Posts

Teeth as Reference - Part 1: Incisors-Anterior

Posted Thu, 07/12/2012 - 06:35 by David Barrett Admin

Since you and your instructor cannot see what's going on in each other's mouths, our teeth are an important reference for tongue location within the mouth.

Let's start this series with the fact that the tongue should never touch... for any technique... the back (anterior) of your upper front teeth (incisors). Having your tongue protrude this far will still allow you to perform most techniques, but the result is very poor tone. Experiment with draw bending, blow bending (especially blow bending), tongue blocking, slaps, flutters, pulls, pull-slaps, etc. continue reading...

mouth bending harmonica harp location reference

David's Tip of the Day: Careful with Tubes

Posted Wed, 07/11/2012 - 06:44 by David Barrett Admin

A student just purchased a Bassman and brought it in to experiment with tube swaps last night. I was changing the power tubes and on one of the power tube sockets, one of holes where the tube tines insert folded in on itself... this is the second time this has happened on a reissue Bassman. It's going into the repair shop today. I don't know if this is just due to cheap Fender sockets (this has not happened with any other amp), but either way, just be careful when changing tubes to make sure that the pins go straight in.

tubes changes mods modifications amps

David's Tip of the Day: Tad Robinson on Improvising

Posted Tue, 07/10/2012 - 06:31 by David Barrett Admin

This tip comes from Tad Robinson in an interview he conducted for BluesHarmonica.com (I'm editing it right now... to release in September).

His analogy for those learning how to improvise is that of a painter... learn how to paint still life first, before trying impressionist art. In other words, copy the blues harmonica masters verbatim first, then try your own thing after time. Cool analogy.

placing your music into context of improvising blues

TASCAM DR-08 Recorder

Posted Mon, 07/09/2012 - 06:09 by David Barrett Admin

Want a cheap, but very high quality MP3 recorder? Check out the TASCAM DR-08 for $80 (down from a MSRP of $449.99) at MusiciansFriend.com http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/tascam-dr-08-linear-pcm-mp3-rec...
This will be great for those of you who want to record yourself playing the study songs for my review.

Description (from MusiciansFriend.com)
24-bit/96kHz handheld recorder with adjustable microphones for more accurate recording patterns. continue reading...

recording recorder harmonica harp songs study

David's Tip of the Day: Dry Mouth

Posted Fri, 07/06/2012 - 07:23 by David Barrett Admin

In my early years of performing, dry mouth was a big problem. Between the ages of 16 and 20 I was fortunate enough to participate in local blues harmonica blowouts and perform as a special guest for a local band (Powerhouse Blues Band) when they would open up for bigger names, such as Cotton, Piazza and Musselwhite (bigger name shows paid bigger money, so they could afford having another member on the payroll that night). The challenge was the anticipation of going up in the middle of the show... commonly only playing two or three songs... continue reading...

dry mouth performing tips and tricks

Rhumba King Contest Ending Soon!

Posted Thu, 07/05/2012 - 08:50 by David Barrett Admin

The Rhumba King blues harmonica instrumental songwriting contest is coming to an end soon! The top three entries will win entrance to Europe's leading harmonica education event, the Harmonica Masters Workshops (http://www.harmonica-masters.de/) in Trossingen, Germany 10/31-11/4/2012 as well as have the opportunity to perform their compositions live with B.B. & the Blues Shacks at the Harmonica Masters Concert Friday evening November 2nd! continue reading...

rhumba rumba blues blues harmonica harp instrumental

David's Tip of the Day: Purchasing Blues Harmonica CDs

Posted Thu, 07/05/2012 - 07:10 by David Barrett Admin

THE place to purchase hard copies of blues harmonica CDs is www.bluebeatmusic.com. Owner Charlie Lange is an avid blues music collector and a great guy. He carries over 25,000 releases, specializes in hard-to-find releases and goes to trade shows to get rare recordings for his customers. He specializes in blues harmonica recordings... Joe Filisko, Dennis Gruenling, I, and every other serious collector has purchased from Charlie for years. His prices are good and shipping is daily. So, you can see I highly recommend working with Charlie.