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Dec 31, 20212 min read
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 8, 20211 min read
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 8, 20214 min read
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 8, 20212 min read
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 8, 20212 min read
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 8, 20213 min read
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 8, 20214 min read
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 7, 20213 min read
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 7, 20216 min read
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 7, 202110 min read
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 7, 20211 min read
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 7, 20217 min read
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 7, 20213 min read
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 5, 20215 min read
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 5, 20213 min read
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 5, 20215 min read
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 5, 20213 min read
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...