Month: July 2009

Announcements 

Messin’ With The Kid

The Good Doctor 0 Comments ,

What’s this I hear going all around town?

It was a great honour for the Harp Surgery to receive an email from Junior Wells’ daughter yesterday, confirming the legend that the great Junior Wells was indeed buried alongside a tray of Lee Oskar harmonicas. In a recent interview with Lee Oskar, the maestro couldn’t recall the full facts from that sad day, however it is now clear the friendship he had with Junior was a very special one. Then most unexpectedly the Harp Surgery received the following astonishing e-mail..

This is to verify that Jr Wells was buried with Lee Oskar harmonicas. I know this to be a fact because I was there at the funeral. Mr Oskar also played the most beautiful song (solo). I have never heard a harp played that way before. I would like to thank him for being his friend and honoring us with his presence. The reason I know all of this is because Jr was my dad. I miss him everyday but his fans and friends help keep him alive for our family. May God bless and keep all of you. Thanks Jr’s Family

Reviews - Books 

Blues Harp From Scratch (ISBN 0-7119-4706-6)

The Good Doctor 2 Comments , , , , , , ,

Can you recommend a good book for learning blues harp?

I am often asked this question and the answer is yes. One I often prescribe is Blues Harp from Scratch by Mick Kinsella, published by Wise Publications. I remember its first incarnation, Play Blues Harp In 60 Minutes, which I picked up at a Johnny Mars master class in Brighton a few years ago. It was a pocket size manual and CD which, although brief and not error free, was actually very easy to get along with. It was well structured, concise and free from inaccuracy. Of course you could never really learn blues harp in one hour, that takes years rather than minutes, however this was a great little entry guide.

The revised and extended A4 version is great. As you would expect, it introduces you to the C major scale and breathing exercises straight away, before tackling Oh Susanna and Amazing Grace in first position. With the basics familiarised, Mr Kinsella moves into cross harp using the basic, bend-free, blues scale 2D 3D 4B 4D 5D 6B with more exercises. Two lovely blues tunes follow, Easy Street and Trouble Free Blues, both of which educate the newcomer in the art of chord changes and promote technique building such as glottal stops, short runs and repeated blues licks across holes 1 and 2. The tunes can be challenging at first, but they help to build important foundation skills. (more…)

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