While Joe is on the road, the multi-talented Shoji Naito took the reins to teach B1 about pentatonic scales. Loosely defined, pentatonic scales use five notes to get from one end of an octave to another. In nearly all scales, there is a root note (the tonic) and a fifth (the dominant). Shoji referred to these two notes as the most important in any scale. So it's always a good idea to know the root and the fifth regardless of the scale.
For this discussion, Shoji shared examples that use the major or minor pentatonic scales and demonstrated how to play the tunes on harmonica in various positions including 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th. Two killer examples include:
- Cold Duck Time: a minor pentatonic scale tune by the late tenor saxophonist, Eddie Harris
- Chitlins Con Carne: a minor pentatonic scale tune by guitarist, Kenny Burrell
Tickets On Sale Now - Chicago Blues Harp Bash #6!!!
Chicago Blues Harp Bash website is updated, the poster is in the works and tickets are on sale now!
September 22, 2013, 6pm, in Szold Hall at the Old Town School of Folk Music
Johnny Sansone from New Orleans will headline! Sansone is a powerful singer, low-down blues harp player and a well-respected songwriter. As a matter of fact, his song The Lord Is Waiting and the Devil Is Too was a Blues Music Award Song of the Year winner. He isn't often in Chicago and we're proud to be bringing him here for you!
Our terrific local harp players are Zoe Savage, Tall Paul Sabel, Scott Dirks and Grant Kessler.
The bandleader this year is Shoji Naito and he's lined up Mike Scharf on bass and Mark Fornek on drums.
Mark your calendars - it's going to be a hot show!
2nd Annual Grand Rapids Harmonica Summit!!!
The first annual summit escaped our notice, but this year we're on top of it and the lineup is worth the drive from Chicago!
August 22 is your chance to catch Jim Liban, Dennis Gruenling and Joe Filisko...all in one place and doing a tribute to Little Walter! The show is organized by harp player Hank Mowery, also on the bill, and it benefits Blue Star Connection which provides musical instruments for children and young adults with cancer and other serious challenges.
And as if that were not enough talent, B1's favorites Nick Moss and the Doug Deming band are in the lineup too (ask bassist Andrew Gohman how he feels about Little Walter)! Do not miss this show!
Road trip to Grand Rapids!!!
Tickets go on sale July 18 and more info is available here.
Class Notes
- Joe will be back next week - business as usual!
At the party recently, people were asking Carlos about his thesis defense, so here's the info:
Date: Tuesday July 30th, 2013
Time: 2:30 P.M.
Place: 929 E 57th Street, Chicago IL 60637 (The University of Chicago Campus)
Building: Gordon Center for Integrative Science, room E 223 (second floor).
- Grant Kessler, B1 Blues Crew
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