There are different kinds of guitar players

I got to jam! Well, not really in a jam session, but at least a real taste.

At our church's annual retreat weekend, we usually have a couple guitar and fiddle players to have a porch-jam of folk songs. This year, the usual guitar crowd wasn't there.

Finally I found a guitar player from a sister church in the lounge, playing by himself. He had song books like James Taylor. I grabbed my C harp and the Harmonica Americana book. We tried playing together, but he didn't seem to be just playing chords, so I got a weak accompaniment. Perhaps he was trying to play 'lead' and not 'rhythm'. Assuming he was more interested in contemporary songs, I suggested "Blowing in the Wind", which he as able to put together some chords to.

But feeling that the chords needed help, he led me over to another gentleman in the middle of the main meeting area. He asked about what chords to play, and the other man, Rick, suggested D to complement my C-key playing. He confused both of us (although now I think he may have been thrown off by the fact I was not starting with a C note).

Rick ended up grabbing the guitar a couple times, finally hanging on to it and playing a couple songs. The lyrics to one were really cool, but I was too busy listening to the guitar to remember. I was also busy trying out some fills at the ends of his lines. And then he'd just play and let me go.

God, I can't tell you what I played! Mostly 2 and 3 draws, simple 'horn' lines in rhythm with the guitar, plus some fills. No extended solo, no fancy tonguing, and I felt my playing lacked the conviction of self-confidence. But the 'clunkers' were few, and I was happy about that. It was hard to determine where he was in the blues progression most of the time, as that's usually defined by the rhythm section.

Afterwards Rick said I did good and that I sound great. He really impressed me as a person...he listened, he encouraged, and he was sincerely interested. Made him into a role model right away.

Oh, and he said that he learned some harp basics from Charlie 'CD' Musselwhite. He did some other naming of favorites and recommended I check out John Hammond's acoustic stuff.

The other guitar player later said that Rick is in a band that plays weekly. Gotta be cool coming from the Chicago area, huh?

The DVD is great, too

I mentioned in my last post that I thought the Basic Blues Harmonica Method DVD that accompanied my 'beginner's set' from Harmonica Masterclass would follow the corresponding book. It doesn't, and that's great.

Instead I find David Barrett talking to me in a very conversational tone about a lot of the mechanics of harp playing. It's not a 'play along' lesson, but more of a classroom lecture. Production quality isn't the best, but the audio is, making hearing the subtle articulation changes easy to distinguish. David seems almost too relaxed, but soon I was impressed with his knowledge and ability to teach.

Being a 'straight-harp' player for a couple years, I was surprised at how worthwhile his discussion was, even if it wasn't all new to me. Especially new (first found in the First Lessons book) was the 'tilted embouchure', which I hope helps fix my very weak 1-draw and 2-draw. Discussions of articulation were also helpful, as that is something I haven't really thought much about up till now.

I can play blues! Finally!

I've followed the classic routes of Jon Gindick and Jerry Portnoy blues harmonica material. I say classic in that everywhere I read online, people pointed at these. In the end, they made me feel like I was going to end up a straight harp player the rest of my life. Portnoy's 3-CD set focuses exclusively on technique, while Jon assumes that the reader has some comfort in 'playing what you feel'. I learned a number of Jon's licks, but had no comfort in playing them alongside a jam-track. My gut would sting everytime he we would play and I had no idea what he was doing on the "Rock-and-Blues Harmonica" CD.

Finally, I think I have the right book in front of me. I just ordered a whole 'beginners set' from Harmonica MasterClass. I've only started on "First Lessons Blues Harmonica Book/CD", but wow! Dave Barrett skips right to playing along with 12-bar segments, even avoiding 2-draws at first to make it easy on real beginners. Playing along with these segments is fun...I'm actually moving with the beat and sensing when I should come in. The instruction material is almost spartan, but he makes what you are supposed to do clear (unlike the Instant Piano guy on PBS that takes half an hour to get to the revelation that the left hand plays chords and the right plays the melody).

The lessons expain different phrasing styles of blues, giving some structure to learn how to jam later on. And the lessons do get more complicated, but they don't look hard. The fact is that they are lessons, that you can jump right in and practice with, and so I've found a new commitment to really practice, not just noodle.

It finally ends with a whole song to jam thru, given all the notes to play. Being able to play this song is a goal for me, a mark of achievement, something those other guys aparently don't understand is important to a beginner.

Here's what I got:
1) First Lessons Blues Harmonica Book/CD
2) Basic Blues Harmonica Method Book/CD
3) Basic Blues Harmonica Method DVD
4) C Harmonica Play-Along Trax 2xCD

The "Basic Blues" book that comes with this set is almost identical to the "First Lessons", but I think is included to accompany the DVD lessons exactly. I think you could get away with the "First Lessons" book, rather than the whole set to get started.

If I can just help one other person like myself, all this typing will have been worth it.