Information, Experience, Inspiration
for Harmonica Lovers
and Players
February 2, 2014
2015 Jam Camp Dates
March 24-28 , 2015 May 26 - 30, 2015
Sept 22-26, 2015
Camps Are Filling Up Fast ! Sign up today!
http://www. bluesharmonicajamcamp.com
We just completed the most wonderful jam camp in Ventura, California
on
the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Starting, on Tues January 20 and going
through January 24, it was five days on intense harmonica based
creativity for campers who had come in from all over the world.
The weather was beautiful, sunny and refreshng.
The coaches, Rj Mischo, Cheryl Arena, Hash Brown, Michael Fell,
Ralph Carter, Brian Purdy once again did an amazing job helping
campers get to their next levels.
We added many new wrinkles to our Ventura Camp, selecting return
campers to put on mini-concerts, bringing in singing teacher Jodi Farrell
who worked directly with campers on building their voices, and jamming
in Ventura's brightest night spot.
One of the ways I try to maintain the the difference between Blues
Harmonica Jam Camp
and the competition is the increasing emphasis on singing, songwriting,
guitar lessons as well as harmonica playing. The results are stupendous.
Singing helps your harmonica playing. It develops your ear. It takes
music making away from the realms of pure technique and into the real
of personality.
Yes, its scary, especially if you have never sung before,
or have ingrained negative beliefs about your own voice. (And who
doesn't?)
Consider this: if you have never done it before, and its kind of scary-then doing it will give you a great sense of exhilaration and freedom.
While we love great results, at Jam Camp, we focus on the process.
When you focus on the process, great results occur.
Doing it is the first step.
We are all reaching for the sky, trying to stretch ourselves through the
harmonica. Thanks to Joe Fulmer for creating this great image, which, in a
metaphorical way, is a perfect description of the community at Blues Harmonica
Jam Camp.
My Hope for Us in 2015
If you have not yet been to a jam camp, my hope is that this is the year
you can attend. That this is the year we jam. I want to help you harp,
help you sing, help you develop your talents and reach goals. And of
course if you've attended in the past, come one back.
EVEN if you havent practiced. That's how we all feel, all the coaches, the
band. We want you!
All the coaches: Cheryl Arena, Rj Mischo, Hash Brown, Brian Purdy, TJ
Klay, Ralph Carter, Jon Gindick (yes, him too!) are going to be there.
Why do I hire these folks? Fly them in at great expense? Because Jam
Camp is not just another gig. Because they love it as much as the
campers.
As part of the excitement, Jam Camp is going to take over Ground Zero
Night Club on Thursday Night. and every camper will jam with a GREAT
band on stage to close out the evening.
Shirt pocket Amplification System
Bottle of Blues Microphone
with Volume Control
Smokey Shirt Pocket Amplifier
Cord to connect them
All just $99.95
http://gindick.myshopify.com/products/shirt-pocket-amplification-system-mic-cord-amp
Each day, Jam Camp brings in our really, really
good rhythm section of Hash Brown, Ralph
Carter, and Lee Williams to help campers master
the arts of electric harmonica with the band.
Here are some of the ideas campers explore as
they get better and better and better in a very
short period of time....
Tips on Jamming with a Band
Relax
Getting on stage makes the adrenaline rush, which can make you tighten
up, breathe shallowly,
forget everything you know. So first of all, anticipate excess adrenaline
and slow yourself down.
Breathe deeply in preparation and find that deep breathing space in your
torso.
Get a Grip
Charlie McCoy, playing three inches away from the mic, cupping and
uncupping his hands
around the harp. This is a natural harp sound. But not as effective for
blues band play.
You can also cup the mic to the harp against your face, causing
compression into the mic which gives a warm electronic glow and rich
distortion to your electric tone. Getting good at this is essential to
effective band playing.
Articulate and Percussify
Give your notes a percussive edge by shaping them in the "Kradle of
Ka." Initiate notes with the "K" syllable and create syllables by "clicking."
