Ask Instructor David Barrett

Hi there, I have a few questions regarding different things.

1) I'm learning The Strut at this moment, and I have a difficulty with the 3/4 dip with

a Seydel harmonica, problems which I do not have with my lee oskar in the key of D, nor do I Have

that problem on any other harmonica (all my others are Manjis), it just feels "stuck" when I try to dip it in a

fast and flowing manner. I tried working on my embochure for that specific harmonica but continue reading...

Hello instructor, I have a few questions:

1 - About amp settings on the band stand: We should set the Bass on 10 and the Treble on 0 (rule of thumb) but when you mic the amp, and the signal goes to the mixing table, does the sound man also have to set the channel to Bass 10 treble 0, or he should leave on the "flat position"? Should i tell him anything or should I leve him decide what it´s best for the situation? Because we rally want the people to hear that "bassy sound" right?

  continue reading...

Hi.  In Solo Study 3, examples 1.3 and 1.4, I assume all the single notes are to be tongue-blocked and all the two-note harmonies not tongue-blocked.  Is that correct?

Hi David, just I quick one: in solo harmonica study 2, exercise 1.4, is it acceptable to use 2 draw where you have tabled 3 blow as I'm finding it helps with my triplet runs? Just wanted to check if there was a technique reason for me to use the 3 blow?

Cheers!

Will

So David, how do you get vacation when you seem to work 7 days a week on the site? Do you just lay low for some time or do you tend to warn everyone in advance? Don't get me wrong, every one needs vacation, but when you're not around for a day or two we notice.

Blues Creepin' Over Me is the best song so far. It sounds like the blues I hear in my head when I think blues harmonica. You go over it fairly quickly but given its relative simplicity that's not surprising. Hoping there's more like this down the road. Your teaching video without vocals is great and I would have liked an audio copy to put into iTunes so I could take it with me but the one with vocals will be just fine.

Hi David, I'm sorry to bother you with this as I suspect you have answered it before but I haven't been able to find an answer yet: continue reading...

One chromatic study is labelled as beginning, several are intermediate, and one is advanced. As I'm considering adding chromatic to my daily LOA studies I'm wondering how to interpret those labels. Does beginning mean for a relative beginner, say just beginning LOA 5, or does it mean it's the first step for a player who's a solid diatonic player. I can probably take a pretty good guess at the answer but when I see 3rd position Study 2 not appearing until LOA 8 I'm a bit concerned I might be trying too hard?

So the flip side of this coin is to realize that one diatonic harmonica can play in many positions with bending only at the low and high ends? Those would basically be the modes based on the major scale. Counting the major scale that would give us seven positions. 2nd position on the C harp is playing in G. 1st position on the C harp is C so the rhumba I IV and V chords are C, F and G. If we play 4+, 5+ and 6+ for the I chord it's C, E and G. The IV chord is F, A and C from holes 5, 6 and 7+. The V chord is G, B and D from holes 6, 7 and 8.

Hi devid,

I'm working on blow bends and in a couple of week I am now able to blow bend holes 8 and 9 on every harp I have.

Hole 10 instead, I'm able to bend it on G harmonica (seydel classic), Bb crossvorer, C crossover, but on my special 20 results very difficult. Is there any advice, this is a plastic come harp, maybe there something on that reed. I will continue to work on it, now sometimes I get te 10 whole thone bend but very difficult.