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- Dec 31, 2021
- 2 min
The Album, part 2.5: At Big John's
Big John’s, located in the Old Town section of Chicago at 1638 North Wells St., was an interesting bar, not a natural venue for blues...
- Dec 9, 2021
- 1 min
The Harp: And Now, Finally, Muddy
And Now, Finally: Muddy Muddy Waters, playing with his band for their usual dates at Smitty’s Corner blues club in the early 60s, noticed...
- Dec 9, 2021
- 4 min
The Harp: Gussow on Butterfield
Gussow on Butterfield Here we are with Adam Gussow’s analysis of what separated Butterfield’s playing from that of others. And that is a...
- Dec 9, 2021
- 2 min
The Harp: The Analysts & the Critics
The Analysts and Critics Roly Platt, guesting on Tomlin’s online channel (https://www.tomlinharmonicalessons.com/free-harmonica-lessons/p...
- Dec 9, 2021
- 2 min
The Harp: How Butterfield Played the Thing
How Butterfield Played the Thing And how did Butterfield learn these skills? We know that he was exposed to serious music by his parents,...
- Dec 9, 2021
- 3 min
The Harp: How to Play the Thing, Part 5
How to Play the Thing, Part 5 There they are: twelve skills and concepts to work on. The Twelve Commandments. Not a word about arpeggios,...
- Dec 9, 2021
- 4 min
The Harp: The Twelve Commandments
The Twelve Commandments Let’s be specific and concrete, then, about the techniques you will conceptualize and assimilate in order to be a...
- Dec 8, 2021
- 3 min
The Harp: How to Play the Thing, Part 4, or Uh Oh, Bending
How to Play the Thing, Part 4, or Uh Oh, Bending OK, one more last thing: bending. A couple of pages ago I wrote that you shouldn’t...
- Dec 8, 2021
- 6 min
The Harp: How to Play the Thing, Part 3
How to Play the Thing, Part 3 You have been using the C harp, playing in 2nd position, cross-harp, while the band is G. You understand...
- Dec 8, 2021
- 10 min
The Harp: How the Blues Met the Harmonica: The Blues Harp, Part 2.5
How the Blues Met the Harmonica: The Blues Harp Playing along with the blues is not that hard. First try it unaccompanied, without a...
- Dec 8, 2021
- 1 min
The Harp: How to Play the Thing, Part 2
How to Play the Thing, Part 2 But let’s not obsess about bending now. Learning how to bend, and bend properly, is difficult, and is a...
- Dec 8, 2021
- 7 min
The Harp: How to Play the Thing, Part 1
How to Play the Thing, Part 1 You can learn to play the harmonica like Paul Butterfield played it. Notice the “like” in that previous...
- Dec 8, 2021
- 3 min
The Harp
Twenty years ago the novelist Elmore Leonard wrote his “Ten Rules of Writing.” The last of them advised, “Try to leave out the part that...
- Dec 6, 2021
- 5 min
The Album, Part VIII (last)
Meanwhile, Elektra was doing everything they could to generate sales for the album and get what Jac Holzman considered its most popular...
- Dec 6, 2021
- 3 min
The Album, Part VII
With the release of the album and playing to sold-out crowds at clubs, colleges, and coffee-houses, the band was on a roll. They returned...
- Dec 6, 2021
- 5 min
The Album, Part VI
Nonetheless, the band went and stayed on the road to support the album. After the dates back at Big John’s, Grossman booked the band into...
- Dec 6, 2021
- 3 min
The Album, Part V
And as you were turning up the volume, you also attended to the liner notes written by Pete Welding, a Chicago musician, producer, and...
- Nov 11, 2021
- 3 min
The Album Part IV
With the album done, back to Chicago the band went as they loaded their instruments and amplifiers into the white Econoline van that...
- Nov 11, 2021
- 8 min
The Album Part III
During the production process for the album, Elektra had released a budget-priced sampler record of so-called folk music called “Folksong...
- Nov 11, 2021
- 6 min
The Album Part II
The Album, Part II Butterfield was recorded once again in May, 1964, playing as backup sideman to a group called the Smokey Smothers...