Modern Blues Harmonica - First Position 1 (Gussow.071)

[guitarman8334]

Thanks Guy , great help !

[senorchristoph]

5:33 Total A.D.D Moment. haha

[runawaybrain13]

sir, you are fantastic.

[laurinw]

KudzoRunner, why is it hard for me to bend ther 1 and 2 draws?

[spunyun]

I have a question on that first lick, if the 2draw and the 3blow are the same note, wouldn't it be easier to go from the 3 bend to the 3 blow?

[Kaziklubei]

Only you would give us a lesson in botany and harp and that's exactely why I watch your videos. It's just never boring

[conor30000]

When i try to draw? and bend the 2 hole the noise deteriorates into nothing, im hesitant to blame my harmonica, its a cheap hofner blues harp, i just cant nail full bendssss ahhhhhh frustration

[Vienwl462]

WHy did you not tell us the blues scale of first position?

[gussowclone]

mornin adam

[jessupar]

im sorry but every time i hear you go "HUMMINGBIRD!!!" it makes me laugh so hard i have tears in my eyes and i have to drop the harp xD

[ranchosdancingbull]

Its almost like he smoked salvia

[RochesterRiot]

i dont know much about playing harmonica... but i do know alot about powerful weed :D !!!

[tylerbgoode]

Ugh...

[joehancock01]

the harmonica is complimicated than i thought it would be cant wait to get my harmonica .:)

[PayoFyah]

hey adam,getting to minute 7,can i do that riff in other key?i dont have a A harmonica,and here in colombia theese instruments are pretty expensive,i have a C golden cup harp

[darkdave25]

That was great, and excatly what I needed!

[webdeshel]

I absolutely love your instructional videos and the overwhelming lack of "ummmmms" & "uhs" which are so prevalent in today's spoken word. My father often despairs when he realizes that his 12 rural acres in Alabama are slowly being consumed by Lake Kudzu. Keep it up man, your rock!

[newpower319]

my A harp doesnt have these notes! confused

[KudzuRunner]

Yes it does, and yes you are, I'm afraid. What's confusing? I conduct the bulk of the lesson on an A harp. I use a couple of common bends, and I explain what they are very clearly.

[newpower319]

yes you do explain very clearly. Thanks to these damn videos I can't get off my ass and get stuff done. "Just one more....!"

I'll get there

[eharphyde]

"there is a HUGE butterfly or hummingbird. i dont know what the heck we are seeing out in mississippi." lol where is the cop from your early videos when a certain harp guru needs him?

[strawwoodclaw]

Hello Adam. It looks beautiful where you live. I was wondering what camera & Mic you use .Its very good quality. Is it a camera phone?? I always wondered where you got your you tube name from. Your lessons are priceless

[HarpLips]

Good first lesson on first Adam. Kind of chuckling over the giant butterfly / hummingbird distraction. Good comic relief : )

[RolfJoakim]

My thoughts exactly! Good luck on taking over the blues. At the very least these lessons should award you a place in the hall of fame! If you ever play in Denmark, I´ll be there!

[RolfJoakim]

I just heard that kudzu was imported from japan to prevent soil erosion. And now it is apparently taking over Mississippi fast as a genuine threat to the indigenous flora. I wonder why mr. Gussow chose that alias.

[KudzuRunner]

When I moved from Manhattan to Mississippi in August 2002 and began running on the back roads, the kudzu was THE dominant form of vegetation. So I just sort of took the name. And now, like a cancer on the good state of Miss., I'm taking over the blues.......

[harpindablues]

great stuff again adam! Just rolled in from vacation, What a wonderfull surprise. thanx  Dave.

[blopper68]

Hey maestro,..1st position...1st class post per usual.

Thanks again,keep em comin'.

Sean.N.I.

[bluessandwitch]

great lesson, adam! i have a question, i've found that i can actually bend hole 4 draw draw a 1/4 note, and i can get 3 bends on hole 2 as well, one more between the fourth and the mojor third. can you give us a lesson on how to use this 1/4 note?

[KudzuRunner]

Dennis Gruenling and Jon Gindick have both laid out the architecture of those holes and the notes you can get on them with great clarity. I'll see what I can do, but you might access their websites and see what you can find.

