General Discussion

My daughter works at the Lenscrafters in Concord, NH and waited on a gentleman there last week by the name of John (she believes).  They started talking about music, and John mentioned that he had been taking lessons at bluesharmonica.com.  My daughter indicated that I was also taking lessons with David Barrett.  My daughter wrote down your name and number to give to me so that I might reach out and call you, but she has lost the paper she wrote the information on.   continue reading...

I’ve been working on Blues for Paul DeLay (LOA 7). A great song, really fun to play.

The five hole octave exercises David provides are good but I thought I’d share something else that’s helped me out.

What I’ve been doing is learning major scale folk melodies in the upper octave and playing them entirely using octaves rather than single notes. This gives you a serious workout swapping your embouchure between the four hole blow and the five hole draw octaves.

I have a couple of examples on a low F harp. continue reading...

for the time I've been here, (25 weeks) you'd think I'd be beyond such questions as the forthcoming one.

tongue blocking didn't seem hard to pick up and hit single notes cleanly with fair consistency but almost every time I reach the high octave parts of "walk with me" and then head back down to the 4 or 6 draw holes they'll be blocked or clogged just enough with spit to destroy the note and ruin the song. 

after fighting the urge not to throw my special 20 in pure frustration, I tap it out, clear it out and start over. continue reading...

I just got back from a three-week road trip that started in Tulsa, OK at the annual harmonica convention SPAH.

I want to give a big thank you to David (and many others) for taking the time to answer any and all questions I had about playing the harp. His answers were always thoughtful and concise and addressed the exact challenge I was having. His passion for music and teaching combined with his experience make him one of the best teachers we have.

The harmonica community seems like one big family willing to share how to master the great art of harmonic a music. continue reading...

Where are the lessons for harmonica in C please? actually i follow some lessons but there are for A harmonica so ...thanks for answers ^^

... well, ok: the fault is really mine for wailing on those 5-draw bends with far more force than is necessary. But I did flatten that 5-draw right out. I've ordered a replacement harp, but I'm wondering if there is anything I can do fix the current one. It is a stock Marine Band. Can I tinker with the reed at all to bring it back into shape, or is it a fallen soldier? continue reading...

So I am working on Solo harmonica study 3 ex 2.6(G harp) and I just got it figured out.  Bar 9 and 10 was the celebration.  bar 9 especially it goes  1   2"2' 4+ 3 3".  Its my first time going from a hole step bend to a half step!!!!  I told my wife, but she just gave me the good job response, but I could tell she did'nt get it...lol  ...just had to share where people would get it.....lol...

Stoked!!

David Saccucci

I got my start learning harmonica from the J P Allen series of DVDs. J P has always been a strong endorser of the Hohner Special 20 for beginners. He has had some recent negative experience with the Special 20 (and also the Suzuki Manji) which has resulted in his current recommendation of Lee Oskar for beginners (and Seydel 1847 overall but $$$). continue reading...

Hey folks, if you are in the market for a customized piece of art for your band, your profile picture(s), forum avatar, event logo or more, a friend of mine just made a design for me and it came out fantastic!  His name is Jason Simon and his website is at https://www.simplesimongd.com/.  Tell him Brett sent you if you inquire about a piece.  Here is the customized piece he made for me.

there is a tune I would like to play along with and its in E minor.   Just wondering the correct key to play in second position?