Posted Wed, 01/28/2015 - 11:47 by David Barrett Admin
Chico Hamilton in "The Checkout" podcast interview stresses the importance of movement, specifically to "dance when you play." He states, "No one knows which one came first, rhythm or movement."
Posted Wed, 01/14/2015 - 14:58 by David Barrett Admin
In our newest episode of the BluesHarmonica.com Recording Study series Aki Kumar shares his recording experiences and how he would like to approach our new CD project. Aki and I rehearse our harmony tunes and I provide you with MP3 scratch tracks and PDF music/TAB for you to play along with us.
Posted Mon, 12/29/2014 - 08:23 by David Barrett Admin
I realized that I just jumped into transcribing tips and that it would be a good idea to define what transcribing is in detail for everyone. Transcribing is simply listening to what someone else has played on recording and writing down what they did. In its most basic form you write down the hole numbers that they played (blows, draws and bends) and any treatments such as tongue blocking techniques or articulations they used. continue reading...
Posted Fri, 12/05/2014 - 09:02 by David Barrett Admin
Gary Smith, Aki Kumar and I were in the studio this last weekend and I was commiserating with Kid in regards to being anxious about being able to "bring it" for the recording. He quoted this phrase and thought I would share it with you...
"The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize." Robert Hughes
Posted Mon, 11/03/2014 - 00:04 by David Barrett Admin
I'm at my desk in the Movenpick Hotel Stuttgart, about to leave for my flight home. Today I'll start a series based on my observations from my classes, conversations with students and what I heard at the jam sessions... specifically what I saw in regards to deficiencies.
Memorize your three blues chords...
I7 (one-seven chord) = G B D F (G is the Root of the chord, B the third [third note from the root in the basic scale... G A B], D the fifth and F the flat-7th [the 7th in the Key of G is F#, so F being lowered a half step is the flat-7th)
IV7 = C E G Bb
V7 Chord = D F# A C continue reading...
Posted Mon, 10/13/2014 - 10:05 by David Barrett Admin
There was a desire from some of the students to re-post this dialogue from the public forum in a more prominent place... they, and I, feel it strikes a common chord with many...
Student
"I am 53 years old and have wanted to play the harmonica since I was 15 but never knew how to approach it. I took it up two years ago, starting with lessons from Portnoy, Gindick and Gussow. I found your site last fall and found exactly what I was looking for; the rich full sound of tongue blocking in a well-structured progressing in learning. continue reading...
Posted Fri, 10/10/2014 - 08:53 by David Barrett Admin
Here's a sneak peek of my interview with country harmonica wizard Mike Caldwell. In this video he talks about the spirit of music and then we jam it up! Full interview to release 10/22 http://youtu.be/2Qk6tJHVP2o