[Woistalibaba]

Yet again - cool one Adam. Awesome how you make everything part of your lesson - from the Harp over Kudzu to massive butterflies. Makes the lesson very alive and makes me feel like you are actually talking to us - not just to the dead camera that is recording all your lessons. Great!

[Cornplanter]

I realized the shape of your mouth is more important in bending a note than the amount of air you suck in. I realized I could never get that tone using the tongue curl and decided to spend more time practicing lip pursing.

[KudzuRunner]

Breakthroughs are good, and it sounds as though you had more than your share today. Good work!

[dfwdlg]

Though I haven't been playing long, whenever I have trouble bending, I always back off and use as little air as possible until I find a sweet spot.

Question on Marine Bands. You mentioned once that you trimmed the comb when needed with a sharp knife. Any hints here. Do you want to take the covers off first?

Thanks for the 1st position stuff. Waiting for next installment (as well as your new book which was ordered yesterday from Amazon along with wife's birthday ipod).

[Cornplanter]

I practiced bending the 4 hole draw using lip pursing. I tried to suck in as hard as I do tongue curling but was unable to maintain my breath very long. I tried changing the shape of my mouth, position of my tongue, etc. During one attempt, the note came out clean, loud and sounding just like a note! I found I was able to sound the note using a lot less breath then I thought possible and was able to duplicate this on the 1, 2 and 3 holes after making minor adjustments to my mouth.

[Cornplanter]

I had an epiphany today. I was practicing the blues scale Adam laid out in a previous lesson. I used the tongue curl method which I believed allowed me to better control the bend on hole 3 and 4. In order to bend the notes, I kept my tongue in a curl and sucked real hard on the hole. The result was what happened every time I believed I successfully bent a note: the tone drops half a step but sounds dull, muted and reminiscent of a cat being beaten to death with a set of bagpipes.

[theduffharp]

Kudzurunner, I have this plague growing in my back yard, it was there when I bought my house. It's called "Morning Glory" here (Melbourne, Australia). You cut the bloody thing back, rip out those runners from the ground as well and it's all back in three weeks time!! Anyway enough of horticulture, love what you are doing. It's totally different, there's plenty of stuff out there for beginners, but you are also helping those further down the way. Hope to correspond a bit more from now on.

[B1uesUp]

Hi Adam, class as always. It feels such a long way away, what with me being across the pond, but I'm hearing you loud and clear! I'll be practising this one as I've never really got to grips with first position blues. Great lesson as always. God bless ya.

[axvxia]

I can't wait for the third position series :)

[grimesn]

Thanks Adam. I really appreciate the advice. All the best.

[grimesn]

Thanks again for all the advice. But I have a question. I have holes 5 and 6 on a marine band in A set to play overblows but when I get the overblow on hole 5 I find that the standard blow on hole 5 sticks alot unless I only blow medium pressure. Do you need to just learn to use medium blow pressure when you set a reed to play overblows? Or should I always be able to use full blow pressure?

[KudzuRunner]

Good question. You need to open the blow reed gap very slightly--enough so that the reed doesn't stick, but not so much that you can't get the overblow note. I struggle all the time to find the sweet spot. It's a zero-sum game, I'm afraid.

[burntpigg]

one of my favourite songs in first position is kim wilsons "trust my baby" of the album "tigerman". check it out

[KudzuRunner]

Good call. Yes, Kim is a master of this sort of playing. Now if he would only add an overblow or two.....

[realphatnugly]

Can you teach a lesson on how to make it look easy? You seem to do that REALLY well! Thanks, again.

[roysrod]

Thanks adam, very helpful brother I cant thank you enough!

rodrory

[Tryharp]

Thanks Adam, great lesson as usual, and the location shooting is great to connect us with your world.

[zyxel2]

Nice lesson again.

Really nica youre teaching us again

Im a butterflay!!! BOO!!!!! :)

[beenmean]

It looks very green out there, we in calif. are having a major drought! For original harp and music in general do a google search for outlawbluesband the official site is up and running. keep the peace

[lianxin0216]

Adam you are my best teacher!

[TYSOHN]

I can't get that full 3 bend it sounds strange. Cool lesson though I like the lick a lot even with the half step 3 bend. Oh and 1-4 octave do you just block hole 2 and 3? Thanks

[KudzuRunner]

Yes, I just block 2 and 3--but sometimes I'm sorta half-blocking hole 1 too.

[leanground]

Killer lesson Adam...very timely for me.