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 incl ...

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 and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

s throughout Southern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. 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. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he founded with his brother Alex V ...

. 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 Popper was born on March 29, 1967, in Cleveland, Ohio. His father was a ...

'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 created with web technologies and runs via a web browser. Web applications emerged during the late 1990s and allowed for the server to dynamically build a response to the request, ...

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. He is also the father of Alex and Brody Gage, who form the musical duo The Brothers Gage. He 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 which 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 ...

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, usuall ...

s. His

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

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 is an American new wave 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 No. 14 ...

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

, and

The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. Within a few months of their first gig, the line-up settled as Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar, primary songwriter), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussi ...

. 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). It is a subsidiary of Matth. Hohner AG. The roots of the Hohner firm are in Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg ...

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 A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

, 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 television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

-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. Oftentimes these messages feature unsettling imagery, ideas or behaviors that are des ...

References

External links

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