A simple chord exercise from Joe Filisko’s class at the Harmonica Masters Workshops, and how the BPM ramp turns it into a practice routine
This week I’m in Trossingen, in southern Germany, for the Harmonica Masters Workshops, which run from 28 October to 1 November 2026. Trossingen is the home of Hohner, and for a few days every year the town fills up with harmonica players: workshops at every level during the day, concerts in the evening, and jam sessions after that.
I’m studying with Joe Filisko, and Day 1 was Wednesday, 28 October. I’m not going to try to write up everything Joe covered on the first day. That would take far more than one post, and honestly, the only way to get it is to be in the room. If you ever get the chance to attend one of his workshops, or to study with him, take it.
But one exercise from Day 1 stuck with me, because it looked like nothing and turned out to be something. It’s about breathing through the harmonica, and it gave me an “ah-ha” moment about a problem I’ve had.
This post covers the exercise, what happened when I tried it, and how to practise it with the Woodshed Metronome.
The exercise
You need a harmonica and the Woodshed metronome. We used a harmonica in the key of A.
- Blow the 1-2-3 hole chord. On an A harp, that’s A, C# and E: the A major chord.
- Draw the 1-2-3 hole chord. On an A harp, that’s B, E and G#.
The pattern is: exhale twice, then inhale twice. Blow, blow, draw, draw. Blow, blow, draw, draw—one breath per beat, four beats to the cycle, over and over.
The rules are simple:
- Keep the rhythm even. Every breath lands on the click.
- Keep the volume even. The blows shouldn’t be louder than the draws, and the second breath of each pair shouldn’t fade.
Joe had us do it at 40 BPM first, then 60 BPM, then 86 BPM.
What happened
At 40 it was easy. There’s lots of time between clicks, and each breath is long and comfortable.
At 60 it was still easy.
At 86 I had trouble. Breaths got short, the switch from blowing to drawing came round quickly, and keeping both timing and volume steady got noticeably harder. It’s the change of direction that catches you: going from the second blow straight into the first draw, and back again, on the beat, without a bump in volume.
That’s a humbling thing to discover about an exercise that uses three holes and two chords.
The "ah-ha" moment
Then Joe mentioned something that changed how I saw it. He said this is the same muscle memory you need for a good throat vibrato.
That was my moment. I’ve known for a while that I need better control of my throat vibrato at faster tempos. At slow tempos it’s fine. Speed things up and the control goes. What I hadn’t found was a good exercise for it, something simple I could practise every day and measure myself against.
This could very well be it. It strips the problem back to basics: controlled air, timed in both directions, at a tempo a little faster than comfortable. And because it’s so simple, there’s nowhere to hide. Either the breaths land on the click at an even volume or they don’t.
Practising it with the Woodshed Metronome
Going straight from 60 to 86 is a big jump, and that’s where I came unstuck. I want a way to climb in small steps and find exactly where it starts to go wrong. That’s what the BPM ramp is for.
We’ll go from 40 BPM to 90, just past Joe’s 86, and do it two ways. First, let the metronome ramp up on its own to find where you have trouble. Then go back and work on that tempo until you’ve nailed it.
Step 1: Set up the click
- Leave the time signature at 4/4. One bar is one blow-blow-draw-draw cycle.
- Leave Downbeat Accent on. Beat 1 is your first blow, so the accent tells you where each cycle starts.
- Untick Subdivisions. One click per breath is all you want.
- Untick Count-In so the ramp runs without breaks between steps.
Then open the Practice panel (the loop icon next to Start on a computer, or Practice in the bar at the bottom of a phone), tick Practice Loop and set Bars to 1. Tick BPM ramp just below it.
Step 2: The automatic ramp: find where it breaks
Set the ramp like this:
Press Start. You’ll get eight cycles at 40, then eight at 50, 60, 70, 80 and finally 90, and then it stops.
This version moves on whether you’re ready or not, and that’s the point. You’re not trying to get it right yet. You’re finding out at what tempo it starts to fall apart: where the breaths stop landing on the click, or the volume starts to wobble, or the switch from blow to draw gets a bump in it. Make a note of that tempo.
Step 3: Tap to advance: nail it
Now go back and work on that tempo. Change the ramp:
- Start 10 BPM below the tempo where you had trouble. If it went wrong at 80, start at 70.
- Stop at 90.
- Ramp of 5.
- Tick Use Tap to advance the ramp.
With Use Tap to advance the ramp on, the loop repeats at the same tempo for as long as you like, and only steps up when you press Tap. So: press Start, play, and only press Tap when you’ve nailed that tempo, with every breath on the click and the volume even. If it isn’t there yet, keep going. Another ten cycles, or fifty.
If you started at 70, you’ll climb 70, 75, 80, 85 and 90. The step always happens at the start of the next bar, so it never lands in the middle of a breath. At 90, the ramp holds there, and further taps do nothing.
One honest note: the metronome can tell you whether you’re in time, but it can’t hear whether your volume is even. That part is up to your ears. Record yourself on your phone now and again and listen back. Uneven volume is much easier to hear on a recording than while you’re playing.
An alternative exercise: take the click away
Here are a couple of variations on this exercise using the Woodshed Metronome’s practice features that might also help.
- Practice Gaps. Tick Practice Gaps and set 2 bars on, 2 bars off. The click drops out for two cycles, and you have to keep the breathing steady without it. When it comes back, you’ll know straight away whether you rushed. Then try 2 on, 4 off.
- A muted downbeat. Set Accents to Muted and beat 1 goes silent. You have to know which breath is the first blow without being told.
Record yourself doing this, and listen back. Is your rhythm and volume steady?
And then, of course, the real test: take the control you’ve built here and apply it to the throat vibrato.
More from Trossingen
That’s one exercise from one day, and I’ll be practising it until I get it perfect. There’s a lot more to absorb this week, and much of it you really do need to learn in person. If you get the chance to study or attend a workshop with Joe, don’t hesitate.
I’d love to hear how you get on. If you try Joe’s exercise or the alternative, email me at [email protected]: what tempo it started to fall apart for you, how long it took to nail it at 90, and whether it helped your vibrato. If you have other ideas for exercises like this, let me know those too.
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