Week 2 - 12 Bar Blues

8 April, 2014

Afternoon:

I’ve been working on the tongue blocking harmonica method, trying to get it down.  I have periodic success, but cannot always replicate it.  Plus it is tough practicing at home.  Just yesterday, I was working on this in the kitchen when my two little baby (20 pound plus) kitties started staring at me, then circling.  They were emitting the low growling sound that I had only heard big cats (lions and tigers) make in the movies.  They stopped when I put the harmonica in my pocket, but they have been giving me strange looks ever since, and I fear for my safety. One little kitty trapped an entire family in a room last month, and they had to call 911 for rescue.  I have two kitties, and mine are much bigger. 

Tonight is my 2^nd class, and I have not worked on the song as I am still having issues making single clean notes.  Maybe I should have stuck with the kazoo.

Evening:

Before class, several of us got to talking and it seems we all had the same issues and same feelings about the class and what we had learned thus far.  We were all struggling with the same issues, and none of us felt real motivated. 

Our second class was moved to a different room, the sewing room.  This is a lot smaller, and more intimate. 

The class was also smaller this week, 3 less people than last week, but with the smaller group and the smaller room, we all communicated better and there seemed a lot more focus on all sides. 

First off, we were allowed to use the pucker method as well as the tongue blocking method I spoke of last week. And Tom admitted it may have taken a few weeks or even a month for him to get it when he first learned it.  We all showed signs of relief when he said that.

Tonight we were given some handouts on the 12-bar blues.  We were initially showed how to play it using single notes, then how to chord it, playing the first three or 4 holes, then sliding over one to play holes 2-4 (or 5) then back again. 

We also had a few more pointers on the blocking method and will all just have to practice and play with it until we find our own way of doing it. 

We all left able to play the 12-bar blues in some form or another.  We can all chord it (although most of us are slow, not that it matters, it is still the blues), some can play single note portions by blocking, and others can play it using the pucker method. 

I had a feeling of accomplishment and actually want to practice and play along with some recordings.  I wish this was how the first class had been taught.

Harmonica Blues

I took Introduction to Blues Harmonica for a couple reasons:
1. I had been playing with harmonicas since I was a child and wanted to learn how to play it.
2. The class was after my Ukulele class and I was already there.
3. I like the blues.
4. The cool kids play both ukulele and harmonica at the same time.
5. The class description sounded good, plus it was the only class that fit the schedule that interested me.

Here is the description:

We'll start by playing a single note cleanly, then move on to bending, warbling, vibrato, and octave playing. The common positions for playing in different keys will be covered, and diagrams illustrating the note layout of a basic ten-hole diatonic "blues harp" will be provided. We'll also take a look at the styles of the most influential players, including Sonny Boys, Little Walter, Big Walter, Charlie Musselwhite, and Jimmy Reed.

I was early, just coming from my ukulele class, and entered the class room. It was a huge dance room, mirrored walls, ballet dance equipment off to the side, a room that could accommodate at least 50 people. There was one lone person in the room, and older man sitting in a chair. I introduced myself to him, learned his name, found out he was from my town, and went to school with my younger brother. So, I guess that made me the "older man". Eek.

The other students entered throughout the next 10 minutes, there were 7 in total, 6 were new to the instrument (one entered as we were into class, he knows how to play).

The instructor, Tom, entered, got a feel for the class, and explained the system he was going to teach, , and it;s Blocking. He explained the benefits, the naturalness of its superiority over other methods, and demonstrated a little of it.

The objective for the next hour was to put the harmonica in our mouths, using our tongue block holes 1, 2, and 3, and sound the note on exhale and inhale on hole 4 only. He went around the room giving advice to each of us, gave handouts, I received one of the two, a chart showing the positions of each not on the C harmonica in the key of G. Tom then said "Real musicians talk in numbers, not notes. For example, we are going to play the I, IV, VI of G". And that it was essential for us to learn the position numbers of notes in scales.

We then continued to practice trying to play a clear note while tongue blocking. Only one was able to consistently produce a clean note (the young guy who had played before) the rest of us, as near as I could tell had occasional to no success at producing the clean note.

Tom then explained the process of playing each of the holes using the tongue blocking method, played Amazing Grace, and passed out a handout with the hole and wind directions for the song. He did say that he did not care if we came back next week and could play the whole song or not, he just wanted us to be able to play clean consistent notes using tongue blocking.


Now I'm going to be honest, I've taken a lot of classes and have taught more than a few. This was far from a dynamic class, and the best way to keep people interested in something is to give them a sense of accomplishment and something that they can utilize right off. You build off success. if people go through a complete class, especially the first one, and feel they have not accomplished anything, they tend to lose interest. I know that the thought of not going back crossed my mind more than once. I've also read a bit of harmonica and know there are other ways, and that tongue blocking is considered an intermediate level skill (not beginner) by many. So I fully expect to see no more than 5 of us in class next week. As for me, Im going to keep practicing and trying to get the clean notes using that method. Tom is the expert, not me, and I paid for his instruction.