Blue Midnight 1 – E7 2 3 4 2 – A7 2 3 4 3 – E7 2 3 4 bar 4 2 3 4 2″  => => => => => => => ~22″ ~2 => => => 3′ 2   2~2″1 . .  . 2″ Start straight 4 bars,  then           add vibrato.  5 – […]

Vibrato Vibrato and Tremolo Vibrato and tremolo and two terms that are often used, misused, and interchanged, and different people have different ideas about the distinctions and similarities between the two terms, techniques, and effects.  I have decided to take the essence of my definitions from the “Schaum Dictionary of Musical Terms”.  These are my definitions: Tremolo is pulsations […]

Overbends: Overblows and Overdraws A so-called overbend is a type of bend where the pitch that results is higher in pitch than the natural note of either reed in the hole, rather than lowering the pitch as with ordinary bends.  This is because the overbend technique actually causes the normally-sounding reed to choke while you’re playing so it doesn’t […]

Breathing Playing the harp   Begins and ends With breathing. Breathing in and out. When you want. As fast or slow as you want. As hard or soft as you want. For as long as you want. Whenever you want. From Your Diaphragm Through out these pages you have heard (or will hear) me harp on breathing […]

Embouchures The embouchure (ahm’ ba sure) is the method of applying the lips and tongue to the mouthpiece of a wind instrument, like the harmonica! If you are just learning to play I recommend you start with the Lip Block. 1) Lip Block – A variant of the pucker (see below), it’s also called lipping. Tilt the harp up at the back about […]

Bending Tips Bending is a basic diatonic harmonica playing technique used to produce notes not otherwise available in the basic tuning of the harp, and they are also used to provide various sliding-note effects.  Bends are, in large part, what give the diatonic harp its unique character, and are intimately related to the blues tradition. […]