Ask Instructor David Barrett

Hello Dave Great song.   Where is the jam track for the BigBoss Man? Mic 

Hello David,

Your site has been great, but I have to say you material on Scales moves very, very fast.  Two general questions:

1- As an old band player, I've memorized scales decades ago.  When I look at your exercise in Music Study 2 which I am reviewing in prep for the scale work in Level 4 I came to the fill in the blank grid.

I find myself filling in the blanks based on memory but it made me wonder if there was a theory here I am missing.  Based on the layout of the piano keyboard is the scale construct based on that keyboard. continue reading...

Hello!I have recently joined this forum and site and just started learning, but i have Hohner 559/20 Blues Band C  (do major) do i need to buy A key or can I do my beginner studies on C as well?Thanks

Dear David,

i hope you are well.

i am a beginner and bought some harps online. 

Sone of them play very well right out of the box, some feel not very airtight and some feel to have stiff reeds. How do I know of they are defect or just need to be broken in and how do I break in a new harp and how long does it need? Or should I just send it back to the seller for replacement? Thank you so much! Best regards, Erin André

David,

I was re-learning your pro Grooves/chording lesson and was surprised to hear you say that we would frequently be encountering the 3 draw whole step bend on the IV chord in that lesson.  It sounds right, but why?

Thanks,

Dan

Hey Dave--Can you tell me which Weber Signature 10 inch speaker you were sent for the Lone Wolf Harp Train review. Alnico or Ceramic? Thanks.

David Hi,  I am making good progress with my LOA5 with the study song and solo sections well on track and enjoying it. With that I have moved to the Improvisation section. Following your suggestion I have harvested licks and V IV I turnarounds from study songs and selected my backing track. So I have a plan of attack. The challenge that I am having is when I hear or try to play the selected licks in a different key and tempo from the way I studied it I get a total blank. continue reading...

David, what is the quickest way to navigate to the .pdf that has the layout of natural notes, bends, overdraws, of all 12 keys with represtations of the harps?

Thanks

You have mentioned that harmonicas will begin to fail over time.  The documentation that came with my Special-20 says that when the pitch starts to go flat, it is time to think about a new one (it also mentions a reed can break off and in worse cases "finding its way into the respiratory tract" - oh my). continue reading...

Hello David,

In the accompaniment studies 2 and 3 you focus on chords I, IV, and V. Why do you skip the II, III, VI, and VII? 

In the accomapaniment study 2, you have a plot with sqares where each chord is repeated for several bars. Is there a rule how many times each chord has to be repeated, when chord change must happen, or a "form/sequence" that 12 bars should contain?  continue reading...