General Discussion

Anyone out there have a copy of Phil Duncan's Mel Bay Presents Blues Harp for Diatonic and Chromatic Harmonica?

Was sorting out stuff on a shelf and found a copy I must have purchased when I first bought a harmonica, going on 8-9 years ago. Copyrighted 1982.

Now, Phil Duncan is a well-respected player, author of many books, and an interesting interviewee of David's on this site.

But I gotta' wonder about things like:

"To produce a single tone for blues, tongue blocking should be avoided." (p. 4) continue reading...

Over the decades I've dealt with some really nice people at places like Guitar Center, Sweetwater, etc. And I suppose there are a couple of nice folks at Amazon. But ... I've always favored spending my money where I know it's going to someone who works hard, rather than to an overpaid CEO somewhere.

So, in no particular order, here are some individuals from whom over the years I've purchased goods (harmonicas, amps, etc.) and services (repairs, lessons, etc.). And in my experience each and every one of them goes beyond the call of duty when it comes to customer service. continue reading...

During the height of the pandemic, SPAH canceled their live face-to-face conference and met through online tools. I volunteered to develop an overview of how I was using software to help me master new songs for both diatonic and chromatic.  I have that material online now at:

https://www.keithmitchell.photography/blog-post/software-tools-for-the-beginning-harmonica-player continue reading...

Hello everyone 

This is my first post 

So I've been learning from another online course before finding this one and have gotten used to pucker method. So - this is almost learning from scratch for me again.

Im learning on a Seydel A harp and trying to find the right position through practice to get h4-6 consistent - but my biggest struggle is as I try to slide along the holes, my tongue gets dragged back a bit and I lose my embouchre.  continue reading...

Hi 

Working thr LOA 3 And the extra study Song Rolling Rhumba . Please can someone tell me if everything you play is using Slaps. Thanks Tony 

Hi 

Working thr LOA 3 And the extra study Song Rolling Rhumba . Please can someone tell me if everything you play is using Slaps. Thanks Tony 

Hi All,

The blues songs I've come across in David's course are all in 4/4 time which is easy in terms of which foot to tap (left foot on beats 1 & 3, right foot on beats 2 & 4). I'm also learning non-blues stuff such as the harmonica part to Piano Man by Billy Joel. The thing is that foot-tapping isn't so straightforward with 3/4 time: the beat in each alternate bar is on a different foot (I hope I'm clear so far). Has anyone mastered keeping time using foot-tapping for 3/4 time and if so, how? continue reading...

Hi All, I am about to have an cateract removed from my eye, has anyone had experience of this and how quickly can you get back into playing. Was reading an article by a sax playing eye surgon, he said about 2 week before playing sax but harps arnt blown as hard as sax's, are they ? TIA

I asked David for help on this issue and thought it might be a good idea to make a post here as well:

I have been stuck in Level 4 for quite awhile now. I have progressed with Gary's Blues to the point of trying to play along with the jam track, but I am having a lot of trouble knowing where I am in the progession, which, of course, makes it hard to play the choruses. continue reading...

I know this is kind of broad and off topic since this is a blues site but any advice would be appreaciated. continue reading...