Tuesday, March 13, 2018

What Did You Miss This Week? (Week 521 #565)

Madcat Ruth!!!
Peter Madcat Ruth is in town for tonight's Harmonica Hoedown (see below for tickets) and he spent Monday night in B1, playing his ukelele along with us and offering coaching and constructive critique of performances.

He spoke about head and mouth tone which is critical for him as a rack player. If you spend time playing in a rack you quickly learn what it means not to have your hands for shaping sound, so you explore head and mouth tone options. He argues that learning that can only improve your playing with out of the rack.

Speaking of non-rack playing, he let us in on his little tone secret when you have your hands free - the toilet paper tube! Cup it like a can or a mic and check out that tone. And, it's free!

Madcat played a few killer tunes for us also, including Dave Brubeck's Take Five, which was an amazing treat! Thanks for stopping by, Madcat!

Class Notes

  • There will be no Final Take recording at the end of this session.

Harmonica Hoedown
Don't miss the Harmonica Hoedown TONIGHT at Martyr's. Curated and hosted by Bob Kessler and Graham Nelson, this year's show also features Peter "Madcat" Ruth and Joe Filisko. Tickets are available here.

And check out this great podcast interview Bob Kessler did recently with Madcat.

- Grant Kessler, B1 Blues Crew