Ask Instructor David Barrett

Hi David!!!!

I have a question about thinking :)

i found that when i'm playing a study song ( that i know well ),

if i play it with the backing track and think to what i play and come next , i do errors,

if i don't think and i let flow the song i play it well.....

Thanks,

Best Regards

Marko

Hello David,
I am practising using my mic .. even when not using an amp. I am finding it hard to get an airtight cup.
More importand though.. after watching your videos..i cant see how your lips are on the harp..with the harp up against your face to block the holes.
I find that to use a pucker you have to hold the harp farther away from you face and as you go up your face gets farther and farther away which really makes big gaps appear between the harp and your cup. continue reading...

.

I finally got my chromatic back after being seperated from it for a few years. I found I am really running out of breath with all the draws. Is this because of larger reeds and an overall larger instrument? Any insights on keeping some more air in the pipes?

6th chorus So Blue For You, bar 8 - mouth dry, chrom covers sticking to my lips so its hard to get the shake. I tried a lighter contact on the harp to see if that would help but then the tongue cover doesn't give me a true octave shake. When I try it on its own (out of context) and lick my lips first, it seems to work OK but back in context and by the time I get to that bar, I'm dry. (come to think of it, that's why we go into bars;-))

So is there any 'tip' or is this another case of "keep at it and it will come eventually"??

Dave,

Is there an easy way to transcribe the notes from an MP3 to paper? Or are there any shortcuts you can give me for doing so?

i have a mac.
i get them onto my desktop and can slide them into itunes but cannot synch them to my ipod.
i had the same issue for the first ones i did at the beginning of the year.
can somebody remind me?
hank? are you there? again?!?!

Hi David
I would like to say thanks for a great site,only been playing for 6 months found your site in May and have moved on so much.
My problem is what and how much to practice,I leave myself about 2 hours a day but find it hard to fit it all in.
Got through' Walk with me' have started 'Temperature'working on bending,Third position study 1,Solo harmonica study 2,had a look at Blues for Big Nate as well my tremolo needs a lot of work to.
Thanks again Ron

Do I read your charts right about which notes are in the I, IV, and V chords and which notes are blue notes: it seems that A-flat is a blue note but it's not among the notes in the I7, IV7, and V7 chords. So when do you play it? How does it fit in?

A question about R.J. Mischo's playins starts in the closing section of your interview: the lick he plays starts with a bent 4 draw, but he's doing something to take the rough edge off it. The bent 4 draw sounds pretty harsh when I try to copy the lick (in fact, it sounds like a squealing brake on a bicycle) - is he glissing into it? I can tell there's another sound before the note, but I can't work out what it is - it definitely sounds more polished than the bent 4 draw by itself.