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David's Tip of the Day: Transcribing Tip - Figuring out the Key of Harmonica, Part 3

Posted Fri, 01/09/2015 - 09:05 by David Barrett Admin

No matter which technique you use from the list of three I presented on 1/6/2015, if you make an error in your key selection, it's usually because you heard that the 5th of the key sounded good and took it as the root note.

Let me help you to understand this a bit... continue reading...

David's Tip of the Day: Transcribing Tip - Figuring out the Key of Harmonica, Part 2

Posted Thu, 01/08/2015 - 08:49 by David Barrett Admin

If you use Method 2 from Tuesday's tip (see below) then I suggest you start with the C Major Scale starting on the 4+ (4+ 4 5+ 5 6+ 6 7 = C D E F G A B). Though F can be found on 2" and A on 3", your bending has to be dead-on for our purpose of key matching. If you don't think it's one of those notes, then use your Holes 1 through 4 range since it contains all of the chromatic notes that the middle octave is missing. The note Eb is not available in the first two octaves, so you'll need to jump to 8'+ for that one. I personally use this method for finding the key of a song. continue reading...

What's New: Section 2 of Recording Study 4 - Student Experiences

Posted Wed, 01/07/2015 - 09:38 by David Barrett Admin

In Section 2 of Recording Study 4 (Professional Studio) we sit down with students Joel Saal and George Bisharat and listen to their recording process. Videos Include: Joel Saal: Growth and Legacy Project; George Bisharat: Getting to know George; Why Do a CD?; Preparation, Music Mentors and Musician Selection; Recording, Mixing and Mastering; Photography, Artwork and Promotion; Tips for Students, Copyright and Distribution. George has provided you a song from his new CD on the lesson page. continue reading...

David's Tip of the Day: Reference Harmonica for Octaves and other Splits

Posted Wed, 01/07/2015 - 07:57 by David Barrett Admin

We need to take a quick break from the transcription series today for a fellow student in need of help with octaves. continue reading...

David's Tip of the Day: Transcribing Tip - Figuring out the Key of Harmonica, Part 1

Posted Tue, 01/06/2015 - 07:42 by David Barrett Admin

The first step in the process is to figure out the key of harmonica used. Here are a few common methods. We'll assume that what's being played is in the common 2nd Position for now.

1) Pick up each harmonica in your collection and play the 2 draw until you find the harmonica that matches the best. In 2nd Position the 2 draw is your home base... the key of the song (If the song is in the key of G, the 2 draw on your C Harmonica is G). continue reading...

David's Tip of the Day: Transcribing Tip - My Process

Posted Mon, 01/05/2015 - 08:22 by David Barrett Admin

This is my process...

1) Transcribe everything at full tempo, without picking up the harmonica.

2) Slow the music down moderately (around 15-20%) and proofread my transcription carefully as I listen. This is very handy, I'll inevitably find little fixes (such as dips, slurs, pulls that were very soft, etc.).

3) If it's a very fast song, I'll do this again at around 40% slow. continue reading...

David's Tip of the Day: Transcribing Tip - History of Slowdown and A/B Repeat

Posted Fri, 01/02/2015 - 09:09 by David Barrett Admin

Before machines and software existed to slow music down we had no choice but to learn/transcribe music at its full tempo. You could change the speed on your record player or use your thumb to slow down the record’s rotation, but the result was a change of key (and not dead-on… it wasn’t like you could grab another key of harp and you were good to go). When Marantz came out with their tape recorder with half speed playback we teachers picked it up (it was expensive… around $600 if I remember correctly). continue reading...

What's New: Recording Study 4 - Professional Studio

Posted Thu, 01/01/2015 - 13:22 by David Barrett Admin

Finally we start the epic series of recording at a professional studio! Your lesson begins with an overview of what's involved in recording at a studio and then we cover a bullet-point list of what's needed to prepare for the process. Next to release in the series will be an interview with students Joel Saal and George Bisharat. Videos Include: Section 1 – The Recording Process: Introduction to Professional Recording Study; Why Record; Choosing Musicians; Ways to Record; Preparing for the Studio; Rehearsing for the Studio; Choosing your Harp Amp; Recording Process; Recording Budget

David's Tip of the Day: Transcribing - Actually Play What You Wrote

Posted Wed, 12/31/2014 - 09:33 by David Barrett Admin

It’s very common for students to come in after transcribing a bit of music to have parts written, that they're supposedly reading from, but they actually play something slightly different. For example... they may write 4 5+, but actually play 5 6+. To fix this, slowly play out of rhythm (one note per tap of the foot will do), what you wrote. This will stop your muscle memory, which is commonly linked to rhythm, from guiding you towards playing by ear, not what you wrote on the page.

Happy New Year to everyone!

David's Tip of the Day: Purpose/Value of Transcribing

Posted Tue, 12/30/2014 - 08:10 by David Barrett Admin

This is pretty simple… you don’t know how to play something and you take the time to learn it and write it down as you go. There’s nothing wrong with learning solos by memory, but the added value of writing them down is that you have something that can be edited over time and is a reference when you want to revisit the song (it’s common to work on a song for a while and then move on to other material, which makes it a high probability that you’ll forget most of what you’ve memorized if you don’t play the song regularly). continue reading...

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