Month: October 2009

Apprenticeship Series Harp Podcasts 

Great Blues Podcasts

Elwood 7 Comments , , , ,

Elwood's House of Blues radioElwood the Apprentice samples some juicy blues folklore

The problem with the information age is that there’s just too damned much of the stuff. With all this delicious info floating about in cyber space, who has time for real life? Instead of playing harmonica, I can fritter away hours watching harp on YouTube, listening to harp on last.fm, reading about harp on forums, thinking about playing harp all the time but never actually doing so.

This is a filthy habit, as I’m sure you’re well aware – but like most filthy habits, worth indulging in every so often. One such indulgence is this treasure trove of interviews conducted by the other Elwood, Dan Ackroyd, on his House of Blues Radio show.

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Beef Up Your Bends Harp Tips 

Beefing Up Those Bends – 3 Draw Bends

The Good Doctor 8 Comments , , , , , , , ,

‘Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are’ Macbeth (Shakespeare)

Blow Your Harmonica, Son!Brace yourself and take a deep breath. It’s time to face everyone’s worst harmonica nightmare – the three witches. They’re the three hole draws to you and me. As you are no doubt aware, if we exclude the overdraws in hole 10, this is the hole that carries the most bends. And they’re the ones we secretly dread. They never sound as strong as other notes or bends across the harp (even in the hands of the masters) and they never quite do what you want them to. I’ve heard many players camouflaging the reed’s inherent imprecision with vibrato or else they just don’t go there. Like the inconvenient pattern swap across holes 6 and 7, subconsciously we wonder who designed such a frustrating tuning system in the first place.

The message from the Good Doctor is deal with it. Embrace the challenge and don’t shy away. OK, our ears can detect the tonal imperfections, but so what? No cracked eggs, no omelette. It may be the weak spot on the harp, but it’s also part of it’s character and charm. Make it yours. So let’s feel the fear and do it anyway. Follow me.. (more…)

Announcements 

Harmonica Warm-Ups and Workout

The Good Doctor 1 Comment , , , , , , , , ,

Simple practice routines to improve your tone, tempo and breathing.

Welcome to the Harp Surgery’s Physiotherapy Department. The Good Doctor is often asked about ways to warm up, develop breathing and keep all those important harping muscles in trim. Well ultimately everyone has their own regime. The Doc himself oscillates between a good glass of New World Merlot and Marathon runs. And we all suffer from poverty of time when it comes to practising, but no pump, no jump. On which note, we are proud to announce the addition of our Warm-ups and Workout page to the Harp Skills menu. We like to think of it as our harmonica gym.

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Interviews 

Split Rivitt Archives

The Good Doctor 29 Comments , , , , , , , , ,

A rivitting read

Split Rivitt - Chris Warren, David Lyttelton, Dave Wilgrove, Barney Jeffrey, Mark Hughes

We recently featured a post about Split Rivitt, a largely unknown band from the UK’s R&B boom of the early 1980s. Our story recalls England’s 2009 Ashes Test victory over Australia, which reminded the Good Doctor of the BBC’s Test Match Special theme, Soul Limbo by Booker T. & The MGs. Just that is was an alternative version of the piece by Split Rivitt, replacing the original Hammond Organ lead of the original with a searing new Mouth Organ line. You can visit the article here and try the tune for yourself using the tabs.

Listen to

During our research we interviewed Peter Shertser of Red Lightnin’ Records, the track’s producer, as we could find out nothing about the band on line. Being the generous sort he is, Peter kindly promised the Harp Surgery team exclusive access to his Split Rivitt archive material. Well Otis dropped off the clippings this morning, so with our thanks to Peter, we are delighted to now bring you our ‘Rivitting’ scrap book. (more…)

Apprenticeship Series Reviews - Books 

Journeyman’s Road by Adam Gussow (Part 1)

Elwood 2 Comments , , , ,

Elwood the Apprentice seeks wisdom in the holy scriptures (of blues harmonica)

[UPDATE: Part 2 of the review is now live.]

Well, as I was saying – it’s the end of a Gussow era but not the end of the Gussow era. There’ll be no more free YouTube lessons, but there’s more Gussow wisdom to be harvested for the apprentice blues player – assuming you’ve not yet read Journeyman’s Road: Modern Blues Lives from Faulkner’s Mississippi to Post-9/11 New York.

“In the skilled blue-collar trades,” writes Gussow, “a journeyman is a way station and job category: no longer an apprentice, not yet a master.”

Well, there you have it. This delightful patchwork of essays, scatter shot and rapid-fire in their wisdom, chronicles Gussow’s journey to becoming a master – and he’s crammed in every titbit of wisdom accrued along the way. It’s like a little street manual on how to graduate from your apprenticeship and start the sometimes weary trudge towards mastery. There are threads on blues culture, threads on jam session etiquette and ‘sitting in’, threads on blues history and blues future. And the result is a palimpsest which, when held up to the light, might just give us new ways to understand ourselves. (more…)

Announcements Apprenticeship Series 

Gussow Calls It Quits?

Elwood 2 Comments , , ,

Adam GussowSo long and thanks for all the chops. Elwood the Apprentice pays tribute to the end of an era.

All good things come to an end. That’s what Adam Gussow said when he finally, officially called it quits on his YouTube tutelage last week (Jason Ricci retires with him, but in this case even JR’s teaching is dwarfed by the sheer volume of Gussow’s output since he decided, February 22 2007, to “give it all away“).

As a blues pup, having suckled at the digital teat of Gussow’s YouTube channel for a good 18 months, I couldn’t help but feel wistful to see Gussow move on — like I was losing a little piece of myself. (more…)

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