Ask Instructor David Barrett

Hi David, if I was to record myself playing Temperature amplified would you be happy to review the recording and tell me whether or not it sounds reasonable. You will have a much better ear than me to distinguish any tweaks I need to apply.

Cheers Alan

Hello David and all the others harmonica players! I`m a harmonica beginner from Finland. continue reading...

David Hi  Watching you video lesson with Ryan, lesson 18 the first measure, Ex 1.1 you demonstrate the “Side Pull”. It appears that you are holding the trainer/harp at an angle rather than a flat plane to your mouth. Am I seeing this correctly (possible camera distortion) or is this a specific embouchure for this technique?

In your interview with Aki Kumar when talking about practice he talks about  ”jamming this thing (the harp) into my check (demonstrated the right cheek) to get better tone”.

Am I missing something re the embouchure in general?

Mighty amount of frustration trying to hit all 3 bends on the 3 draw. (And of course I'm talking about the TB bend. Using lip purse I can hit the 3 whole step bend quite easily.) On a C harp, I can somewhat quickly get to the 1/2 step bend but almost always drop to the 1 1/2 step Ab note when trying to reach the whole step bend A.  Today I had a G harp and decided to go after the 3 whole step bend and it seemed like I was there so I used harp ninja to check myself and yes I was within reason of it. continue reading...

David

I am a very new beginner and feeling my way around harmonca playing, so does garage band do everything that the amazing slow downer does? if so why get amazing slow downer.

peter southwell (Sydney Australia)

psouthwells@gmail.com

I sometimes have problems with my lips becoming very dry while playing. Of course I try to find a slot within the song where I have a second to make them wed again wih my tongue, but this is not always working out sufficiently ....

Yet my question is if there is any kind of product or liquid with which I could treat my lips beforehand so that they less quickly dry out .... Of course such product should not be causing the harmonica to become sticky....

Wonder if other people also experience this problem, and how they cope with / solve this situation

  continue reading...

Hi David,

I study Rollin' Rhumba (Version 1) for a couple of months and I already can play it good enough except the first 10 draw in the 8th measure of the 5th chorus. When I hit it, it just hisses at first. You can listen to the record here: https://soundcloud.com/user-722673454/hissing-10-draw-in-the-sequence-8-9-10 continue reading...

David Hi

Really enjoying LOA 5, working through Solo Harmonica Base lines, Ex 2.2 I was struggling to get the notes that I was reading and what I was hearing. First line measure four on the PDF reads with slaps 6+  5+  4   3.  What I think I am hearing in your example is with slap 6+  5  5+   4  ? (also sounds good)

I expect the written version is the one you would want us to use as its repeated in the second line and in Solo harmonica 2.  

Just testing my listening ability.

Hi David,

I recently purchased the "It Takes Three" Album and Transcription set.  I was wondering if you also had the backing tracks for the songs available for purchase?

I really enjoy hearing professional quality/level songs and having the transcription to follow along.  It would be great if the backing tracks were avaialble to record against as well.

Thanks,

Ryan

Hi, David.

Just wondering how you are measuring Peak Decibel in your amp reviews.  Is it measured while you are playing or using test tones?  Thanks!