Do you know the best order to learn the BLUES on harmonica?
I’ve seen so many beginners self-sabotage by not learning things in the right order, so I came up with a simple way of keeping harmonica players on the right track learning using the acronym B.L.U.E.S. You can check out the video here:
B is for Big Lips
“Big Lips” refers to the foundation of it all, the Deep Relaxed Mouth Position.
Here’s a couple of great metaphors that the great harmonicist Hank Shreve recently shared with me:
- “Pretend you just came back from the dentist.” You know that mouth-all-numb feeling from novocane. That is the PERFECT way to approach putting your lips on the harmonica. TOTALLY RELAXED.
- “Pretend you’re swallowing an egg.” Lips protruding. Back of tongue is down. Throat is open. Ready for some killer blues tone.
L is for Lungs Empty
80% of Blues is draws in the lower 6 holes, so figuring out how to keep our lungs empty is vital. And the 2 mechanisms are 1.) The “Exhale Push” (pushing all the air out of your lungs before playing) and 2.) The “Nose Push” (pushing air out your nose while playing a blow note.
Here’s a couple of great metaphors that the great player and teacher David Kachalon recently shared with me:
- The “Reverse Gas Tank.” Whereas you fill a gas tank to drive, we have to empty our lungs to maximize blues horsepower.
- Like a Viper coils up before it attacks, we have to come down low in our lungs before we start playing the Blues.
U is for Understand the Form
You can’t be a bluesman if you don’t have the 12-bar blues form internalized. It’s helpful to think of it as a 3-part story with a Beginning, Middle, and End, each being 4 bars.
The Beginning is easy. It stays the same. 4 Bars of Draw chord.
The Middle deviates only slightly. 2 bars of Blow chord. 2 Bars of Draw chord.
The End is where things get interesting.
- 1 Bar of the V chord which we don’t have on harmonica. For Beginners, the -1. (Later the -14 split is a great option.)
- 1 Bar of the Blow chord
- The last 2 bars are called “The Turnaround” because they turn us around back to the top.
E is for Express the Form
I interviewed half a dozen pro’s about their opinions about the best thing for beginners to practice on Blues, and they all returned the same answer “simple bass lines.”
In the video, I teach one for total beginners using double-stops (no single notes required.) In my next video, I’ll be introducing some great single note lines.
A few of the best ones for the Draw chord are:
Boogie Woogie: -2 -3 -4 5 -5 5 -4 -3
“Box” Line #1: -2 6 -5 -4
“Box” Line #2: -2 -4 -5 6
S is for Single Notes
This is where so many newbie’s put the cart before the horse and learn single notes too early. This becomes a problem because many people in an attempt to shortcut the learning curve will abandon those Big, Relaxed Lips.
If you’re a beginner, or know a beginner, I hope this logical order will help ensure the fastest path to great sounding blues harmonica.
Big Lips
Lungs Empty
Understand the Form
Express the Form
Single Notes
