Product Description

One of the most complete harmonica books ever! Uses fact, fiction, illustration, and notation to teach Music Theory 101, chord progressions, puckering, tongue-blocking, octaves, tongue-slaps, headshakes, vibrato, bends, overblows, secrets of great tone, and much more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9831 in Books
• Published on: 2000-08
• Released on: 2000-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

About the Author
Jon Gindick is the author of "Country & Blues Harmonica For the Musically Hopeless", "Harmonica Americana", "The Natural Blues & Country Western Harmonica", "Banished Moon", and "Country and Blues Harmonica For the Absolute Beginner" (video).

"Jon Gindick is one of the world's foremost teachers of blues harmonica." BB King

Customer Reviews

fun as hell. start jamming on day one!
Wow. I'm glad I went out on a limb and bought this. It's worth it for the CD alone. The book is a nice aid as well, but, ummm the whole caveman blues-band narrative is a tad cheesy, and would be a little racist (a white, Tarzan-esque hijacking of what is essentially a black music form) if it weren't so obviously bone-headed. Oh stop, I can't help with the cultural analysis. It's a reflex at this point. at least you don't have to sit with me in a movie theatre...

Back to the point, I would go so far as to guarantee that if you simply play along with the CD and skim the book, just spend about 20- 30 minutes a day, you will MASSIVELY improve in skill. And the harmonica sounds really damn good on the CD- which makes you try harder. You want to be that good. Oh- Learning to Bend the notes on holes 2 and 3 takes TIME. I still can't hit them all when I need to.

But I can jam along with my favorite tunes by Mandrill, The Clash, The White Stripes, and many others... I feel like I have bounced months ahead in 2 weeks' time!

I don't know about or own any other 'teach your self blues harp,' guides, because this one is working so well I haven't felt the need to purchase another. I enthusiastically reccomend this without reserve!

the one to get first!
I see that this book has 5 stars and over 30 reviews so I hardly have to convince any one of how good it is. The author is obviously a heck of a good guy and he talks you through all the techniques and riffs in the book. The fact that he is not only a great harp player but also a great teacher makes this book and cd worth it's weight in gold. Another great section of the book is the extensive list of albums that feature harmonica with every track listed along with the key the harp is played for every song on the album! I got myself a Hohner Special 20 harp which is Jon's top recommendation on his website. This is an updated version of the Marine Band and is easier to bend notes on than that. Make sure you don't pay too much for one of these harps, about 20 bucks is about right. I saw a catalog for homespun that had the Lee Oskar harps (also recommended and quite similar to the Hohner Special 20) for sale for 37.00 which I guess is list price. Yikes! Like I mentioned, the special 20 and the Oskar is about 20.00 if you go online or to the big guitar outlet place that's all over the place. Anyway, thanks Jon, I'll soon be getting your Americana book with the 2 cds. The Blues Harp collection (different author, but also on amazon) is also a fantastic book although of course you'll have to get at least a Little Walter and a Sonny Boy Williamson album to hear alot of the tunes transcribed in this book. I got the versions called "His Best" of both of these guys. One other book that is no less than amazing is the Bluegrass Harmonica by Mike Stevens (also available thru Amazon) Don't pass this by because you may not be into bluegrass, it's got quite a few traditional melodies and originals by Stevens but the main thing is the technique involved is incredible. It involves bending like in the book reviewed here but it goes a bit further into bends and a somewhat advanced technique called overblows which together will teach you to get every note available out of a regular diatonic harp. Also with a cd and again, the tunes and technique here are not to be missed. The bending involved for the tunes in this book is probably more challanging than for blues harp playing. One other book that is not blues but will teach you some great traditional American and Irish fiddle tunes is the one by Glen Weiser. What's great about this book is it doesn't involve bending at all but the tunes are challanging and complex enough. Again, not the blues but a way to expand your mastery of the harmonica with some great tunes.

SIMPLY THE BEST WAY TO LEARN BLUES HARMONICA
I really enjoyed this book. Jon really understands what the blues, and particularly what blues harp is all about and knows how to explain it to you in an exciting and interesting way. Much of the essence of the book seems to be that blues is about creating and resolving tension by knowing which draw notes to accent- (particularly in 2nd position.) I realize that he isn't the first to "define" blues in such a manner, but rather the first author to clearly show you how each note can be used to effectivly create and resolve tension so essential in this style of playing. I also liked the emphasis on good tone. Clear tone after all, can make the difference between mediocre playing and excellent playing. Finally, what I really enjoyed was the CD that comes with the package, which allows you to shut off the instruction and jam with the band (or shut off the band and listen to the instruction). Jon has a really exciting-somewhat offbeat teaching style that really makes it fun to learn from. This book is not big on theory-though he generally teaches you enough to get by. ( for more a great introduction to this very important subject I highly reccomend reading "Music Theory Made Simple", by David Harp. I would have liked to have seen some more information of position play..particularly third position. (..sorry...I just can't seem to get enough of those minor blues!)For those serious about learning blues harmonica this is no doubt the book to get. Highly, highly reccomended.