Groovify
Remember, the groove always comes first. Get good at clicking your
inhale and exhale breath like a drum kit. Turn your breath and clicker into
music instruments.
Phrasing
Stop Note Searching! Don't think in terms of individual notes. Think in
terms of phrases, clusters of notes that you arrange in question and
answer and rest format.
Make Your Exhale Part of Your Rhythm
Expel air over the top or around the sides of the harp n one loud ha! at
the end of phrases. This empties your lungs, creates silence, follows the
phrasing of lyrics as singers must do the same,and gives you control and
power for the the next inhale.
Structure Your Solos In Boxes
Less is more.
Stop wandering aimlessly looking for notes. Create a box of notes, and
for each different part of your solo, say within that box. For instance, in
the first part of your improvisational solo, pretend that the only holes on
your harp that work are 5 draw and 6 blow and (maybe) 6 draw. Explore
the invervals between the notes. In the next part of the solo, work out in
a box of holes 2 and 3. Then work out on 4 and 5 box.Then expand your
box to all 10 holes of the harp. Then work out on holes 3 and 4.
Question and Answer
This is HUGE. Think of ANY interesting piece of music, and listen for the
question and answer in the phrasing.It's there, almost always.So now,
think in terms of two phrases: The question phrase, and the answer
phrase.
Sometimes you play both question and answer o sometimes only the
question, or only the answer.
It's opposite is implied in the silence. (If you keep the beat going.) By
that, I mean sometimes you play a phrase, and let silence, or another
band member answer the phrase. Listen to great harp solos and hear
how they are all created in one way or another around this Q & A
phenomonom of music.
Counting Syllables to Understand Phrasing
Yup, music is one big question and answer scheme. One way this occurs
is in the number of syllables, and in the cadence of syllables, you find in
lyrics.
Count the syllables in this phrase: "I'm gonna wait til the mid night ho ur"
(10)
(pause)
Now count the syllables in it's answer.
"When there's no one else around." (7).
Here's Sonny Boy's Classic:
"Do me a favor" has 5 syllables.
-Pause"Keep our business to ourselves." has 7.
Even the Beatles...
"Is there anybody going to listen to my story?" has 13.
"All about the girl who came to stay." has 7.
This question and answer format is prevelant in nursury rhythms like
"Hickory dickory dock" (two triplets and a note 7 syllables.)
"The mouse ran up the clock." (swung eights and 6 syllable.)
even the Bible: "The Lord is my shepard" (6) "I shall not want." (4)
and ceremonies:
"I now pronounce you" (5) "Man and wife." -(3)
it's everywhere, and it is what puts the muse in the music.
"Shave and a hair cut." (5) Two bits!" (2)
Feelify Your Phrases
First, understand the groove you are playing to. Get it in your body
before you start to play. If you don't understand it, don't play. If
necessary, consciously count the beats 1-2-3-4 to find the one beat.
Accent it in your body and imagination. Maybe the band needs more time
to unify. Help them get the groove. Old Mr. Feel might tell you to start on
the 4 beat of even earlier. He may, say, play beats 1-2, lay out 3 and 4.
Once the beat is squared away in your body and soul, start phrasing,
trying to feel a question and answer format to the music.
Find a way to create a cadence, a syncopated phrase, that creates half a
pair.
When you create a question. anything the band plays in the pause you
leave turns into an answer.
YOu simply divide everything in half.
Sometimes you play both halves, and sometimes you don't.
Create contrast, play a phrase with lots of pieces, answer it with the
opposite.
Or answer it with silence. If there isn't question and answer feeling to the
music then maybe your role as harp player is to is to help provide one.
Learn More Question and Answer Techniques at Jam Camp
Do your shopping at http://www.Gindick.com
Download Jon's books, cds, or have them shipped to your door.
The Most Trusted Name in Online Harmonica Sales?
Rockin' Ron's of San Diego has established itself as the number one online retailer of
harmonicas and harmonica products.
