If you are a teacher writing out harp tab or writing a book, here’s a nice harmonica True Type font that will help you in laying out the tab.

Harmonica Tab Font

The title says it all.

10 Steps to Becoming a Harmonica Super Star

Adam Gussow (of Satan and Adam) is a local boy who made good. He grew up a few blocks from me.

He promised to tell me when ever he had any new stuff available. He’s just let me know that he’s experimenting with selling a whole pack of jam tracks in one zip.

He’s charging only $8 for 47 minutes so it seems like a bargain.

Pay the money, download it and then load it on your iPod.

This is the harmonica lesson of the future!

This is from the liner notes:

What will you find in this collection of jam tracks? Charlie and I knew that Vol. 1 needed to give developing harp players some basic tools of the trade, Common-stock tunes and grooves that show up repeatedly when you’re making your way in the blues world. Shuffles, slow blues, two-beat stomps, plus an 8-bar blues and a swingy blues with a straight-four feel. Nothing fancy. (Actually, Messin With the Kid is a little fancy. Don’t mess with it until you’re ready!) When Charlie and I play gigs, most of these songs are part of our set list.

Download Blues Harmonica Jam Tracks, Vol. 1.zip – Music Tutorials

I just noticed this link on the CityofChicago.org website.

Buddy Guy narrates and audio tour of Chicago. It has some nice Muddy, Howlin Wolf and harp players like Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson.

History of Chicago Blues Audio Tour

I wrote a little description of a common fix to make linear taper pots function better as volume controls. Audio taper pots are hard to find, especially in the small military pots that I use. I’ve been adding a resistor to the circuit and it makes the volume control a little better behaved.

Read about the linear taper pot fix

When I went to the Chicago Blues Festival it rained. When a friend of mine went, it rained. If you are going to Chicago, bring an umbrella or a broad brimmed hat.

The rain is the only bad thing that I can think of, though.

The Chicago Blues Festival is always the best of the festivals around and the only one worth traveling to in these days of high fuel prices.

Blues season in Chicago is from the first week in April until the middle of May. During this time the town is full of great acts, and not just those who perform specifically in the free festival venues. Blues stars from all over the country come to enjoy the festival, so they try to get a local gig to help pay for the costs.

Johnny Winter will be performing with James Cotton. If you think these two are well past their prime, you might be right, but I’ve seen them both recently and they still have a lot of ass kicking left in them.

One of the performers will be Harmonica Hines. He’s not well know outside of Chicago, but he’s a damn good harp player and a very nice person who was willing to talk to a beginner harp player about 15 years ago and give him some good advice.

If you can’t go to Chicago, some of the shows are streamed on internet audio in previous years. I haven’t been able to find out where I can tune into the shows. If you know, please tell me so I can post it here.

Chicago Blues Festival

Big Road Blues airs on a Chicago jazz station on Sunday mornings, but the best part about Big Road Blues is that Jeff Harris also has a blog with the playlist and some great writing about the blues. The blog articles are interesting and well written. I can’t get WGMC Jazz 90.1 internet radio here at work but I can read Jeff’s blog. I’ve added it to my Monday morning routine.

Stop by SundayBlues.org and don’t forget to bookmark the page.

I took this video at the Turning Point Cafe in Piermont, NY last fall. I didn’t publish it at the time because if the low quality, but any Video of Little Charlie and the Night Cats is worth watching, even one from the back of the room with poor sound.

Little Charlie and the Nightcats Oct 2007 from jt30guy on Vimeo.

Mississippi Heat has a new CD out – HATTIESBURG BLUES. They are probably one of the best unknown harmonica based bands out there. Harmonica player Pierre Lacocque is not to be missed.

This is MISSISSIPPI HEAT’s 8th CD. Musicians on this project are members of Pierre’s touring band: Inetta Visor (vocals), Giles Corey (guitar), Stephen Howard (bass), and Kenny Smith (drums). This recording project has 13 tracks: 12 originals songs written and/or co-written by Pierre, and one cover by Denise LaSalle (“Soft-Hearted Woman”). In addition to a strong Chicago feel, the CD presents a variety of exciting latin and Gospel-laden blues.

Today is Muddy Waters’ Birthday. Born April 4, 1915, Rolling Fork, MS.

Tonight, have a glass of champagne and tell all you loved ones and a friends “f—” you, just as Muddy would have done.

The story was that Muddy would use this censurable pejorative (f word) when talking to his friends, but he wouldn’t use it if you were an outsider. A badge of being accepted was to have Muddy use the f word when talking to you.

I once saw Bob Margolin say this to harmonica player Fingers Taylor at the end of a gig at Buddy Guy’s in Chicago. Fingers hugged Bob and thanked him profusely. Muddy may have been long gone, but Bob (Muddy’s slide guitar player) was a direct line to the great man, and to be accepted in this way by Bob Margolin was to be accepted into the Muddy Waters inner circle.

This Sunday is Harpin’ Help. If you are anywhere near the Jersey Shore you should drop by. It runs from 1pm to sometime after 9pm. The venue is big and roomy and there will be a zillion harp players there. I usually go down and take some pictures and if I can make it, I’ll show some here.

Here’s the lineup:

Turtle Soup featuring James Dalton (1:00 -1:40 pm)

The Cobra Brothers featuring Dave Mason & “Snakeman” Runyan (2:00 -2:40 pm)

Goldenseal featuring Billy Harth (3:00 -3:40 pm)

Billy Hector featuring Kenny” Stringbean” Sorenson (4:00 -4:40 pm)

Sandy Mack and the Mackettes featuring Mikey Jr. (5:00 -5:40 pm)

The Felix Cabrera Band featuring Jimmy Vivino & Rob Paparozzi (6:00 -6:40 pm)

The VooDudes featuring Big Nancy and Guest Harps (7:00 -?:40 pm)

I am a fan of both Billy Hector and Stringbean, so it will be good to see them together. Felix Cabrera is great and I will be looking forward to seeing Rob Paparozzi. There are no losers in the lineup.

North Atlantic Blues Festival

July 12 and 13, 2008

This is up in Rockland Maine. It’s a 7 hour ride from here and I’ll probably overnight Friday in Ogunquit and eat lobster. Sugar Blue and Rod Piazza will be there.

I’d ride 7 hours to see Honey Piazza play piano.

People ask me if a JT-30 is right for them. I also hear that some people don’t like JT-30s or want to use a vocal mic or some odd high fidelity microphone.

I just answer, listen to the guys who play harp using a JT-30. Here’s a nice short video of a guy who found a nice JT-30 new in the box with a ceramic (MC-127) element.

After listening to this guy, ask yourself what you want to sound like.

Calculate your Blues bona fides at Blues-O-Meter. (Another one of those silly internet calculators).