Dave Gage (born 1957) is an American

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

player and instructor, recording artist, author, and webmaster, known for harmonica web sites and more than 25 years of session work in

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

s throughout Southern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Gage plays both diatonic and chromatic "harps," as the harmonica is informally known. He is a veteran of several bands, most recently the eponymous "Gage," and an acknowledged master of the "tongue switching" technique that modifies standard harmonica tongue blocking to create a rock-guitar effect similar to the

tapping Tapping is a playing technique that can be used on any stringed instrument, but which is most commonly used on guitar. The technique involves a string being fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion. This is in contrast to stand ...

made famous by guitarist

Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he co-founded along ...

. As the reviewers from Planet Harmonica stated, "Dave Gage puts forward a modern Rock/Heavy Metal approach rather than a bluesy one, although his style doesn't depart as radically from blues as say,

John Popper John Popper (born March 29, 1967) is an American musician and songwriter, known as the co-founder, lead vocalist, and frontman of the rock band Blues Traveler. Early life John Popper was born in Chardon, Ohio. His father was a Hungarian immig ...

's."

Biography

Looking for a way to round out content on a website devoted to an early iteration of his band, Gage began posting harmonica tips to the web in 1997. Those tips proved popular with visitors, and Gage soon realized the utility of consolidating his

web-based A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection. History In earlier computing models like client-serve ...

harmonica instruction into its own site. The result, Harmonicalessons.com, has since become the largest and most-visited web site of its kind in the world. Gage has taught harmonica to students of all levels at McCabe’s Guitar Shop, in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

since 1980. His television credits include bumper and

theme music Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

for shows such as ''Davis Rules'' (ABC, 1991-1992) and ''Adventures in Wonderland'' (Disney Channel, 1993-1995), as well as numerous TV and

radio commercial In the United States, commercial radio stations make most of their revenue by selling airtime to be used for running radio advertisements. These advertisements are the result of a business or a service providing a valuable consideration, usually ...

s. His

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

credits include harmonica playing, along with Tommy Morgan, for ''Without a Paddle''. Gage plays many different styles of music and studied jazz improvisation with vibraphonist

Charlie Shoemake Charlie Shoemake (born July 27, 1937) is an American jazz vibraphonist. He played in George Shearing's Quintet for seven years, starting in 1967. He also played vibes on the soundtrack of the Clint Eastwood film ''Bird''. He is the director of th ...

, but he is most closely associated with rock. His live performances around Los Angeles, according to his own website, typically draw rave reviews. He has recorded or played with members of such bands as

Devo Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...

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, and

The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Police ...

. Outside the recording studio and various gigs, he also worked as a product consultant for the

Hohner Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of musical instruments, founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner (1833–1902). The roots of the Hohner firm are in Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg. Since its foundation, and though known ...

and

Lee Oskar Lee Oskar (born 24 March 1948) is a Danish harmonica player, notable for his contributions to the sound of the rock-funk fusion group War, which was formed by Howard E. Scott and Harold Brown, his solo work, and as a harmonica manufacturer. H ...

harmonica companies. The Gage discography includes ''Well You Can’t Now, Can You?'' (1991, rated 9 out of 10 by ''Music Connection'' magazine) and ''Love You Just the Same'' (2000, on his own AYM label).

Discography

Fronting his own band: :*''Well You Can't, Now Can You'' (AYM Records, 1991) :*''Love You Just the Same'' (AYM Records, 2000) With others: :*''Ward One: Along the Way'' (Debut solo album from

drummer, Bill Ward: Chameleon Records, 1985) :*''Cookin' Cowboys'' (Sonoton, 1994) :*''Scary Sound Effects'' (Rhino Records, 1995) :*''Einstein was a Bullfighter'' (Doc Tahri, Cash Only Records, 1996) :*''American Heartland'' (Akai sample disc, Sonic Reality, 1998) :*''American Folk Revival'' (Sonoton, 2005) :*''Kick'' (by Pilotfish Productions for California Dept of Conservation, 2007) - Gage provided the music for this

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-winning

public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gage, Dave American blues harmonica players 1957 births Living people