Hey Corey .. would be great to learn this tune sometime.  It's so powerful and beautiful.

I really like what you did with it here. 

I PLAY THE HARMONICA BACK TO FRONT.i DONT KNOW WHY .iS THIS A DISADVANTAGE.

Gary Clark Jr playing Catfish Blues at the White House.

See you tomorrow at 7:00!

@mike...I imagine a circle turning in a clockwise direction and that keeps me on the one. I don't try to think about scales and chords, just like I don't think about grammar or vocabulary when I speak. 

Really ... what do you mean by that?  

I realize this may be a bit of an odd question ... but it's something I think about a lot as I think there are some important insights into understanding what's in the mind of Artist like yourself when he or she is playing.

For instance, for the longest time, I imagined scale patterns on the fretboard and ran up and down them ... which in hindsight, is probably totally wrong ... yet a natural thing for a visual engineer like me to do.  It's like I was writing sentences with random words.

I think of circles when I play.

Hi Jerry,

I just started your lessons and love them. They challenge me, as a new harp player, and I appreciate that. I have a few  marine band harps, I was wondering what type of harp you play or recommend? Thanks, Brandon

somewhat along the lines of Corey's response, my favorite piece of gear is the lazy boy I'm sitting in right now. Used to belong to my grandpa. I know, it seems silly, but for a long time I sat at my desk, in a desk chair, hunched over the computer to play/learn. It felt really unnatural, awkward, stiff. LIke I'm in a cubicle trying to jam. Now, I recline in the lazy boy and it feels great. The boss eband practice unit lets me do this, so maybe I should say the boss. But I'd rather think it's the lazy boy. I also just picked up an epiphone riviera p93, in cherry. It's beautiful, the finish and build look solid, the neck feels nice and chunky, too. We'll see how long it stays my favorite, fingers crossed!

I have been playing my 60 classic LP a lot lately and my ES345 from 68 or so....I use my resonators for slide and a Larivee parlor or ooo15 martin for acoustic playing. I have a pretty big fleet..Silvertones Teles Strats and assorted other stringed things around here. I do as much of my own set up and repair as i can. I try ot match the right guiatr with teh material I am playing....the right tools for the job. the good craftman respects his tools but is not to dear about them. 

Jerry can you explain why GHS sounds quiet differnt than so many of the chicago guys (that come out of Sonny Boy 1)....sounds like he is not play octaves as much and ??????

thanks.....BTW a series on hte different styles of some of the big guns of the harp would be really cool. 

Anybody on any instrument who plays something that I like and can transfer to the harmonica, whether it be piano lines or horn lines, guitar licks or even section riffs from the big bands like Count Basie. R&B sax players can be a treasure trove - guys like Louis Jordan, Red Prysock, Gator Tail Jackson, Joe Houston etc. My advice - borrow from the best!

How about some Willie Johnson Pat Hare and Hubert stuff. Right around the time Hubert passed I caught some radio and Tv tributes and they all had Willie Johnson era tracks playing. That bugged me. Heck a great big pile of Pat Hare stuff would be really cool.......so would some Magic Sam and West side thing.....the other  thing that would be really great is a guitars behind Little Walter deal...Robert jr the Myers and Luther Tucker.....all those interlocking fills and riffs. please!!!

I would love a few TBone lessons...some of the things across a Minor 4 have vexed me for ages. there is a lick with a tag on the B string which is flat 5 five and flat six back to five which I cannot get under my fingers.

Seeing I don't use fake books, generally speaking, I don't feel qualified to really elaborate more than I already have. But I can say that I often use changes in fake books as a guideline only. I may want to play changes that seem correct to me from an arrangement I like and use my ear to tweak them to what I want. I can only say that works for me having the sound in my head. I'm not always sure that my chords are absoulutely correct but if they work for me I use them. I am not a fan of a lot of altered chords and often use the "vanilla" changes because I play harmoniclly simple. I do that because that's what I hear and what i prefer. To each his own they say!

It's always pianists in my case-- Bill Evans especially, because the piano is a chordal instrumant like the guitar-- we can only play six notes at a time, they're good for ten--  past that I rate Drummers--  then Bassists,--  come to think of it I would trade a hundred guitarists for one drummer anyday-- Cheers to all, David

I'd Like to play guitar as a drum....djembe preferibly :)

seen him Live

http://youtu.be/yUjv4DsBXBo

plus, as far as I understood, it's a sign that carachterizes Bobo Ashanti rastamen :)

Lol not hats but turbans...one piece of cloth wrapped around the head.  Get them online and sometimes at a store near my home.

My main instrument for inspiration is the saxophone.  My favorite players are Bird, Buster Smith, Lester Young, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon.  I also get a lot of inspiration from the ngoni...players like Cheick Hamala Diabate and Bassekou Kouyate.  

Any good music played by good musicians...Trombone alto sax trumpet and harp lines translate to guitar well. hearing breathing patterns helped me learn to phrase better...I grew up with two jazz drummer brothers so I get a lot of rhythmic ideas via drumming. We listened to a lot of Zappa too....I have taken a lot of half step slide into the note ideas from piano lines. Oragn chords for the lower thirds below the root note. Bass lines for propulsion and articulation. I am a very very big music collector and have been since I was a small boy. Lee Morgan Fred Welsey Art Blakey Jerry Portnoy(!!) Stuff Smith, Vic Dickenson, Wayne Shorter, Jaco, Bootsy,...the end is listless...If I can steal it  to use it I will! 

You can often get good ideas by listening to OTHER instruments (like BB and Louis Jordan ... Buzz Me).  What OTHER instruments and Artists do you get ideas and inspiration from?

man you sure have a lot of wild hats...

I collect hats (although I lost most of them to a flood last summer (HIgh water everywhere part 3!)..mainly buy things in Chicago Hats Plus.

where do you get those??? I could not pul those off but I am curious. 

man that is some serious blowing.......I love how jerry's solo has that time feel shift thing. I first recognised that from his playing with Muddy and use that all the time time. I love Bonnie's sound on the guitar as well