Meeting your Goals
I just wanted to drop a few of my thoughts in here on this subject;
On day I stumbled upon a video on U-tube of these two guys jamming together on the harmonica, they were trading bars together over the 12 bar blues progression. The one guy I had heard of and seen before on the internet and the other guy I had never seen or heard of. I could not stop watching the video, the loved the style and sound I was hearing. I bet I watched the video 50 times or more, trying to steal the licks I was hearing. The sound and grooves they were producing were way to cool, I immeadiately had to convert to the tounge blocking style.
I had seen David Barrett on a few previous U-Tube videos and also saw the BluesHarmonica.com website when I purchased a few Honer harmonicas in the past (I'm a Seydel player), but never gave it a second thought. That is until I saw him playing with a guy named Gary Smith on this random video. I had to play like Gary, his sound was what I wanted. I started to pay attention to David's style also and quickly realized he was likley the best Harmonica playing harmonica player out there.
I took a chance on David's site and joined and have not looked back. I set a goal of LOA#6 to reach, at the time I felt I was a beginning intermeatate player and now had to learn how to TB. I have a friend Charlie Barath who is a great local proffessional player who use to tell me that TB would open up so many new possibilities. I never beleived him until devoted the time to convert and start playing that way full time. He was right, I love the sound and what you can achieve with this technique.
So after many hours of playing and working through the LOA steps I did get through LOA#6 and could tell my playing improved significantly. You really got to put in the time and devote your energy to learrning what David presents at each level. It was not easy and I worked hard. I'm not naturally musical and playing this instrument does not come easy to me. So after #6, I said to myself "I think I can get through to LOA#8", that is my next goal.
So working through #7 and #8 was probably the most rewarding two levels for me. Number 8 took me a long while and a lot of "woodshed" hours. Rollin' Rumba was for me a lot of work, I got a bit discouraged and thought I would never get thoughs 5-hole triplet octives correctly, but I did. When I submitted LOA#8 to David the first time, I got back my first request for a resubmt from him. I worked on what he said I need to improve and did it. Reach my goal of LOA#8. So this is my little story of my personally success.
Right now I'm going to relax a bit go back and work on the some of the study songs and repertoire builders that I really like. And one of them is Gary's Blues, just love that sound. Thanks to David and his buddy Gary Smith (who I'll likely never meet), Will I try to acheive #9?? I'm not sure, but for now I'm going to enjoy what David's site has to offer and I know by just doing that I will continue to improve as a player.
If you read all of this "jumbo" thanks and I hope you achieve what goals you set for yourself.
Cheers
Tom
Nicely told, Thomas. Your experience should be an inspiration to many. From your knowing Charlie Barath, I'm wondering if you're based in PA. If so, I hope that someday you do get to meet Gary Smith, a real "father" to a lot of great players. These days he doesn't often travel far from his home in the California SF Bay Area, however, so you ought to think about a field trip! As for Winslow, I hope you've had a chance to meet him. If not, you might not have to travel too far if and when SPAH gets back to actual in-person annual Conventions. (As you probably know, Winslow is a Past-President of SPAH, and a regular teacher at the annual SPAH Convention.)
I am from PA and live about 30 minutes from Charlie who is a great person and player.
One thing I will always remember about the first time I heard Winslow was his incredible tone. I was taken back and thought wow what a great sound.
As for Gary, I think it is his STYLE that drew me to his playing. Hopefully in years to come I'll get to meet these guys including David.
Great story, Tom!
Stumbling on something that really motivates you is probably what gets most players going.
And nowadays we have the luxury of great instructional material, something that didn't exist when I started back in the dark ages.
Like you, I started out not tongue blocking. I knew about it but didn't see the point, as I could get a single note easily enough with my lips. But then I started noticing all the cool things that went way beyond just adding chord vamps to Mary Had a Little Lamb, and over a long period I became probably 90% tongue block.
Glad to hear you're experiencing success in your development as a player and achieving the sound that got you going!