[Harp-L] Re: Tabs

[Isaac Ullah <iiullah@xxxxxxxxx>]

Chris, I'm just where you are and I just ordered the McKelvey book (blues harmonica collection) from amazon for like $10. It just arrived yesterday and is really great! Just what I needed to get me out my practising "rut". Of course you will need to go buy the recordings of the songs, but you probably have all those anyway! (it's mostly Little Walter, Sonny Boy II, with some others)

Message: 
3
Date: 
Sun, 
10 
Feb 
2008 
07:29:40 
-0500
From: 
"Bill 
Hines" 
<billhines4@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: 
RE: 
[Harp-L] 
tabs
To: 
"'Chris 
Reynolds'" 
<c_reynolds2571@xxxxxxxxx>, 
<harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Message-ID: 
<010201c86be0$9bbeacb0$6401a8c0@HinesIBMA50p>
Keywords: 
Personal
Content-Type: 
text/plain;    
charset="us-ascii"

Hi 
Chris,

I 
was 
not 
too 
long 
ago 
where 
you 
are. 
If 
you 
just 
want 
to 
learn 
the
songs, 
and 
they 
are 
the 
classic 
chicago 
songs 
from 
those 
folks, 
the 
get
the 
tab 
books 
by 
David 
McKelvy 
("Blues 
Harmonica 
Collection") 
and 
Glenn
Weiser 
("Masters 
of 
the 
Blues 
Harp"). 
They 
are 
note-for-note
transcriptions. 
Glenn, 
for 
one 
hangs 
out 
here. 
You 
will 
need 
the
matching 
studio 
cuts 
also, 
they 
don't 
come 
with 
these 
books. 
Or 
use
google 
and 
search 
on 
something 
like 
'"Help 
Me" 
"Harmonica|Harp" 
tab'.
Mark 
Purintam 
here 
has 
a 
great 
site 
(http://www.harpinanawhinin.com/)
with 
all 
harp 
tabs 
and 
midi 
cuts, 
and 
there's 
another 
site 
that 
has 
some
good 
free 
stuff 
and 
other 
stuff 
you 
pay 
for 
(www.harmonicalessons.com 
I
think).

HOWEVER, 
when 
I 
went 
this 
route 
early 
in 
my 
learning 
curve, 
I 
was 
pretty
frustrated 
and 
the 
reason 
was 
that 
I 
really 
didn't 
have 
the 
techniques
yet 
required 
to 
pull 
this 
off, 
such 
as 
precise 
bending 
at 
speed, 
various
techniques 
(split 
intervals, 
slaps, 
etc) 
that 
require 
different
embouchures 
(tongue 
block, 
pucker) 
and 
so 
forth. 

Eventually, 
I 
would 
have 
got 
it 
enough 
to 
play 
these 
challenging 
cuts.
Someone 
said 
here 
once 
(a 
quote 
I 
loved) 
that 
if 
you 
give 
someone 
a 
bag
of 
clubs 
and 
turn 
them 
loose 
on 
a 
golf 
course 
day 
after 
day 
eventually
they 
will 
learn 
to 
be 
a 
pretty 
good 
golfer 
(if 
they 
stick 
with 
it 
and
are 
persistent). 
But 
with 
good 
instruction, 
that 
path 
would 
likely 
be
*much* 
faster 
and 
more 
rewarding 
along 
the 
way. 
So 
I 
turned 
to 
some 
of
the 
great 
instructional 
material 
out 
there. 
David 
Barrett's 
Classic
Chicago 
Blues 
Harp 
book/cd 
sets 
(two 
separate 
volumes 
- 
one 
and 
two) 
was
a 
*great* 
resource. 
In 
there, 
he 
builds 
up 
the 
skill 
technique 
and 
then
has 
you 
apply 
them 
in 
different 
passages. 
Then 
when 
you 
are 
ready, 
he
has 
you 
apply 
them 
to 
some 
classis 
songs 
such 
as 
"I'm 
Ready" 
and 
"Baby
Please 
Don't 
Go". 
He 
gives 
you 
the 
cuts 
both 
with 
his 
harp 
on 
it 
and
without. 
I 
still 
remember 
how 
thrilled 
I 
was 
to 
be 
able 
to 
play 
along
with 
those 
classic 
cuts 
*correctly*, 
moving 
to 
the 
right 
chord 
and
inserting 
David's 
killer 
solo 
passages. 

Then 
there's 
also 
local 
instructors 
who 
can 
customize 
your 
route, 
or
some 
of 
the 
great 
instructors 
here 
that 
will 
do 
your 
lessons 
over 
the
internet 
using 
skype 
and 
webcams, 
etc. 
Check 
your 
instructor 
out 
with 
a
trial 
run 
before 
getting 
locked 
into 
a 
long-term 
agreement. 
The
instructor 
may 
be 
good 
but 
your 
personalities 
don't 
jive. 
Or 
as 
often
happens, 
they 
might 
be 
a 
great 
harp 
player 
but 
not 
such 
a 
good 
teacher.
They 
are 
two 
very 
different 
skills. 
Jon 
Gindick 
has 
some 
great 
material
out 
there 
too. 
Jerry 
Portnoy's 
3-cd 
set 
is 
excellent, 
more 
cd 
than 
book.
And 
of 
course 
the 
*ton* 
of 
excellent 
stuff 
by 
Adam 
Gussow 
where 
he 
shows
you 
how 
to 
play 
some 
of 
these 
cuts 
as 
well 
as 
his 
own 
from 
Satan 
& 
Adam
and 
cool 
stuff 
like 
Whammer 
Jammer. 
Jason 
Ricci, 
Barrett, 
Gindick, 
and
many 
others 
have 
youtube 
cuts 
out 
there 
for 
free. 
You 
can 
have 
a 
lot 
of
fun 
and 
comradery 
at 
get-togethers 
like 
the 
jam 
camps 
and 
seminars 
that
folks 
like 
Gindick 
and 
Barrett 
hold.

Bill 
Hines
Hershey, 
PA






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