When you need harps, Ron is best!
http://rockinronsmusicsd.com/
The Video Harp Club has changed password. Please visit to obtain new
one.
http://gindick.myshopify.com/pages/jons-video-harp-club
Another great melody that would be much easier on a chromatic harmonica,
but it would not have a bluesy quality to it.
It's funny how the trick of harmonica playing is to open your body to the
harmonica,
and to open your body to the harmonica,
you have to open your heart to your harmonica.
If you are struggling, trying opening your heart to your little buddy.
Relax, breathe, listen and love. It just might work!
Over the last few weeks I have worked with friends old and new in
Mississippi and Ventura
and it is amazing how good the music is getting.
And you can tell who has been to Jam Camp,
or read these newsletters,
and who definitely needs to.
We train our players to avoid those boring the wall to wall,
up and down habitual solos that give harp players a bad name -and once you play in answering phrases, which allows you to shape
your solo in a way that tells a story
- you can jam anywhere.
Cross Harp Songbook: Bluesify Your Melody--Download
The World's 90 Most Recognizable Folk, Gospel, Blues, Patriotic, Children's and
Holiday Songs, played blues
and jazz styles. Including tabs for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th,5th and 12th positions, and guitar
chords. E-book and 73 minute audio $19.95
http://www.payloadz.com/go?id=1643764
A battery operated Tube
Pre-Amp Designed for Electric Harp Players
The Harp Attack by Lone Wolf
I have a great amp, and great mic,
great tone, but I still wanted to beef up my electric tone
for playing with bands,
so I ordered Randy Landry's Harp Attack.
I am REALLY happy with it, as it gives me more ooomph power.
I often don't bother with an amp at jams.
I just plug my mic into the Harp Attack and the Harp Attack
into the PA. Great big tone! No stress!
This tube preamp is completely pro quality
designed by a harp player for harp players.
It is smaller than a paperback book.
I can use it instead of amp (running it through the PA),
and sound solid and strong AND have control with me on the bandstand,
not in some sound mans hands.
But it also sounds great running my bullet
through my Fender Princeton Blackface.
I can adjust the three knobs and sound as though I have changed mics,
getting tones from mellow to bark.
It can be battery operated-what a powerful tool for jams!
Check it out.
http://www.lonewolfblues.com/
or email Randy at
randy@lonewolfblues.com
Deck the Halls is an easy straight harp song. Highly recomended for
beginners and everyone else.
7 Positions of Diatonic Harmonica --Download
70 minute Audio Lesson with 8 page booklet pdf notes and tab $19.95
http://www.payloadz.com/go/sip?id=1646130
"A guided, jam-along tour of the seven different keys (or positions) on one diatonic C
harmonica. Along with a quick review of 1st and 2nd positions, you'll learn riffs,
scales and songs for 3rd position (C harp in the key of D minor), 4th position (C harp
in the key of A minor), 5th position, (C harp in the key of E minor), 6th position (C
harp in the key of B minor), and 12th position, (C harp in the key of F.) The e- booklet
also includes a Positions Chart you can print out, and carry to gigs. This notation and
recorded song jams include 1st position, 2nd position, and 12th position versions of
"Amazing Grace", 3rd and 5th position versions of "House of the Rising Sun", 3rd
Position versions of "Scarborough Fair" and "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless
Child."
Power, Tone, Looks and Not Too Heavy to Carry
A Great Amplifier from Brian Purdy
and a Favorite Among Pros.
Simply put, Brian Purdy makes great amplifiers designed especially for
the harmonica
and are used and endorsed by pro players all over the world.
Before buying any amplifier, make sure you visit Brian's informative
webpage at http://www.harpgear.com
.
About Stagefright
There's an elephant in the room, and his name is Stagefright.
Indeed, playing in front of people, performing, can induce a fear so
powerful that even celebrities like Barbra Steisand are sick to their
stomachs before performing.
When I started the Jam Camps in Year 2000, I still had stage fright-crazy, irrational, painful stage fright. Sometimes on stage I would shake
uncontrollably, shaking so much it affected the sound coming out of my
instrument.
