Ask Instructor David Barrett

Not so much a question as a comment of frustration ;-) Man oh man, Rollin' Rhumba, 5th chorus - switching from 4 hole blow octaves to 5 hole draw octaves is a challenge. I just hope that my having to work my buns on this is a common experience (hate feeling spastic) . I just spent over 30 minutes on one bar (10th bar_ in chorus 5)!!! and only have it a a very slow tempo and not 100% of the time at that. WOW!!!!

Sorry but had to say something, somewhere to get rid of my frustration!!!! Please tell me I'm not alone.

David, do you consider lip blocking the same thing as lip pursing. Up to this point I have always played (some tongue blocking when needed) with the harp very deep in my mouth with my lower lip blocking out all but the hole I wanted to play. This opened my cavity up and helped develop much better tone than a tight pursing of the lips. I thought I remembered that in some of your earlier materials you viewed this as a different technique than pursing. continue reading...

Why the last?

("none of you're damned business" is an acceptable answer)

This is kind of a bummer to hear. Are you telling us you're ready to sit on a bench at Venice beach, shorts up to your chest, knee socks, and big giant black sunglasses - feeding the seagulls while you watch the young girls stroll by?

Hi David,

I've been looking for harmonica sheet music software for some time now, just to have fun doing my own transcriptions. As this is a side of music I love as much as playing instruments. Can you recommend a good harmonica sheet music software for a mac or one that is compatible with the mac, that is for the general public.

Thanks in advanced.............Troy

Holy crap, dude!

How'd you do that?!?

hey david is there any way to get the previous transcriptions from the newsletters i just printed the latest and oedered the cd and would you ever consider doing walters boogie as this has to be a favorite of mine as well as many others im sure thanks for the site

Dave, I've seen several interviews with artists who say they only tongue block on the low end of the harp and pucker on the high end. It seems you (and others) would rather we tongue block all the way up the harp (unless I'm misunderstanding). If that's the case, do you recommend tongue blocking when bending on the high end as well?

As a particular example that has me wondering: Rod Piazza on "Murder in the 1st Degree" has a blow bend on the 9 hole during his live solo that is very powerful. Do you know if he tongue blocks up there or is he usually puckering that?

I just wanted to extend my gratitude for the resources you provide. It has been difficult for me to grasp how to "jam" without having large repertoire of licks memorized and even though I am very comfortable in second position I am not fluent enough to come up with stuff on the fly using the different scales available (at least with any reasonable speed). continue reading...

David, I'm not much smarter than your typical dog. I need positive reinforcement in the form of treats on a regular basis if I'm going to keep from going on the rug. So with that disgusting analogy, I've decided to reward myself for sticking with your program for more than a couple of weeks (you've no idea of the level of ADD I suffer from!).

So I'm buying a couple of new harps. continue reading...

Hi David, in the first two video's were you bending using a tongue blocking or lip blocking. I can't seem to understand when tongue blocking how to keep the tongue on the harmonica blocking holes and move the middle of the tongue up and back when also trying to inhale thru the side of your and keeping a good embouchure. VS. lip blocking were the tongue is in the middle and able to move up and back and constrict the throat without much problem. What am I missing or not doing right. Thank you .