I am looking for a good book on music theory - preferably written for harp, so I won't have to transcribe all the scales and stuff. My goals are: Learning other modes and their respective scales/learning some basic harmony theory/getting some ideas about how to build up solo's etc.
I have been going through some of the older topics on theory, and I came across a book that might be interesting by David Barrett: improvising blues harmonica. Only 15 euro's, so no harm done there.
My question is: does anybody have this book? Can anyone be so kind as to tell me if it provides what I need? Or are there other books to go to?
And perhaps it would be fun to exchange some christmas wishlist ideas?? Or Sinterklaas wishlist for those coming from the Netherlands :) Mine are: harps! I want to switch from sp20's to Marine band deluxes. Thinking of getting Ben Bouman's Beta 1 (but wonder: are they worth the E 10 extra although I can gap myself??).
Thanks in advance for input on the book! And sorry for yet again writing too much :( Should these be 2 different topics? I don't want to start to many topics.. Sorry. Went straight off again!
You might ask Michael Rubin about his book, "Meat and Potatoes Harmonica." It contains much the same kind of information in his Youtube video series of the same title. Michael is a mountain of knowledege about music theory as it relates to diatonic harmonica and he is a good teacher. Be prepared to dust off your study habits, though, as this is not a quick read.
If you are interested in this subject, I highly recommend that you track that Youtube series. Here's lesson number 1:
Again, this is not a quick spin through a couple of videos. Michael is still working on lessons numbering somewhere in the fifties now.
It's not always an easy swallow, but this is the medicine you need...
Or there's Winslow Yerxa's Harmonica for Dummies, or, if you want less harp and more theory, there's Pilhofer and Day's Music Theory for Dummies ----------
Andrew. ----------------------------------------- Those who are tardy do not get fruit cup.
Last Edited by on Nov 18, 2011 10:05 AM
I have a lot of David Barrett's books. "Blues harmonica jam tracks and soloing concepts 1 2 and 3" "Exploring 2 pos", "exploring 1st pos", "Scales patterns and bending exercises 1", "Blues harmonica accompaniment playing".
They're all really Good! I have used the jam tracks a lot and tried to make good of the "concept" part as well. The "Exploring..." books are maybe somewhat basic but there are some licks and pointers there.
The Scales patterns and bending exercises 1 is maybe what you are looking for? There's a lot of scales there. All modes in first through fifth plus twelfth postition. Blues, major pentatonic, minor pentatonic, wholetone, natural and harmonic minors as well.
Some good bending patterns I guess but kind of boring... The best practice is the one that actually gets done, right?
As for your question about "Improvising"... Haven't got that one. Sorry :/
EDIT: All scales and all the books themselves do not mention overblowing/bending. So if you OB or want to learn it and get it into your modes; then the books are lacking... a lot. ---------- Pistolkatt - Pistolkatts youtube
Last Edited by on Nov 18, 2011 11:44 AM
David Barrett has good material, but I don't think "Improvising Blues Harmonica" is what you're looking for. Check out his other stuff here. Glenn Wieser's "Blues and Rock Harmonica" has some of what you're looking for, but I suggest THIS. I think it may be just what you're looking for, and for the price, you can't go wrong.
Last Edited by on Nov 18, 2011 2:45 PM
The C Harmonica Book - James Major - is packed with information. There's 1 book for every major key, but they are essentially the same with the note names changed! The book is a comprehensive list of tabbed out scales and arpeggios (and dots for readers). Preview it here
The best harmonica theory resource I've found isn't a book; it's Howard Levy's online Harmonica School. Highly recommended.
Another online theory resource is on Joe Craig's website. It's not harmonica focused and it's a little hard to navigate but it's very thorough and easy to understand and the price is right (free).
This book isn't bad for an introduction:
I picked it because the flute has the same range as a C harmonica.
This book presents some interesting idea on blues playing (something many theory books sort of gloss over):
It comes in a C version, but since all the examples are in Bb or F it might be a little easier to read if you get the Bb (trumpet, tenor sax) or Eb (alto sax) version and transpose. On the other hand, it's worth getting just to read the text and play along with the samples.
This book is more of a philosophy of music practicing book, but it does have a nice brief (14 pages) introduction to music theory:
I really like this book; I keep coming back to it as I deepen my understanding.
Here are some good books if you really want to dig deep:
Not easy, but years of learning in them.
Last Edited by on Nov 18, 2011 12:18 PM
Thanks for all the tips sofar! @gene: the link to the forum doesn't work. The other book looks cool, thanks! Could you tell me if it includes OB and OD? That was a nice point of Pistolcat to point out! Lot's of these books don't go into that of course, as they are a bit older.
