Ask Instructor David Barrett

Hi David,

I have a bit of songs under my belt now and I would like to start memorizing some of them. Do you have any methodology to go about memorizing a song?

Thank you,
Taylor

Is it just me or does the Chromatic take a lot more air? Maybe I'm just new and not used to it yet but I find myself gasping a lot.
-Taylor

Dave, I have submitted the rhumba rhythum to you (solo Harp 2), example 2.3. It needs work. My question is, if I have my metronome set on 100 BPM, and Im listening for 4 clicks per measure, should I play 3+ slap for the first click, rest for the second click, 3 pull for my 3rd click and 4 for my fourth click? I hope Im not makeng this harder than it really is, but Im haveing trouble keeping in time. continue reading...

I was so happy to read your tip of the day today that memorizing whole songs is not so important. And just yesterday I was able to play Chorus 1-5 of Walk with Me entirely from memory. Ha!

While I am working through Walk with Me and Solo Study 1, what are some other things I could work on if I have extra practice time? I have been going back to some of the simple 1st position songs I learned with lip blocking and practicing them using TB'ing. Any other suggestions for keeping it interesting?

I've been trying to pick away at Roller Coaster lately (going to be an extended work in progress I think!) and I was wondering whether you know where he got his ideas for this. Is it based on some jazz tune? The phrasing seems so out-there and very tough to learn, full of very long, convoluted phrase chains.

Hi Dave.

I download Audacity and did a recording ( Test's a bunch ) to see how it works ( Cool Stuff !! ) When I choose to make it a MP 3 file . its say I don't have permission or any other file for that matter. Aslo when I pick ( save as )
it says if I pick that ( Only Audacity can open it. what does that mean? ) Do I have to purchase the ( Full Version ) so close 2 sending in a submission

Thanks Harplayer

Hi David, thanks for your excellent bassman chronicles; it's been fascinating. Well-planned and logical, A:B testing, contributions from Mark and Gary as experts. As always your approach clears up a lot which is often quite confusing. My problem has been finding one. They are not so common here, and when they do come up are generally a bit more like $1200-$1400. I became interested when I saw Aki's DeVille story, because those amps are common here and much cheaper. I'd never considered them; the general feeling seems to be they are nasty bright feedback demons. continue reading...

Hello!
I belong to the category of Lip Pursers slowly switching to TB ... I am now am studying the song Take It Easy. I am wondering: is the Staccato tongue blocked ?
enjoying the lessons - thanks :)

Dear David,

I guess with so much material laid out it is difficult to resist the temptation to take a peak at lessons more advanced than where one may be.

Well I succumbed.

I went into one of the artist studies you put up of Big Walter Horton and checked out Shakey's shuffle.
Having done that I tried it out and discovered that I was making progress. Now my request is whether I could record my attempt and submit it. Would you be willing to give it a hear? If I just record the first chorus.

Regards
Sridhar

Hi David,

Whether it be the 8 bar blues or the 12 bar blues there's a definite structure to how the chords change. Now as a student here I am learning the songs you are putting up which follow these patterns. The question I have is to do with this. Does one's hearing these changes improve over time? Does one have to practise hearing these changes while listening to other songs? Is there some material that will help me understand this because when I jam with friends I am guilty of not being able to hear these changes?