Harmonica Fundamentals with Joe Filisko - Single Notes and Tongue Blocking
Jul 7, 2020
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Joe Filisko, an expert harmonica player and instructor, joins Lee Sankey to discuss harmonica fundamentals. Topics include bending tongue blocked notes, Sonny Boy Williamson's technique, feathering notes, accessing genres like cajun music, and the time it takes to learn these techniques.
Proper breathing techniques and understanding chords are fundamental for playing harmonica and playing along with others.
Tongue blocking is a technique that allows you to create various tones and textures by blocking certain holes.
Mastering the skills of playing single notes and combining them with tongue blocking enables greater expressiveness and the ability to create chords and dirty notes.
Deep dives
Fundamental 1: Learning the chords and how to breathe
Learning the chords and how to breathe is the first fundamental in playing the harmonica. Chords are the building blocks of music and understanding them allows you to play along with others. Proper breathing techniques, such as diaphragmatic breathing, are essential for creating a consistent sound and maintaining control while playing.
Fundamental 2: Tongue Blocking
Tongue blocking is a fundamental technique in harmonica playing where you use your tongue to block certain holes to create different sounds and effects. This technique allows you to play chords, intervals, and splits, giving you the ability to create a variety of tones and textures in your playing.
Fundamental 3: Playing Single Notes
Playing single notes is a crucial skill for harmonica players. It involves isolating and playing one hole at a time without accidentally playing adjacent holes. Mastering this technique is essential for playing melodies, improvisation, and creating clear, distinct sounds.
Fundamental 4: Single Notes and Tongue Blocking
The combination of single notes and tongue blocking is explored in this fundamental. It involves using tongue blocking to control airflow and create different effects while playing single notes. This technique allows for greater expressiveness and the ability to play chords, splits, and dirty notes.
Fundamental 5: Riffs, Licks, Hooks, and Songs
The final fundamental focuses on incorporating riffs, licks, hooks, and songs into your harmonica playing. These elements help develop your musical vocabulary and allow for self-expression. Learning and mastering different riffs, licks, hooks, and songs helps you build your repertoire and develop your own unique style as a harmonica player.
Lee Sankey continues his deep dive into the fundamentals of playing the harmonica with Joe Filisko. In this episode Joe and Lee discuss fundamental number four - Single Notes and Tongue Blocking.
This is a monster, 1 hour and 15 minute unashamed, geek out on topics such as bending tongue blocked, how Sonny Boy Williamson used full tongue blocks to get his attack, how to feather notes, accessing genre's like cajun music and just how long it takes to learn some of these techniques.
SPECIAL LIVE EVENT - Look out for details of a special live online event about this series where you can ask Joe and I questions about the themes we've been exploring. To hear about the date and how to get tickets subscribe to my newsletter at leeesankey.com or follow my Facebook page.
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