When you seek blues harp lessons on the internet, it doesn’t take too long before you come across Adam Gussow who for over 3 years now has taught so many of us tips and tricks on playing the blues harp through his nifty 10 minute lessons on Youtube. Although he has always previously claimed that he doesn’t sing he has now produced an album called ‘Kick And Stomp’ which is solo all the way just beat  and some really neat question and answer between the vocal and the harmonica. The album tracks are as follows:

1) Kick and Stomp 3:46
2) Good Morning Little Schoolgirl 2:55
3) Sunshine of Your Love  6:38
4) Every Day I Have the Blues 4:54
5) Poor Boy 4:09
6) Shaun’s Song 4:44
7) Goin’ Down South  4:43
Burford Chapel Breakdown  3:41
9) Crossroads Blues 5:46
10) Mr. Cantrell  5:57
11) Down Ain’t Out  5:59
12) My Baby’s So Sweet 4:12
13) Sugar 3:51
14) The Entertainer 2:21

Now the really neat part after you have enjoyed this great solo selection of songs on the harmonica you can use audacity to change the tempo of the tracks in order to learn them.

Audacity is a free recording program which does most things which expensive computer recording software does without requiring shedloads of RAM gigabytes. It imports mp3 files and by changeing the tempo you can slow a piece down for practise. Okay Adam Gussow’s voice goes all to pot, but it was the harmonica part you wanted to practise.(His voice is fine at the correct speed I hasten to add). On you tube you can find Adam’s blues harp lessons on playing ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’

Hearing this album reminded me of my clarinet teacher explaining to me that a harmonica was just a toy and not a serious instrument when I was 14 and taking blues harp lessons. How so incorrect was he. The beat, the vocal, and the harmonica riffs all go to make a great album. You really get a sense of the original blues harp players stomping their feet on the wooden porches in the deep south. The amplified harmonica tone is a great source of endless debate and my advice is to listen to this whole album and then experiment yourself with an amp and any effects you have to hand when seeking the elusive unique sound.

Its also worth mentioning that the selection of music goes all the way from traditional blues like ‘Poor Boy’ to the modern era with ‘Sunshine of your love’ by Cream. The selection will provide endless blues harp lessons for the the harmonica player as well as being an album which defines modern harmonica playing.

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