Playing the blues, a demonstration
With
Mat WalklateMat Walklate plays a blues solo on the C harmonica - watch and listen for inspiration before trying it yourself.
What's in the course
11 lessons (1h 4m) · 2 free
01. Playing the blues, a demonstration
You are here2:14
02. G blues scale review
2:31
03. Note bending for additional notes
9:12
04. Simple 12 bar solo
3:50
05. Soloing using the root note of blues progression chords
5:57
06. Vibrato
6:37
07. Developing more interesting solos
7:43
08. Advanced tongue blocking
10:22
09. First position blues scales
5:48
10. Third position blues scales
6:22
11. BONUS: Learn how to play Ian Dury's "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" on the blues harmonica
Free lesson3:36
Lesson transcript
A video demonstration of playing the blues on the harmonica - inspiration for beginners out there!
11 lessons
1h 4m of structured video lessons
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Meet your guru
Meet your guru
Mat Walklate is a Manchester-based harmonica player and teacher working in blues and folk, who also plays flute, whistle and uilleann pipes and sings. He won the British Blues Harmonica Championship in 1992 and the All-Britain Fleadh Cheoil on harmonica in 1993, and is a Seydel-endorsed artist.
Over a thirty-year career he has toured Europe with bands including The Moochers and the Irish-music group The House Devils, recorded and mixed some fourteen albums between 2001 and 2021 - among them Sea of Blues and Traditional Harmonica - and now performs in a duo with singer-guitarist Alex Haynes and alongside blues scholar Dr Tom Attah. He teaches harmonica at Leeds Conservatoire and privately.
On MusicGurus his courses take you from your first notes on a C harmonica - embouchure, the cross-harp position, bending and your first improvisation - through to fluent blues playing, with vibrato, alternative positions and the phrasing that makes a solo sing.
