Ben Talks Harmonica

Using Musical Patterns To Increase Our Harmonica Skills

Many, many years ago, when I was teaching primary school children how to play a scale, I came up with rather a good and simple idea, which I have developed and would like to share with you now. We started with the notes of C, D, E, and F, and I decided to loop those four notes up and down to create a continual melody. So now we had a loop of C, D, E, F, E, D. Why don’t you try it now? Loop it round and round in 6/8 time using a metronome (or metronome app). BEN TALKS Try increasing the speed. Fun? Yes, I agree. Challenge yourself! HARMONICA Then we looped the remaining notes of the scale and got G, A, B, C, B, A. Ben Hewlett Same idea, what a beautiful melody. Try it now: use the beat to lock Vice-President in and see how it feels to play these loops for a couple of minutes. Interesting? Should be. Now memorise the patterns of transitioning from hole to hole, combined with the changes of breath movement, to call it a fixed pattern. Now play those exact same patterns but starting on different holes – try on all the different holes. What music derives from these patterns? You might recognise or be reminded of a tune or a fragment of a tune. Experiment. Usually when we play music, we are intentional about the notes we want to play, and are not concerned about which hole we need or which breath direction is required, we just want to play a specific tune or a specific improvisation. This approach of playing patterns is completely the opposite. The idea is to exploit the physical aspects of the harmonica to see what music can be created. In other words, by playing patterns we care not a jot about the musical result – we are focusing purely on the physicality and practicality of our instrument. This can be done with any instrument, of course: if you think of a guitar or a piano or a trumpet, what would be the easiest practical things you can do? Does pattern playing produce interesting music? I’ll let you be the judge of that.

There are several examples of pattern playing producing music that has been recorded, if you would like to hear them. Howard Levy’s Classical Concerto for Diatonic and Orchestra has a great example in the 3rd movement. I remember a solo album by Richard Hunter a while back that uses this concept really well; maybe someone has that album? If you listen to anything by John Popper or Sugar Blue you will hear harmonica solos crammed with pattern playing. Another way that many musicians increase their skills and capacity on their instrument is by borrowing techniques from other instruments. Let’s borrow something from drums now. I was just completing a course that I called ‘Drum Rudiments For Harmonica Players’* when I got a video from Howard Levy expanding on a theory I have heard him talking about before, which is exactly that: in other words, using the 40 drum rudiments and applying them to the harmonica. More on this subject next time – it’s too big for one article. I can show you more in my course right now if you are interested, or you can come to my free sessions on Zoom, but I’ll leave you with this cliff-hanger question – how can we play a double paradiddle-diddle or a triple stroke roll converted onto the harmonica? And why bother? More on this coming soon… *https://playharmonica.teachable.com/p/learn-drumrudiments-to-help-you-play-cool-new-harmonica-licks