It didn't matter that I had played for years and that some people told me I
was pretty good. I felt as though I were in a fishbowl, and everyone was
watching me with critical eyes and ears.
It was all about me.
Because I was so self-conscious I made every mistake in the book.
Feedback, dropped mics, upside down harp, wrong key harp, mic cord
pulled out of mic mid-solo...on stage. You name it, on stage, I did it.
(Today I tell campers you have to make 100 mistakes on stage before
you get one error performance. And that, of course is one thing Jam
Camp is for. It's a place where mistakes are expected.)
As for me, I eventually declared war on my stage fright, and sought my
own sense of charisma and self-confidence. I had to. I was the guy doing
Jam Camps, and I needed to be a comfortable performer. So I found a
great jam about 90 minutes away, and I went every week. THAT really
helped. You have to make yourself jam, you need to get desensitized to
the adrenaline rush.
When you play over and over on stage, as we have you do at Jam
Camp, there's a emotional flattening of the experience. Sometimes you
do it good, sometimes you do it not so good, sometimes you're brilliant,
sometimes you suck. You get a little bit of distance, and you and see and
hear the bigger picture. This helps you relax and have fun-- and relaxing
and having fun-while maintaining proper technique helps you play better.
It can also be helpful to look into your past for answer. In my case, as a 6
or 7 year old boy l got in trouble in school for wanting to be the to be the
Center of Attention. I was punished for trying to make people laugh in the
classroom. I was just an innocent kid, and had literally
had to eat soap for being my obnoxious attention-seeking self. My
teacher said. "They're not laughing with you, they are laughing at you."
Yikes! It is easy to see how this phrase alone could contribute to the fear
I felt when I got on stage, on why I avoided being on stage.
.
Soul searching to help cure my stagefright, I remembered how I used to
fantasize myself as a performer--as Elvis, if you want to know. I could
see myself jumping on tables, or laying on my back on the floor, playing
the hell out of my harp, surrounded by a chorus of beautiful dancing girls.
I knew I had it in me. Man, I was Elvis, I was Dion, I was the artist behind
any song I loved.
But of course this fantasy came with a warning: don't actually try to be
the center of attention. You'll be punished, shamed, ridiculed. So I bottled
it up. I was afraid of my own dream!
I think remembering all this helped free me of Stagefright, because at
one point it all shifted.
It had to do with seeing fears and opening my heart.
Instead of perfomance being all about me, it turned into being all about
the audience. All about understanding that the audience wants to feel
something. They don't want to feel "that's the greatest harp player in the
world." No, they want to feel something about themselves. Something
rich and deep in their own hearts.
"It's not about me, its about them."
That's the thought to arm yourself with when you go onstage.
These types of realizations helped me conquer performance fears. They
helped make the audience my friend, not my judge. I am not suggesting
that it is my thoughts that will free you. It's your own thoughts, your own
memories, your own techniques of helping yourself grow.
The main point is this: stagefright is real--and it is curable. Its curable by
being a decent player, curable by playing out a lot, curable by looking
into your own interior.
Now go forth and wail.
Blows Me Away Productions, staffed by Greg Hueman is
an amazing resource for players who want a great microphone.
This is my Shure 57, coated red and customized by Greg,
plus the Bulletizer, the cone that shapes the microphone.
This REALLY helps with gripping.
This is only one of many amazing customizations Greg has created and
sells
at his website. His mics are endorsed and played
some of the greatest in the world, including Toots Theilmans, Charlie
Musslewhite, Rick Estrin, Rj Mischo.
http://www.blowsmeaway.com
2015 Jam Camp Dates
January 20-24, 2015 (in Ventura, California)
March 24-28 , 2015
May 26 - 30, 2015
Sept 22-26, 2015
Photography by Joe Fulmer
(Joe is a Jam Camper who takes these amazing photos.)
Tim Woodville, third camp, Wil Wadkins from Thailand.
Returness Bob, Butz, and Scott
Doug digging in. Megan making it fun and cool.
