Hot Rod Harmonicas – harmonica customizing and playing

Check out the menu bar above for other links to resources on learning to customize harmonicas, cherry picked resources for harmonica fanatics, and other information.

And Scroll down for access to some great youtube videos and other articles… Thanks!

Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast!
Learn Jazz Arpeggios on the Blues Harp…

2024 is going to be the year of the arpeggio for me… You in?

I am also archiving these videos and more background info on arpeggios as part of my 80/20 music theory for people who don’t like music theory in my Free basics of blues harp course: https://www.ultimateharmonica.com/p/the-ultimate-beginner-harmonica-course

And if you want to open up your body to create more lung capacity by losing the harp players crouch, check this out:

The Lost Youtube Channel…

The video above is from my original youtube channel and has my most successful videos in terms of views… And I lost custody when youtube got sold 15 or so years ago… one of these days I will go through the process of getting back in my custody but in the mean time this is one of my holiday hit tunes that I pull out this time of year – enjoy!

Above – Filip Jers brings you some sweet holiday season soul on one of my favorite melodies…

Filip is one of my all time favorite musicians – check out his patreon pages and be inspired!

Festivals! and the value of hanging out with actual humans…

May 14th, 2023

Last night I was part of an artist’s retreat at a farm in Amish country. My job was to play music for a group of people who were there to study and practice doing plein air painting . Plein air is a french expression meaning “in the open air” – painting outdoors with your subject in full view. My friend Susan Nicolas Gephart has been hosting these retreats for over a decade and one of the highlights of the weekend is a sunset painting session with yours truly as a wandering minstrel. Everyone sets up easels in an area facing a fenced pasture, and does a painting of cows, clouds, and mountain ridges as the sun goes out in a blaze of glory.

That is the ideal. Last night it was raining and solid grey clouds so the session was indoors in a barn converted into a studio. I played laid back acoustic music, drawing on Ry Cooder, Van Morrison, Taj Mahal, celtic music, and other sources while Susan wandered around doing spontaneous conversations with the artists as they worked. The room buzzed with the energized tranquility of artistic focus.

Then we hung out on the deck for conversation and more tunes. I ended up talking with a woman who expressed regret over never learning to play a musical instrument. She had dabbled over the years with various instruments and had a mostly neglected keyboard that she bought at a thrift store. The story that seemed to be hanging in the air, unspoken, was “it’s too late for me and the piano”.

I told her that playing piano is something anyone can learn to do, it’s a mechanical thing like doing touch typing. She brightened up and told me that she used to be really good at touch typing, had studied it in high school. I told her that all those reflexes she learned in her fingers typing could easily be transferred to the musical keyboard. That anyone could could learn to play something like “The Moonlight Sonata” because it is a relatively slow and uncomplicated piece. That plenty of people her age started playing a musical instrument and were glad they did it.

This is what happens when you go to workshops and live events. The casual conversations while you are taking a break and relaxing can be as valuable and life changing as the instruction that you paid for. Sometimes even more. I have no idea if this woman will be inspired enough to take up playing the piano, but i do believe that she’s thinking about it with a fresh perspective.

Youtube and social media can put you in contact with some amazing people, but there is nothing like being face to face with someone who who is talking about what lights them up. You feel the energy in ways that no video, book, or audio can match.

And the SPAH convention is one of the best ways to connect with kindred spirits in the harmonica universe:

August 15th – 20th, the 60th Annual SPAH convention is happening in St. Louis, MO

This is one of the most massive harmonica events on the planet. World class harmonica players will be everywhere and the shows are mind blowing.

I’ll be writing more about this in the coming weeks, but check out the info here to get an idea of who the headliners are and how to register

A Surprise Development…

November 11, 2022

Last Sunday I climbed an exercise rope in my backyard and it broke. I’m not sure what happened next.

Somehow I made it into the house and onto the couch, where my wife found me moaning. I told her I’d fallen, but five minutes later I looked at her and said “what happened?” She called an ambulance.

At Mount Nittany hospital the staff gave me scans and x-rays and all sorts of tests. They found several fractured ribs, two fractured vertebrae, some bleeding on the brain and trace bleeding in the lungs.

They put me on a helicopter to Hershey trauma center.

After a blur of more tests, scans, questions, and lord knows what else, the doctors told me I don’t need surgery. I was delighted to see my arms. legs, fingers, and toes all move, wiggle, and feel things just like they’re supposed to, But this will take rehab to allow the bones to heal and for the pain to go away. Right now it is a project that takes a lot of thinking and co-ordinated breathing to walk across the room.

I am looking at this as a chance to DO philosophy (particularly stoic philosophy) as well as all the other wisdom I’ve run across over the years . I recently read Carol Dweck’s book “The Growth Mindset ” and I am still under its spell. If I had to cut down my library to ten books it would include Carol’s “Mindset and Victor Frankel’s ‘Mans Search for Meaning” (I’m going to read the latter when i get home for the third time) I’ve been able to play a bit of harmonica in my room here. The nurses like it and my roommate has not complained.

Be well and take care,

Richard

PS: Last Friday I did a youtube video about the tune “Devil’s Dream” I took a couple of licks from the tune, modified and stitched them together into a distilled exercise for developing your tongue switching skills. You can find it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXVabPXtHqA
https://youtu.be/JXVabPXtHqA

Folk College 2022!

If you are up for a road trip to a great weekend of musical adventures, check out Folk College and mark your calendars for May 27th – 29.

The video above gives you a bit of info on what I will be doing, and you can find a much more complete overview at:

https://folkcollege.com/

Footpath leading from the small town Doolin to the Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland

The Irish Course!

If you want to get some harmonica tunes together for Saint Patricks day, check out my new teachable course…

The details are here.

Thanks!

The Bending Course challenge tune: “The Tongue Twister”

Here is a new tune I wrote, tabbed, and recorded as a way for you to test your bending skills. It’s a be – boppy romp through all the bends in the first octave of a key of C harmonica and I made it tricky but still playable if you bang away at it for a while. It’s in this video (if you just want to skip ahead to the tune, sheet music & tab, go to 4:20)…

It’s part of part of an online course at the teachable platform called the “Bending Course”

I also have a free beginner course (that is also great as a review / reboot for any harmonica player or someone who teaches harmonica)

I’m working on the next course “The Bones of the Blues” – stay tuned!

The Greatest Accidental Blues Instrument (Happy Birthday to the Marine Band Harmonica)

You may have ended up here if you tried to go to the website rsleigh.com. or customharmonicas.com Those websites don’t exist anymore. I’m combining everything I do with harmonicas on this site so you will have all of my articles on playing the harmonica, the inner game of music, as well as the info on custom harmonicas and harp tech.

I’m going through over 10 years of articles and blog posts and posting the best ones on this site. On your right you will see menus for finding these articles according to categories.

You can also find my store here and a number of posts on harp tech, tools, and other topics.

Thanks for visiting! If you have any questions, you can contact me here.

How Can I Help You?

Harmonica Courses…

Email me for info on private lessons

Custom Harmonicas

Check out the menu bar above for other links to resources on learning to customize harmonicas, cherry picked resources for harmonica fanatics, and other information.

And Scroll down for access to some great youtube videos and other articles… Thanks!

Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast!
Learn Jazz Arpeggios on the Blues Harp…