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J**T
the one to get first!
I see that this book has 5 stars and over 30 reviews so I hardly have to convince any one of how good it is. The author is obviously a heck of a good guy and he talks you through all the techniques and riffs in the book. The fact that he is not only a great harp player but also a great teacher makes this book and cd worth it's weight in gold. Another great section of the book is the extensive list of albums that feature harmonica with every track listed along with the key the harp is played for every song on the album! I got myself a Hohner Special 20 harp which is Jon's top recommendation on his website. This is an updated version of the Marine Band and is easier to bend notes on than that. Make sure you don't pay too much for one of these harps, about 20 bucks is about right. I saw a catalog for homespun that had the Lee Oskar harps (also recommended and quite similar to the Hohner Special 20) for sale for 37.00 which I guess is list price. Yikes! Like I mentioned, the special 20 and the Oskar is about 20.00 if you go online or to the big guitar outlet place that's all over the place. Anyway, thanks Jon, I'll soon be getting your Americana book with the 2 cds. The Blues Harp collection (different author, but also on amazon) is also a fantastic book although of course you'll have to get at least a Little Walter and a Sonny Boy Williamson album to hear alot of the tunes transcribed in this book. I got the versions called "His Best" of both of these guys. One other book that is no less than amazing is the Bluegrass Harmonica by Mike Stevens (also available thru Amazon) Don't pass this by because you may not be into bluegrass, it's got quite a few traditional melodies and originals by Stevens but the main thing is the technique involved is incredible. It involves bending like in the book reviewed here but it goes a bit further into bends and a somewhat advanced technique called overblows which together will teach you to get every note available out of a regular diatonic harp. Also with a cd and again, the tunes and technique here are not to be missed. The bending involved for the tunes in this book is probably more challanging than for blues harp playing. One other book that is not blues but will teach you some great traditional American and Irish fiddle tunes is the one by Glen Weiser. What's great about this book is it doesn't involve bending at all but the tunes are challanging and complex enough. Again, not the blues but a way to expand your mastery of the harmonica with some great tunes.
G**S
Good Book Worth the $
I like the book just fine and it was money well spent.It's a good introduction to playing blues in second position.All 20 notes are separated into one of three categories: Resolution, Wailing, or Stepping Stone notes.Four notes are Resolution notes and then all of the inhale notes are wailing and the blow notes are stepping stone notes. Pretty simple system requiring almost no music theory. "If you're wailing, you should be inhaling!"Several basic riffs are given with an emphasis on being able to play the same riff many different ways to make it sound distinctly different.An introduction to 12 bar blues chord structure is given and examples of how to play these riffs over those 12 bar progressions are explained.Second position playing of first position songs are explored. Bluesification of common songs makes them sound great. Jon has another whole book tabbing out several popular songs in second position and showing the integration of his blues riffs into those songs.The book then progresses into full up and down scales and on into position playing. I'm at a loss to understand his scales as they don't conform to any I know, major, minor (and flavors), major pentatonic, minor pentatonic, blues, but I'm sure they work just fine when played. I do find it curious the scales are different going up and down. Scales I know are the same both ways except for one of the minor scales.A good book and well worth the money.I wish there were an online forum where the book could be discussed, but the only one I've found has no activity. When I sent a Facebook message to Jon asking about a site, I was told he hopes none exists and his main thrust of teaching was though his $1000, 5 day jam camps!That seems odd as most teachers I've run into has a presence on Face Book and answer questions there or on a dedicated forum.I need to do a lot of learning before I plunk down well over $1000 (closer to $2000 total) for the camp, lodging, travel, and meals.
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3 days ago
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