About David Barrett
David Barrett is the world’s most prolific blues harmonica educator—leading the way in every facet of blues harmonica education for over twenty years.
The Early Years
Having played saxophone and trumpet as a youth, David already had a solid musical foundation before playing the harmonica at age fourteen. At age sixteen local harmonica legend Gary Smith took David under his wing as a private student. Gary also introduced David to the local blues jam scene and even invited him to participate is some of the local harmonica blowouts. By age eighteen David was studying music theory in college and started teaching harmonica at local music stores and institutes.
Author
By age twenty David had released his first book, Building Harmonica Technique, with one of the world’s largest publishers, Mel Bay Publications. This book was the first serious blues harmonica method to be released in the market. David Barrett is now the world’s most published author of blues harmonica lesson material, with over 60 book/CD sets and videos published.
David is also an active writer for various publications. David writes a featured column for Blues Revue Magazine called “Right On The Number” and is the editor and a writer for www.HarmonicaSessions.com and the Harmonica Masterclass Workshop Free eZine.
Workshops
David is the founder and head instructor of Harmonica Masterclass Workshops. Founded in 1994, the focus of these workshops has been to make quality hands-on instruction available to the masses. Classes range in size from 20 participants to 250 participants, depending on program type and location. David also employs the top educators in the world for these workshops, such as Joe Filisko and Dennis Gruenling, as well as top artists in today’s blues harmonica music scene.
David also teaches, judges and performs at other prestigious events, such as Hohner’s World Harmonica Festival and Steve Baker’s Harmonica Masters Workshop in Trossingen, Germany.
Private Lessons
Since age eighteen David has been teaching blues harmonica lessons full-time. In 2002 David founded School of the Blues in San Jose, California—the first school in the world for the specific study of blues music. David and his instructors (Guitar, Bass, Organ/Keyboard/Piano, Vocals, and Drums) teach private lessons and workshops as well as fly-in lessons. David teaches on average fifty private students a month as well as home correspondence courses. David is also active in working with local hospitals, teaching his Harmonica for Fun & Health classes to people with COPD (Emphysema), asthma and heart disease.
Performing and Recording Artist
David is a Grammy Nominated blues harmonica player (for his work on John Lee Hooker Jr.’s album All Odds Against Me) and performs regularly in the California Bay Area (San Francisco Blues Festival, Monterey Bay Blues Festival, etc.) and abroad (Chicago, Germany, etc.). Recently he played as a featured artist in the Mark Hummel Blues Harmonica Blowouts, alongside James Cotton, Charlie Musselwhite, Kim Wilson, and Mark Hummel. David has recorded three albums, Serious Fun, We Are The Blues and the History of the Blues Harmonica Concert.
David has Worked or Played with:
Charlie Musselwhite, Mark Hummel, Lee Oskar, Rod Piazza, James Harman, James Cotton, Gary Smith, Andy Just, Mark Ford, Billy Boy Arnold, Jason Ricci, Rick Estrin, Paul deLay, Jerry Portnoy, Gary Primich, Howard Levy, Magic Dick, Tom Ball, Sonny Jr., John Mayall, Annie Raines, Paul Oscher, Phil Wiggins, Brendan Power, Sam Myers, Snooky Pryor, Steve Baker, Rob Paparozzi, Dennis Gruenling, Carlos del Junco, Mitch Kashmar, John Mayall, Joe Filisko, Lazy Lester, Kim Wilson, Kenny Neal, Peter “Madcat” Ruth, Jr. Watson, Rusty Zinn, Nick Moss, Steve Freund, Johnny Cat, and John Garcia.
David Barrett plays the WEZO-45 by MegaTone Amps