Ask Instructor David Barrett

Hi David, just got a new hohner silverstar C and I have a 30 day free trail.

It says on the harmonica fundamentals that I must have an A harmonica. Is this essential or can I just use my C?

Thanks so much, I love the site.

- Luc

Hi David, just got a new hohner silverstar C and I have a 30 day free trail.

It says on the harmonica fundamentals that I must have an A harmonica. Is this essential or can I just use my C?

Thanks so much, I love the site.

- Luc

Hi David, just got a new hohner silverstar C and I have a 30 day free trail.

It says on the harmonica fundamentals that I must have an A harmonica. Is this essential or can I just use my C?

Thanks so much, I love the site.

- Luc

Hi David, for some reason when i'm tongue blocking I am having a problem where certain reeeds will stop sounding or sound like there is something in them. I tap them out or let them sit for a few minutes and they are fine, but it happens pretty often and i'm not sure what to do about it. Could it be that i'm building up too much spit around the reeds or do I need to somehow chanige my technique?

Thanks

Grant

Hi David. I was wondering if you could offer some tips on getting a bigger tone above the 6th hole.

thanks,

Grant

You are referencing go to example 4.1 for some of this and then go to example 4.4. Where do I find these. I see that you are playingfrom the 3rd chorus of "Walk with me" the first 2 bars as the A, but why are you referring to this as example 4.1, and how do I find where you went to 4.4?

Hi David,

I'm working on tone and I have a question.

I'm working on getting the harmonica deeper in my mouth, or another way to put that is to get the harmonica to contact my tongue further back from the tip.

So that really helps with tone, but when I focussed on really maintaining this and not allowing it to come out again, I noticed that I could still bend the 2, but couldn't bend the 4 and 6. Is it necessary then to move the point where the harmonica contacts your tongue back and forth as you move up and down the harp? continue reading...

Hellow David,

When you use the "Shakes" (Level 1, section 1)

Are you playing this with the technique of "puckering" or "tong block" ?

Bernd from Belgium

Hi Mr. Barret,

I have been working on this exercise for awhile now. The part that is tripping me up is the begginning of the third measure. The lick moves from a triplet of 3 draw, 4 draw, 5 blow to a 2 draw. I am wondering whether I should try to quickly switch my tongue after the 5 blow to hit the 2 draw. I have been trying to do this and have struggled to get a good, clear 2 hole draw played quick enough at speed.

Thanks,

harpsquealer

Hi David,

I'm having some trouble with decaying my volume on long notes. It seems like I decay until about a third of the volume I played the note, then even though I'm still trying to play it very quietly, the sound just stops.

I saw in one of your tips of the day that it only needs to be quiet enough to disappear into the band. But sometimes the band is playing quietly or even stopped, and it's quite obvious.

Any tips?