If I plug any of those numbers into Amazon's search the Positions book comes up. Strange indeed. But maybe they altered the title to better reflect what's in the book? After all you say it is more about positions right? Even more strange is that if you go to the book in your link that says Theory, and click " read more " the title comes up "positions." lol ---------- Tommy
Yeah - there really isn't much music theory in it other than scales for each position, but don't let that discourage you, it really is a useful little book for getting your head round positions and the scales you need for them.
Pretty sure there's just the one book that has been retitled to more accurately reflect its contents. If you go to the author's website it only mentions one book called"Music Theory..."
Have a peek at the James Major book too - just as affordable, a little less digestible maybe, but an absolute goldmine.
Because it does provide scales with overblows, I will wish for the C Harmonica Book (And the A harmonica book for good measure). Seems cool (and cheap as well!).
After that I might get into the book timeistight mentioned.
For now though, I am Hooked (HOOKED) on Michael Rubin's tutorials on theory (Meat and potatoes series). Thanks for the link Michelle. It seems kinda boring and slow in the beginning (because I already knew what was being talked about), but then as it moves into (more or less) unknown grounds these vid's really help you to work on them scales and to understand them. And then his "boring" tone is coming to be a very nice but steady voice that rams that knowledge where it needs to sit. And it explains it. That's what makes it fun. Music becomes a building made of logically compatible bricks that can be understood rather than remembered. Extremely exiting!
If you know about the circle of fifths and scales and all that stuff (And probably more, but it's been 2 days and I haven't seen all the available videos yet.Understanding of minor/blues tonality and recognizing keys by ear has been promised though), but never took the time to really learn them... watch them videos. Seriously. And if you don't know about them.... well!
If you read this, Mr. Rubin (I don't have a youtube account): A VERY BIG THANK YOU VERY MUCH! Why are there only a couple hundred hits on these? It's like the anti-matter to Gussow's matter. It explains the theory that one always misses in Gussow (and he provides the songs/blues stories/microtonal technical stuff that Rubin misses).
Edited to add: of course that's not a complaint about either one of them, I just wanted to relate things back to Gussow and demonstrate that they complement very well to my mind.
Last Edited by on Nov 21, 2011 1:25 PM
Thanks Willy and Michelle! As for the only a couple of hits, I sense my videos are a hundredth monkey situation. Once that hundredth monkey becomes aware of them, they will explode with lots of hits.
So, are you suggesting Michelle might be a monkey? Perhaps I just do not get the analogy though (coming from Holland)... :)
I wish upon you that you may be struck with a lot of hits!
PS: Did you just give us all the finger in video 36 or did that glass really explode? In that case I suggest that you start advertising the lessons as soon as they are hit with a lot of hits, and buy a dishwasher!
In all seriousness: Thanks again. Reassuring thought that our gratitude arrived where it belongs! The digital world we live in..
Freewilly, The glass exploded, I had 11 stitches. I now have a scar and a slight pain if I hold the chromatic too long.
The hundredth monkey concept is as follows: place 1000 Monkeys on an island. Give them a tool such as a hammer. In the beginning, no monkey knows how to use the hammer. Then, 1 monkey. The rest still don't get it. A second monkey learns it. The rest do not. A third monkey, etc. But when the hundredth monkey learns it, suddenly every monkey on the island knows it instinctually and baby monkeys are born with the knowledge of how to use it. I am suggesting that at a certain point, enough people are going to trust their friend's recommendation to check out my videos that everybody will check them out. At least I am hoping. In the meantime, I am having fun making them and around 150 people are watching them regularly, it must be helping them!
I've always believed that instinct is transmitted not through evolution, but through online harplessons. Eh, I mean: instantaneous energy fields. Interesting concept!
Holy cow. 11 stitches. How do you get those in one finger? I feel for you!
Just thought you might get a kick out of this. I ordered the harp positions/theory book. It was listed as "harp positions" as we discussed above. When it arrived the cover says Music Theory Made Easy...lol ---------- Tommy
@Freewilly: That book of Barret's (Improvising Blues Harmonica) is the best one I have ever read. It not only helps you with a harp playing, it also helps you to understand what the blues as a musical form is all about.
So for me as a song writer it was really helpful also to think about how I build the lyrics and vocal melodies...
While it's not harmonica related, one of the most readable and relatively complete books for me has been:
Music theory for practical people. Ignore the cartoony nature of it - it's a book written for adults, and it's a laid back look at music theory from beginning to advanced/complex by the time you get to the end of the book.
My feeling is it improves upon some of the other music theory books by cutting out a lot of the fluff. It's simply "what you need to know, and why you need to know it." and I've not yet adapted it to harp, but once you memorize the notes in the holes of your harp, what you've learned from the book will make sense.
That's my 2 cents on a worthwhile book for music theory.
I can also agree with mojojojo's recommendation of the "C" (or insert other letter there) harmonica books. Not really lesson oriented - more like a reference to use with lessons, but the information, and relation to harmonicas is pretty good. I've got a couple of those books and they're handy, and priced inexpensively.
