar chords in new places -- Mapping out the beats and bars -- Listening to tunes in a new form -- The 8-Bar Blues Form -- Mapping the 8-bar form -- Study tune: "Blue Eight" -- Noteworthy variants -- Saints Go Marching In Form -- Mapping Saints form -- Saints study tune: "High Water Strut" -- Second Saints tune: "All I Want" -- pt. V Taking It to the Streets: Sharing Your Music -- ch. 18 Developing Your Blues Repertoire -- Learning by Ear from Blues Records -- Developing your ear -- Figuring out harmonica parts from recordings -- Improvising a Blues Solo with Licks and Riffs -- Adding a New Harmonica Part to a Song -- Blues Harmonica Songs to Get in Your Ears -- ch. 19 Blues Harmonica Amplification: Making a Big Noise with a Tiny Little Thang -- Two Major Approaches to Amplification --

Contents note continued: Using sound reinforcement for central control -- Competing and cooperating with individual amplifiers -- Using Distortion and Avoiding Feedback -- Distortion -- Feedback -- Piecing Together the Amplification Chain -- Understanding microphones -- Choosing the right mic for you -- Developing your microphone technique -- Passing the microphone signal on to the next stage -- Processing your sound -- Using amplifiers and speakers -- Optimizing guitar amps for harmonica-friendly distortion -- Making amplification work onstage -- pt. VI The Part of Tens -- ch. 20 Ten Things to Know about Sharing Your Music with Others -- Five Ways to Collaborate with Other Musicians -- Finding compatible players -- Filling an instrumental role in a band -- Backing a singer -- Taking a solo -- Playing in a jam session -- Five Tips for Delivering a Polished Performance -- Preparing to play -- Looking good onstage -- Conquering anxiety -- Relating to an audience --

Contents note continued: Sitting in as a guest

ch. 21 Ten Important Periods and Styles in Blues Harmonica History

Early Harmonica History in the United States

Prewar Rural Blues Harmonica

Traveling Life and the Migration North

Memphis and Early Urban Blues

The Prewar Chicago Style

The Rise of Amplified Blues Harmonica

The Postwar Chicago Style

Regional Harmonica Styles

Rock, Blues, and the 1960s

Modern Blues

pt. VII Appendixes

Appendix A Tuning Layouts for All Keys

Appendix B About the CD

Relating the Text to the CD

System Requirements

Audio CD players

Computer CD-ROM drives

The Tracks on the CD

Troubleshooting.