Tuesday, November 10, 2015

What Did You Miss This Week? (Week 423 #468)

Study Song and Scale Practice!!!

Our study song this session is Sittin' On Top of the World, so we passed out the transcription and Shoji spent some review time playing and talking about eight bar songs we all know well to solidify the understanding of the form for us. From there we added that ninth bar you hear in SOTOTW and discussed it as well as the similarities to the Sugar Ray Norcia song Life Will Be Better.

Then we moved to some RickEy time and looked again at the pentatonic scale practicing he's proposing. Use his handouts and the play-along tracks to solidify your pentatonic playing. We also got a little foreshadowing about this idea of playing "shapes" so stay tuned for more of that discussion, perhaps next week.

Class Notes

  • RECORDING:  This session's recording date for the Performance Class is Monday, December 14. You should be firming up the tune you mean to record and practicing it each week with the band.
  • Joe is on tour in Europe for one more week. Grant has you covered in the Level III classes, the Rhythm & Chording class, and Shoji and RickEy are planning things for the Performance class discussions, so don't miss it. Be sure to bring a copy of your Level III transcriptions along for Grant to refer to as you play.


#ReadyOrNot

Dennis Gruenling has a new album in the works, Ready Or Not, and he needs your help to make it happen! He's crowdfunding to cover recording, mixing, and production costs and you can help by chipping in here.

What's in it for you? Well, besides putting more killer DG harp playing out into the world, you can choose from these awesome perks when donating:


  • Limited Edition T-shirts printed just for this campaign
  • LIVE one-on-one harmonica lessons with Dennis (online and in-person)
  • Vintage Bullet Microphones with crystal elements (for harmonica)
  • Guest DJ spot with Dennis LIVE on his "Blues & the Beat" radio show
  • Autographed Hohner Harmonicas
  • House Concert with the full touring band
- Grant Kessler, B1 Blues Crew