Ask Instructor David Barrett

Hi David, is it because most blues songs are in A key (or in E as its 2nd position is E key)? or because it plays along well with other instruments like guitar?

Besides A key, you mentioned G, Bb, and D key in your fundamental lessons. May I ask which keys are best for different styles of music like folks, country, jazz, pop?

Thanks!

Hi Dave , that green bogen is super nice! The handle on the lid is stock,  it's like that on the Sam's photofact. 

I just completed the exercise 3.3 of filling in the scale degrees. In your video https://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/music_theory_study_1you say the 3 draw half step bend is the flat third, and the 4 draw is the 5th scale degree. in my char continue reading...

Hi David,

it would be great if there was a separate lesson on different types of groove. There's a lot of information about shuffles, rock grooves, rhumbas etc. but it seems it would be useful to have an overview of approaches to these different styles in one place. 

Hi David, I just rejoined after an extended absence, and am not sure how to upload a file for submission (an MPEG-4 recorded on my Iphone). I signed up for the annual membership so I could get your input on where to start again. When I stopped previously I was just getting into Level 3.

As a side note, I didn't stop playing, I just thought I might try other approaches. I'm coming back to you because it's the best method out there! (Yeah, I usually learn things the hard way!)

Cheers,

Jay G

Trying to play tunes on the chromatic, I sometimes wonder which C hole to choose.

For example, to play F D C A D, I can use 6 5 +5 3 5 or 6 5 +4 3 5.

I thought at first that using +4 would result in smoother descending motion, moving steadily 1 hole at a time.

Then I found that using +5 seemed easier because moving one time less, even if the jump was wider. Especially with the symmetry of the return motion (+5 3 5).

Trying to play faster, I'm not sure any more, because both need work... continue reading...

Does the LOA 6 submission for the solo harmonica study (ex 1.1) and the blues scale have to be on a G harp or can I use any key harp ?

Hello David,I posted this in the General Forum area, will post it here as well.

I can figure out the key of a song, by trial and error, hit and miss, etc. But I wonder, is there a website where one can list the artist, album name, and be given the keys of the songs on the album. There must be such a service.

"I am looking particularly for the keys of songs on the John Prine album, In Spite of Ourseves". Thanks for any and all help.

Hank H.

Hello David,

Maybe other students have posted this question before - I tried to search the forum for similar questions but don't see a good way to do that. I apologize if it is a duplicate question. continue reading...

Is there a particular reason that the tongue blocks the left holes? why no the right holes? since blues rarely uses the high pitch holes, moving the tongue to the right constantly avoids the need to switch tongue or change mouth size when using the holes on the left of 4 hole. is it right?