Tuesday, August 4, 2009

What Did You Miss This Week? (Week 133 #177)

Shoji Naito!
While Joe Filisko spreads the Chicago blues harp gospel in England, B1 was treated to another great evening of chord instruction by our musical mentor, Shoji Naito! This was a fantastic evening spent getting more familiar with the I, IV and V chords and learning to play them on the harp, both in the standard 12 bar form as well as 8 bar and 16 bar forms. If you feel "lost" in the blues forms, learning to play them as an accompanist like this will solidify your understanding of the forms and improve your rhythmic timing. Great class, Shoji!

Hohner's Easy Reeding!
Many of you will remember meeting Andy Garrigue when he visited class a few months ago to profile Joe. You can read the story in the recent release of Hohner's magazine, Easy Reeding. Note also that the magazine covers B1 friends Buddy Greene, Rick Estrin, Mickey Raphael and John Nemeth; has an interview with Howard Levy; and has a review of Hohner's new Crossover harmonica. Check it out!

Class Notes
  • Chicago Blues Harp Bash: tickets are available at the Bash website. Patron and Platinum reserved seating is now available. Get yours soon so you don't miss this great show!
  • Joe will be back next week and all his classes and Shoji's classes will run as normal.
Newsletter News!
The newsletter and more is now online! Check it out for further info on newsletter items, an ongoing calendar of local gigs and birthdays, archives, links, videos and special features.

We welcome your input. If you're inspired to write a review of a live show, CD, DVD or book, please submit it to us for consideration.

- Grant Kessler, B1 Blues Crew