Re: [Harp-L] Beginner blues books/tapes

["Dave Murray" <dlmurray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

<<Any suggestions good beginner blues instructional materials? Jim R>>

It depends upon how YOU learn best.

If you want to study how to master your instrument - Jerry Portnoy's Blues 
MasterClass CD's - excellent drills for tongue block, pucker, bending notes, 
not overblowing. No tablature, he purposefully wants you to develop your 
ear. There is much to be said for his method, but it is a pay your dues 
right away for a foundation for the long haul approach.

If you want to learn blues and country with a focus on riffs, fills, and 
melodies - Phil Duncan Blues Harp for Diatonic and Chromatic Harmonica. The 
book is well done and gives perhaps the best coverage of how to apply riffs, 
licks, and fills in a generic sense, but has the serious shortcoming of the 
companion tape being far from complete (does not cover all of the examples 
in the book). You might consider it as a companion to the Jerry Portnoy 
material for a "how do I apply all this technique that I'm developing" 
supplement, though it is a violation of the no paper approach.

The above is not for everyone, some people want/need fast results. If you 
think you'd learn best by playing lots of tunes - most instruction material 
uses this approach (a bunch of tunes with tablature).  Pick one with the 
genera that floats your boat. There is stuff aimed at blues, folk, country, 
Irish, etc. This is an encouraging method that yields fairly quick results. 
You do become familiar with your instrument by playing lots of stuff which 
is a good thing, but there is a danger of becoming a play it just like the 
piece of paper player. I made that mistake (for me) when learning to play a 
different instrument, and won't list the stuff that I think does that 
approach well since it isn't an approach that I think will take me where I 
want to go. But it might be just the thing for you.

As an aside, I have an embarrassingly large amount of instructional material 
(a personality disorder, collect books about things I like). It is not a 
good way to learn. I just decided what one of my new year resolutions is; 
work on the JP CDs and use the PD stuff as guidance for applying it to 
playing with jam tracks. If I don't wimp out on that I have no doubt that 
I'll be down the road I want to travel with my harp.

Peace and music,
Dave