Tuesday, April 9, 2019

What Did You Miss This Week? (Week 564 #610)

It was time for a little accompaniment review last night. Joe outlined his five accompaniment techniques:

  • (train whistle) sustain - higher range of the chord; ok to be dissonant
  • organ sustain - no dissonance and the chords you play should match the chord changes of the song
  • hard shuffle chording (incl ghost chording) - the idea here is to blend in and be consistent with the drummer
  • chord bombs - played louder and with attitude like a horn section on beat 2
  • repeating riff - watch your volume on this and be sure you know it cold. 

Breathing conversation this week was back to the long exhale, inhale exercise, but with two refinements - when you reach empty, or full, pause and "hold" your breath there a short count. You should be comfortable at both points and not in a hurry to start the other direction. Get used to this! And secondly, be very careful that "holding" your breath does NOT mean closing off your throat. Keep open and relaxed!

Class Notes

  • Mark your calendar! B1 welcomes Curtis Salgado as a guest on April 22.

Mike Ledbetter Tribute Shows
The Nick Moss Band is organizing two benefit shows in Chicagoland for Mike Ledbetter. Mark your calendars and don't miss them - they promise to have some heavy-hitter harp players on them (ahem, Rick Estrin, Jason Ricci)

April 14 at Buddy Guy's Legends
April 15 Danny's On Douglas, Elgin

- Grant Kessler, B1 Blues Crew