Here's a promo video by the author, Steve Cohen. Only 22 views to date, but it will get many more. I'm impressed by the scope of the project. Please comment:
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Jun 30, 2015 4:50 PM
I like it. I like Cohen's "Classic Blues Riffs for Harmonica: 25 Famous Guitar & Bass Parts Adapted for Diatonic Harp" even more. I recommended the latter in the "Playing the head on main riff on harp" thread.
They're both worth buying.
Last Edited by timeistight on Jun 30, 2015 5:20 PM
Sounds great. Anyone who got to the end of it would have a pretty impressive bag. It remains to be seen how accessible his notation is though. Presumably a CD is included? He doesn't mention this, however it would be essential.
His versions sound a little tame compared to the original (no shame there), but that is beside the point. If he gets folk up to speed, then they can seek out the originals sounds. I'm not aware of other blues lick collections as comprehensive as his seems to be.
Tom Balls book of Little Walter/Big Walter Licks is also worth a mention. ---------- Tony Eyers Australia www.HarmonicaAcademy.com everyone plays...
Last Edited by Harmonicatunes on Jun 30, 2015 9:55 PM
There's a preview on Amazon. The licks are presented in standard notation and tab with hole numbers and arrows for breath direction. It says there's a CD too.
Going by the table of contents it certainly covers a lot and would keep you occupied for quite a while.
The reviews are mainly very positive. A couple mention that some of the licks are quite advanced, which is useful to know for beginners like me.
Last Edited by Glass Harp Full on Jul 01, 2015 3:31 AM
Check out the first 1:21 of this live video. By the time he gets to the overblow licks at the end, he has thrown down some seriously nice stuff. This is not a player to be underestimated. I'd never heard of him either, before the 100 licks video, but I'm glad I know the name now:
I have this book. Its really good. I recommend it. Its of variable accessibility, some is easy some is not so easy... Im sure I'll keep going back to it for some time to come.
Also, I wanted to echo Tony from far, far above in this thread: Tom Ball's books are great, especially if your playing skews more towards pucker (vs. tongue blocking).
The books does look great and I've thought about getting it several times, but one question I have is how one goes about making licks like this "YOURS". I have several lick books, including Tom Ball's (who is one of my favorite players by the way), but I seem to learn a handful of licks at a time and try to make them permanent; which they seem to be for about a month or so but then they eventually work themselves out as new licks come in. I study scales and think about why the lick sounds good; but I often feel like a small percentage of the stuff I study becomes mine for the long haul (maybe 5%). Is this normal or do I need to rethink how I go about learning licks/scales.
I met Steve in 1991 in Lake Tahoe. He played Elwwod in a Blues Brother act at one of the casino's. I saw him play several times and have all of his books, I think there's five. He's not well known, but he's the real deal.
He"s done exceptional work on all his books, especially the LW book. I highly recommend getting all of them. Everything contained in the books will make you a better harp player. There not just tab books, he teaches 12 bar, soloing, rhythm fills, shuffles. Basically everthing is covered in an easy format. All the books include a CD. He plays the song or riff on one track and the next track is just the music to play the riff on you own.
Harp study, its about making you a better player with more licks in your arsensel. The more you can play, the more you can create.
If you learn complete songs I think you will retain more. Some of Steve's books like the LW book teaches you complete songs. For people that don't care for tab, that's where his cd's are useful to learn by ear and use tab as a quick reference for the tricky stuff.
Last Edited by Harpaholic on Jul 02, 2015 8:48 PM
There is a better way of retaining lick vocabulary. I'm not sure exactly your approach right now, but you should be taking licks out of their original context and playing them to different kinds of jam tracks in different keys. By taking licks apart and reassembling them in different ways, with good phrasing, you can make the licks yours.
This is what David Barrett refers to as Chorus Forms, and it is at the center of great improvisation. I recommend his book, "Improvising Blues Harmonica". Even better, subscribe to his website, bluesharmonica.com.
Count me in as another guy who hadn't heard of Steve Cohen before this thread. Seems like a very solid player and the book should be helpful to lots of players.
Don't worry about "making the licks mine". It happens entirely automatically. The value is in getting the licks into your muscle memory in the first place. You may or not memorize them and quote them literally - and if you do they will still sound like you. But even if you don't if you learn them you will become comfortable with hole number/breath direction/bending sequences you weren't before. ---------- *************************************************** /Greg
If there's a forum where it's appropriate to toot one's own horn this is it. In December, 2013 I mentioned this book to the forum. Our former poster Frank mentioned Steve Cohen's earlier book. Mind The Gap and timeistight (what happened to him?) seemed to like the books as well. Good to hear a very good player like Greg H. support this type of learning as another tool to use. For me it's a starting place for new ideas. If lifting the phonograph stylus and repeating a lick wearing out 78 rpm records worked for me I'd do that too.
Last Edited by SmokeJS on Jul 05, 2015 2:53 PM
SmokeJS - I'm still here, plugging away. Yes, looks like you found this book first, probably soon after it first came out? I don't have it actually, but it looks good especially with the variations. Some of it sounds quite advanced though.
I echo the concerns about 'making the licks your own'. I don't find it an automatic process. Some stick and some don't. Personally, if I can identify them with a particular song, they seem to stick better. True that playing them in different contexts seems to help too.
I bought this a few weeks ago and it's well done. It's not for absolute beginners in my opinion as there are some tough licks in it.
That's not a bad thing, it's challenged me as someone who has only been playing a few months and helped progress my playing.
I would imagine it would offer even advanced players a decent batch of licks they've never learned or come across.
The CD is good although each lick is played once at full tempo with no breakdown or commentary as you get with some other audio accompaniment tracks.
Again, not a bad thing if you just want to jump from lick to lick.
The book is organised into different styles which is good in many ways although it does mean you can go from a really simple lick to something very advanced in the blink of an eye.
I'm glad I bought it and I would imagine it will be a year or two before I've really gotten everything I can from it.
Last Edited by Michael McKenzie on Jul 28, 2015 1:24 PM
I purchased an iBooks version of this on my iPad which is great since it has the audio and notation that can all be accessed in the app. i use a Bluetooth speaker / iPad to play jam tracks and slowed down recordings for my own practice so it makes it a natural extension.
