Ask Instructor David Barrett

The notation for a shake and a flutter looks identical.  On the "Notation Key"  you say there is no second note for a shake.  I am not clear on what you mean by that.

Thanks

Hello David,

Im making my way through level 4 but am beginning to feel a bit unfocused.  I try to practice an hour a day but unlike when I was a true beginner there seem to be many more skills to be aware of and to develop.  I still need work on technique, breathing, speeding up bends and Im only only at the basics of much theory (chords).

How would you see students at my level allocating time over technique, theory, scales, movement, bends, licks and memorizing vocabulary?   continue reading...

Hello Mr. Barret ,

Alan here with another question .

Can we play different scales in one harmonica and why does each harmonica have a different scale ?

eg : A harmonica , C harmonica etc.

Can you please tell me why ?

Regards ,

Alan Samuel.

Dear teacher,

when I practice my improvisation and add fill, I often lose the beat just before the chord changes. I noticed that my fills are pure improvisation without any structure. do you think I should change my approach and use only piece of licks that I learned in previous songs?

Hello Dave,  I am working on LOA#8 and practicing blow bends.  Your opinion please: Which lessons should I start first?   First position or Third position.  Thanks 

Hello David,

HarpNinja does not show octaves and now that I am on LOA #7 I would like to have a visual guide when working on the 3-7, 4-8, 5-9, 6-10 octaves. Can you recommend another APP?

Thanks Michael W (Oakley69)

David,

I can repeat a rhythm by ear, but I often struggle to recreate it from sheet music.

How do I approach shuffle where notes are in different length?

Do I shuffle eight-notes only? What about Quarter-notes? Triplets?

What if there is mixture of different note lenghts?

Bar 2 of 5th Chorus of Temperature, or even more interesting bars 1-3 of Chorus 6th as an example...

Dave,

My son bought me an amazon fire hd 10 tablet. Do you know if there is a way to get harpninja on this type of tablet. This tablet offers an app called a bendometer. Do you know if this is any good?

If I cant get it to work on the type of tablet I have, will it download to a regular gateway pc that uses windows. Which of the 2 versions do you recommend?

hi david,

I've been working on 'half-stepping' for a few weeks now.  It sounds very good at 80-90 bpm or so, but when I try to speed it up to tempo I'm just having trouble nailing the bends without the notes sliding together into a sloppy innaccurate mush.

Do you have any tips besides continued slow practice of the song and the chromatic scale?

thanks so much,

anthony

Im making good progress, but still have a few questions on positions

1- I understand the idea of playing second position as it adds bluesy tones and still affords good harmonization with a band.  I heard you say one time that (for example) 3rd pos would a solution if the Band was playing X...  Can you amplify on the choice of 1, 2 or 3rd position relative to the key the band plays in aside from tonal objectives? continue reading...