Watching The Campers Jam
Thanks to camper Walter Gordon for the Jam Camp at Ground Zero.
Every camper-beginner through semi pro -- takes 2 go arounds
with the Heavy Suga' Rythym section
on the world famous Ground Zero stage.
You'll have fun watching this!
http://youtu.be/ljq6fAi_6iE
"I had the best time at camp! I just have to say thanks to everyone for
making this so awesome. Coaches, you all helped me to feel less
uncomfortable when stepping way out of my comfort zone. The
atmosphere you created made it easy to see the rewards for trying new
things and not worrying about failing....at camp there was no such thing
as failing.
Thanks everyone for sharing such a great learning, growing and just
plain fun experience with me. I hope to do it again, and hopefully to see
all of you again in our travels.
Ron "
Tips on Singing
1. Just as harping is about breathing and resonating deep inside, so is
singing. You want to sing and play harp with a belly filled with air, and
open throat. Practice opening your throat up from the inside. Push outside
in. Hollow out your throat. Hollow out your nasal cavities. Exagerate.
2. Being in tune is very important. The main cause for singing out of tune is not preparing
your material, and your voice, and NOT supporting your voice with your deep breath. You
CAN learn to sing in tune by using the harmonica for reference notes, much as the keyboard
is typically used.
3. Memorize your lyrics. I remember when I used to say “I can’t remember words...” Then I
learned to easy trick to memorizing lyrics: write them down, then memorize each line, then
memorize the transion between the lines. Keep testing yourself. It’s a muscle that a little bit of
working out will get into shape.
4. Sing the song in a good key for your voice. Find your voices’ comfort zone and sing there.
Use the harp or guitar to reference a key, and try to sing it. Are you straining? Then you need
lower, so get another harp, and pitch your voice it. Generally speaking you can “pitch your
voice” by playing a clean 1234 inhale chord, and trying to sing with it. Using a piano or guitar
is more ideal, but the harp will help too.
5. Memorize your melody. Along with the lyrics, memorize your melody. Don’t let your song
be a wandering minstrel.
6. Go through the song, and organize your timing and phrasing. Plan your INHALES in the
pauses.
7. A singer sings every day. Your voice is a musical instrument. If you use it everyday, use it
with the harp, or not, if you sing scales, and develop good singing habits, you can sing.
8. When you bring lyric sheets with you on stage, you WILL forget the lyrics for sure and
have to keep looking at lyrics, even if they are, “oh baby, oh baby, oh baby.” Try to throw the
crutch away as soon as possible.
9. Make faces when you sing. Sing in silly voices. Make your voice go from a whisper to a
shout.
10. The microphone is your friend. You MUST sing into the microphone.
11. Enunciation: I have heard it said that the vowel sounds are the notes you draw out and
emphasize (like harmonica wailing notes) , and the consonants are the stepping notes.
Think about the over-enunciation or exageration of words like now and how, so they sound
like ow!.
12. Hum to build your voice. It makes you sing from your gut. It’s a great way to warm up
your voice. It makes it easier to find those deep spots in our throat, gut and head.
13. Free Your Voice: Most of us started putting our voices in chains at an early age. Girls
learn to sing high. Boys think its girly to sing. Singing with big breath and support -- and
freeing your voice is one of the best feelings in the world.
Mississippi Delta Blues Harmonica Jam Camps,
Clarksdale, Mississippi at the Shack Up Inn
This is something you gotta do!
What Are You Doing in 2015?
Join us in Mississippi or in Ventura, California
for a 5-Day Adventure
That Can Change Everything
Raw Beginners Welcome!
5 Amazing Days, $995 -- 6 Coaches, 25 to 30 Campers, Band, Location and You
with my core teaching team of best friends and fellow pros
on the arts of playing harmonica, singing, writing songs, and guitar
lessons
Rj Mischo, Cheryl Arena, Brian Purdy, Hash Brown, Jon Gindick, Tj Klay ,Ralph
Carter (guitar)