Ask Instructor David Barrett

Minor - cant seem to get session 4 video to play on my IPad. I'll try on my Mac ater and see if that works and get back to you.

Major - great videos on jamming. David does and excellent jon with super information on several aspects of jam sessions. 

Thanks to both of you for these!!

Minor - cant seem to get session 4 video to play on my IPad. I'll try on my Mac ater and see if that works and get back to you.

Major - great videos on jamming. David does and excellent jon with super information on several aspects of jam sessions. 

Thanks to both of you for these!!

I've been messing around on mostly C harmonicas. Just started lessons on this site and learning tongue blocking on the A harmonica. I seem to go through stages where I cannot get any notes correct; either strained or not at all. Can go back to my C harmoncia and play.I've tried dropping the tongue and holding the harp softly to my mouth\, breathing softly (and through the harp) and dropping the jaw and i still struggle.

Even when I pucker on the 5 draw hole it comes out very strained.

Sometimes maybe when i am tired or had a beer!

Joe's lessons were a great deal of help to me in LOA 1. I'm working on LOA 2 and thought I'd check out Joe working on Solo Harmonica Study 2 Ex 1.1 to 1.6 as that's the recommended study for LOA 2. But Joe's lessons seem to start with Ex 2.1. Are there any videos of Joe working with you on the LOA 2 Solo Harmonica material? Thanks!

Two posts this morning can only mean I'm really into this! I started Solo Study 2 this morning Ex. 1.1 to 1.4. Noticed the general use of 3+ instead of 2 except for the last note in example J. Is this because beginners have trouble with 2 or is it because you believe the use of 3+ is more appropriate in this type of playing? Thanks!

Looking at your Improvising book I noticed the list of instrumentals recommended for study near the back of the book. I have several of the songs on CD and all but one of the remainder are available for free on Grooveshark which works fine if your computer ot tablet is connected to external speakers to give a bit of volume and bottom end. Going through the list of instrumentals I didn't notice any that are rhumba based. Can you recommend one for study?

Once I figured out the A lick in a chorus form can change from one chorus to the next in a particular song the overwhelming sense of repetetion disappeared and the entire process made much more sense. One chorus form I stumbled upon is ABA but couldn't find any reference of it from you. It seems as legitimate to me as the others so wondering if there's a reason, other than brevity, that you don't refer to it?

I'm new here and I'm sure this has been asked many times . I've been a pucker player for about a year and can move around the harp playing single notes confidently.

I'm new to TB and am haviing trouble in a couple of areas.

I cant seem to get my mouth wide enough to cover 4 holes without putting the harp so deep in my mouth that there hardly any of it left to hold on to.

When I do get the 4 holes covered the draw notes seem very week and are most of the time bent.

I use Harpninja to help me with getting the correct notes.

Hi David,

I've really been enjoying the site so far. Particularly tongue-blocking which I never learned to do previously. I'm pretty proficient at using tongue-blocking and slapping for "Walk With Me" and "Temperature."

Right now, I'm working on Solo Harmonica Study 1 and am trying to work out how to use my tongue with all the chords.  continue reading...

Hi David...when you play 5 hole draw octaves, in addition to making a wide frowning/smiling face, do you place the harmonica up higher on the tongue? Or is it basically on the same area as when you're in normal play?

This skill is a real challenge. Probably the hardest since the 3 hole bends.

Thanks...Fran