How I wrote "Kill the Doctor (That Killed My Wife)"
First of all, my wife’s not dead. But a careless doctor nearly killed her 5 years ago. A couple of caring doctors had to put her back together again. It took a long time, and she nearly died on several occasions while it was underway….
Blogging the harmonica
This is my first blog entry, and I’ll use it for a statement of intentions. I play the harmonica. I have been playing harmonica for over 40 years. In that time, I have written the world’s best-selling method for jazz and rock harmonica players, released…
RP200 Patch for Harmonica: Boutique Amp with "Pong" Delay and Chorus
This patch combines a Boutique Amp Model setup — a useful “hard” amp model for harmonica on the Digitech RP200 (my favorite), RP100, and RP300 — with a long ping-pong delay and a touch of chorusing. The overall effect is a big, animated “stadium” sound,…
RP200 Patch for Harmonica: Blackface Amp with Phaser
This patch combines a basic Blackface Amp Model setup — a very useful “soft” amp model for harmonica on the Digitech RP200 (my favorite), RP100, and RP300 — with a Phaser effect. The Blackface amp model in the RP200 is a crisp, punchy, but not…
Got a Jones for Gear? Read This
It occurred to us recently that lots of players we know seem to constantly buy new gear, and some of those players don’t think much about how to get more out of the gear they’ve got. With that in mind, we’ve put together a few…
Tom Ball on Acoustic Little Walter
Tom Ball, besides being one of the top acoustic harmonica players working today (as visitors to our Pro Pages know well), is also a harp scholar, and a great student of the masters. Tom recently posted this message about Little Walter’s acoustic harp work to…
Tom Ball’s Advice on Getting a Clean Harmonica Sound
Tom Ball is one of the top acoustic harmonica players working today, as visitors to our Pro Pages know well. Tom posted this message to the Harp-L list recently; it’s re-posted here with Tom’s permission. (Don’t ask what we had to do to get it…
A Few Words from Bonfiglio on Killer Tone
Robert Bonfiglio, as visitors to this site know, is the most accomplished classical harmonica player now active, arguably the greatest ever. This discussion — Robert’s response to a thread concerning the effect of equipment such as microphones and amplifiers on “killer tone” — originally appeared…
The Harp Review Page
Welcome to our Harp Review Page, where we give you the lowdown on the quality, sound, and playability of the various makes and models of harmonicas out there! If you’re thinking about buying a harp, check here first!
Annie Raines’s Favorite (Harmonica) Things
Annie Raines is a young blues harmonica player whose initial training was with Jerry Portnoy (of Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton’s bands). Annie’s consistently excellent, deep, traditionally blue harp work has earned her a steadily growing following for the last several years. Her recent performances…
