Ask Instructor David Barrett

In EX. 1.3 of Theory Study 5 the chords I and IV are Major 7, but the V chord is a D7. Is it once again just a matter of availability that the C is used instead of the C# for the chord? Would it also be acceptable to use the F for the 7th (middle octave) in the complete major scale?Sorry to get hung up on little things, but when you don't know theory everything is a mystery. I am trying to determine when substituting is acceptable and when it isn't. continue reading...

David..what lesson is it that you had several songs of the non-blues variety? I can't seem to locate the correct lesson...T

in the Steve Guyger interview about 1st position, about half way through, Steve talks about sometimes thinking in "positions" when he is on the IV chord (like playing 1st position) or the V chord (3rd position) and you mention that there is some discussion on that on the website. can you direct me? That statement sort of blew my mind--and light bulb began to flicker.....

Hi
I found this study to be very informative but confusing on one level. You mention at the end of the first video to pick up an A harp. then in the next video, while we are looking at the downloaded PDF, we see that the arpeggio example is with a C harp. so the 1 blow on the A harp was a A instead of a C.

I really appreciate you showing how the tongue works when you bend by showing it to the side view. I finally got it. I have been bending but I have not gotten a good mental image. Little things like that add up.

On to the Strut with a new D Harmonica. Too much fun!

Will

This is not a question, I just wanted to express how excited I am to start the soon to be released lesson plan. The package you describe in "Latest News" sounds phenomenal.

Al Taylor

I am trying to understand the note progressions in the blues scales. When the notes in the different octaves don't match - for example in the C blues scale when the 3rd is not flated in the lower octave, but is flated in the upper octave - is it just a mattter of availability. If a person had the overblows mastered would you in fact use the exact same progression in all of the blues scales in different octaves? continue reading...

Looking at the features of the FInale products I noted in the description for PrintMusic:

"Play a brass or woodwind instrument into a microphone using our exclusive MicNotator"

Does this mean you could play the harp into a microphone and it would notate the music? It says it will record an acoustic single line instrument. This would be spectacular!

David,

How do you approach Stormy Monday? It gets called a lot at jam sessions, especially Monday night sessions. A really good R&B singer in town heard me play and suggested I sit with him on that tune next time I see him. I think
he figured hey it's a bluesy tune so a harp would sound good. But it's a tough chord progression to navigate without overblows or a chromatic. continue reading...

David, when I started playing (several years ago) i learned the major scale 1st postion and used it for pracitce a lot. As time went on I did the same for 2nd and then 3rd , using various keys and going from one scale to another. During all this time I always started on the root. Is it important for me to try to break that habit - I see in theory you don't approach 2nd and 3rd this way.