Posted Sun, 04/12/2015 - 06:26 by David Barrett Admin
Join Gary Smith, Aki Kumar and me (David Barrett) to watch on the big screen the making of It Takes Three! You’ll see the creative process of working with the musicians in the studio, the challenges of getting just the right take and the antics of musicians that have nothing better to do than crack jokes as they wait around for the next take. Gary, Aki and I will narrate the movie, talk about the inspiration for each tune and even play a bit!
Date: Saturday, May 2nd, 2015
Time: 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (afterwards enjoy dinner in quaint downtown Morgan Hill) continue reading...
Posted Fri, 04/10/2015 - 08:52 by David Barrett Admin
When studying Little Walter's legendary blues harmonica instrumental "Roller Coaster," the key moment of discovery in being able to perform the song successfully was is using the lightest touch possible on the face of the harmonica (both the tongue and lips, but most importantly the tongue). This was key in being able to play at his speed and level of dexterity. Here are the negatives of pushing too hard when tongue blocking... continue reading...
Posted Thu, 04/09/2015 - 07:59 by David Barrett Admin
Yesterday I stated that your lips should be surrounding four holes. The purpose of this is as follows, with the more important reasons listed first...
1) You can play an octave very quickly with slight adjustment of the tongue (to the center, blocking two holes).
2) Your slaps, pulls, flutters and other techniques where the tongue is off of the harmonica have a much bigger sound, due to there being four holes sounding when the tongue is off instead of three. continue reading...
Posted Wed, 04/08/2015 - 09:01 by David Barrett Admin
Place your lips over a four-hole span, using a light touch on the face of the harmonica. Use the top of your tongue just past the tip (called the blade of the tongue) with a light enough touch that the convex shape of your tongue does not completely flatten on the face of the harmonica. Cover the left three holes with your tongue, leaving the right-most hole to sound a single note. Move the harmonica latterly—the focus is to generally move the harmonica, not the face or jaw.
Posted Fri, 04/03/2015 - 07:59 by David Barrett Admin
In this streaming radio archive Joe Filisko shares Rare Early Solo Instrumental Blues Harp Recordings. This comes to you via The Archivist (Roger Trobridge) of National Harmonica League: https://www.mixcloud.com/PodKast/
Posted Thu, 04/02/2015 - 10:53 by David Barrett Admin
Now that you've had a chance to enjoy and analyze Aki's killer instrumental "Bombay Stroll," here are the Chorus Forms (CF) he used. Mr. Aki Kumar, can you please share with everyone on your Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/akikumar) how these CF came about? As you worked on writing this song, did you experiment with different CF's for each lick/chorus, or have you so internalized CF's now that you played the new lick at the beginning of a chorus and the CF flowed out? I assume that you worked out the first three or so choruses and then improvised by the time you reached Chorus 5? continue reading...
Posted Wed, 04/01/2015 - 08:45 by David Barrett Admin
When preparing to perform a song make sure to practice your intro speech, count-in and signaling for breaks and ending (especially for breaks and ending). If you neglect this in your practice you'll be more likely to miss the timing of your signals in performance.