Ask Instructor David Barrett

Hi David,

I am interested in purchasing a couple of your Mel Bay beginner instructional books. But I see there are multiple method paths and associated books. What is the difference between Blues Harmonica Method, Level 1 and Basic Blues Harmonica Method, Level 1? Which do you recommend?

Great site here, by the way.

Thanks,

John

Any tips to help students who have tried the techniques in the vibrato lessons and are still having difficulty playing the vibrato?  Thanks.

Would it be appropriate to slap the single notes in this song?  I can't tell if you are or not in the recordings.

David, When listening to you play the examples in Solo Harmonica 2 I can't help but think you are playing a G harmonica vice an A harmonica. When I play along, my G harmonica sounds closer to the correct key. This has confused me for awhile now so I thought I would ask you directly what key harmonica you are actually using. Thanks

Hi David and good morning,

I'm learning all these wonderful licks from the study songs and placing them into the various chorus forms. So far so good. But as we know there are various genres of music. My question is, if we played licks from say my blues over a rock beat, it would neccessarily sound right because of the two differing genres of music. How do we make the licks fit.

Its driving me mad trying to get it right but I love the improvisation and want to try and nail it once and for all

Once again thank you for taking the time to read this.

Kind Regards, continue reading...

I have read where it is easier to play single notes if you tilt the harmonica up about 40 degrees.  Is that a good practice to use.

Orville Bierman

Hi David. 

Sorry to bother you.

I was studying the level 5 of LOA solo harmonica 2.2

Is the pdf correct? Seems like you are playing something different in the end of the first 1 chord. 

Best regards.

Emanuel

Hi David, when I'm apply the licks ive learnt from the study songs to say for example 12 bar blues rock track, should i be aplying licks that come from the blues scale or licks with half step and whole step bends due to the genre of the music. The reason I say this is, if I try and jam to a rock track with a lick that has no bends, then it doesn't sound quite right, the lick sounds to bright. continue reading...

I seem to have lost the Jerry Portnoy MP3 that was unlocked for me upon completion of Level 1. Is there still a link available to me for it? If so, where?

So I've been working on the study song #1 for about a month now.  Things are going pretty good, however, when I hit my 1 draw I'm getting kind of this metal on metal clanking sound.  Is this an indicator that the reed is bad or going bad?  I'm aware enough of the troubles on 1, 2, 3 draws to know that most of the time 'its not the harmonica' but this seems different.