Ask Instructor David Barrett

Hi Dave,

I have bought the book and CD set in the student version. It's nice but we haven't the responses...
I have also bought the program EMT version 3 (both for Mac and PC). It is very nice too.

David,
I hate to admit it but I still dont know if I am doing a 1, 4 or a 5 chord. Where can I go to get caught up to speed on this? Thank you!

Your comment on the music stand found me in enthusiastic agreement. I think for beginning harp, it's essential. I've found that when I'm practicing without it, I tend to put my head down - especially if I'm sitting - and I tend to drool into my harp. The Seydel 1847s aren't too tolerant of excess moisture and the reeds stick. continue reading...

Great tips related to practice time etc. David and much appreciated but ............

In addition to "hands on" (or is it mouth on?) practice time, there's mic/amp set up, cupping the mic work, listening to other jam tracks submitted here and on other sites, reading and responding to forums (like this), cleaning/gapping harps etc. So is this part of practice routines? I probably spend at least an hour each day on this stuff in addition to actually playing practice. Am I alone (which I doubt)

or is this a case of "Hi, my name is Hank and I'm a learning harp player" ;-))

G'day David, i just attended my 1st jam at the blues club. interesting, but not very fulfilling. my first experience of how they run these things...i was appointed 'before you accuse me"...then had to share the stage with another harp player who was well on the way to drunkenness...basically i was polite...the harp players were only given 1 chorus and the drunk was going for it so i layed off and just played the fills and turnarounds. it was ok but i felt i had blown my opportunity. continue reading...

Bonjour David,
si je vous pose une question en français vous est il possible de me répondre car ne ne parle pas l'anglais je me débrouille juste avec le traducteur.
Merci d'avance
Pascal

Hi David,

I just saw the December Newsletter and the "Easy" transcription. With all the emails that I get and limited time to follow up on everything I realize that I've missed all of the prior newsletters since I've been a member these past 6 months.

I realize that you don't archive these on the site but is there any way to get my hands on the ones I never opened and read? I thought that since they are in a PDF format they are probably sitting on a hard drive somewhere...

Thanks,

JayMcC28

Hi David-could you please tell me where to find the jam track for the performance training groove section. I cant see it-I'm probably just blind. Thanks

Hi David,

I can sort of make 1' and 2', and sometimes 2'', but it it feels pretty weird, and I'm not sure I should be doing it this way. It feels like maybe my mouth is too small to make a space big enough for those notes, so I actually flex my tongue and lips to push the back of my mouth and throat back further, toward the back of my neck! At least that's what it feels like (and it's not too comfortable), but it does seem to bend the pitch down enough.

Is that right, or should I stop that?

Thanks,
Bob

I've been busting a gut trying to figure out how to play 'Busy Man' (found in Aki Kumar's submission number 5, part 4 - 'Joe Filisko song 2, as well as on IC Special).

I think it goes like this: 2, 123 (wah), 1, 2", 1, x, 3'/4. continue reading...