Tuesday, July 13, 2010

What Did You Miss This Week? (Week 182 #225)

Blue Carnegie!!!

Joe wrapped up his discussion of the Jimmy Reed tune Blue Carnegie this week, using it to talk about Reed's playing in general. Joe pointed out that Jimmy Reed has a tendency to often include a long hold note in his solos and that he often plays a chorus of guide tone lines like you see him doing on page four. This gives the song a chance to throttle back and still sounds very tasteful musically.

The transcription pages are here:

Pages 1 and 3
Pages 2 and 4
Page 5
Page 6

This song is readily available on the internet. You can buy it on CD at Bluebeat or download the mp3 of the song at Amazon or iTunes.

Joe also spend quite a bit of time talking about bending this week, using the visual length of a guitar string to talk about musical distances. This leads to thinking about different bends as requiring different mouth shapes and those distances are relative to the distance you're bending and the note you're bending. A four draw bend requires halving the mouth cavity compared to a one draw bend.

Joe also introduced the musical concept of a "K" spot for the first time in class. Ask him about it sometime!

Speaking of bending, Joe also clarified that the old timers' term "choking the harp" means that you're playing second position, not that you're bending as many believe.

Chicago Blues Harp Bash #3 Tickets Go On Sale!!!

Tickets to our Chicago Blues Harp Bash #3 went on sale this week! We're thrilled to have living legend Jerry Portnoy headlining our show. Get your tickets now before they sell out!

The Bash will also feature local harp players Shoji Naito, Highway RickEy, Harry Garner, Lamont Harris and Kirk Manley, all backed by the amazing Billy Flynn Band.

The Bash is on Facebook at: ChicagoBluesHarpBash. Please use your Facebook page to help us spread the word about this great evening.

Chicago Blues Harp Bash #3

at SPACE in Evanston

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Tickets at: www.chicagobluesharpbash.com

Mark your calendar and don't miss this show!

(Note that Jerry will also be in B1 as a special guest on Monday, September 13, 2010, 8:00pm.)

The Sanctified Grumblers on NPR!!!

B1's good friends Rick Sherry and Eric Noden appeared last week on WBEZ and talked about jug band music. Check out their interview here: Grumblers.

Class Notes
  • No class on July 19 because both Joe and Shoji will be out of town. Grant Kessler will be in B1 with his guitar starting at 6:30 if you'd like to come by to play. (and Highway RickEy may join us on drums)
  • Shoji quote regarding bending: "Please play softly."
- Grant Kessler, B1 Blues Crew