You're not very welcoming to the one harmonica beginner
Bought my Marine Band C harmonica a couple of months ago and have been fooling around on it for a while without making much progress. I was excited to see a Facebook link this morning that offered me 21 days of free lessons because of my recent Hohner purchase.
I get here, go through the signup drill and what do I see for my first beginner lesson-- Get out your A harmonica. We might use your C harmonica later. In fact, why don't you go out and buy a bunch of other harmonicas.
Are you kidding?
You obviously made this deal with Hohner. You can't be expecting total newbies to invest hundreds of dollars before they can get started. Maybe it's my fault for buying the wrong starter harmonica. Maybe I'm the only person who ever made it to this site with just one harmonica, but I doubt it.
I predict that of the first 100 that make it here with their Hohner coupon, very few, if any, will end up subscribers.
That's a shame. I can tell this is a fine site, with lots of valuable instruction to offer. Throw us a bone, will you?
My time may be more valuable but a C harp is what I have and it is what I am using to evaluate whether or not to spend time on your site. I'm trying to be helpful. I'm an adult, have played the piano for many years and know something about music.
Since my first posting, I went through the first two sections of the Blues Harmonica fundamental videos ("Getting started" and "Holding and Positioning")
Funny thing, so far an A harp hasn't been required at all. In fact, the text on the Blues Harmonica Fundamentals page says that a C harmonica is the one that is required and many of the videos use the C harmonica for demos.
I do think that your "Video intro to Section 1" will scare off a few people needlessly. Why not just welcome all players and all harmonicas for the first few sections? You make the point that most harmonicas don't last that long. We can get the A harmonica for our second and buy the full basket on our third trip.
to send you an hohner A harmonica (sp20 will be a prefect starter) as a welcome gift to this fantastic comunity, just pm me your address.
Hope it will make you feel as welcomed as I felt from the minute 1 I enrolled in this musician brotherhood
That's very nice of you but not really necessary.
I was just trying to point something out to Mr. Barrett. He evidently made some kind of arrangement with Hohner, whereby they would direct purchasers to his site for some free harmonica lessons. Presumably he hopes to get some long term subscribers out of the deal.
I just thought he might want to consider that at least some of them might not welcome the first suggestion being that what they really need to do is to go back and buy four or five more harmonicas-- even if Hohner probably thinks that is just the greatest idea they ever heard.
I suggest that message could be postponed a bit and that there is actually no reason to have to rush out and buy a new harmonica before continuing with the online lessons. The last thing he wants is for people to click off the site thinking that they can't even get started until they make it back to the music store.
I do appreciate your offer.
All valid points, thank you for sharing your insight.
I'm laughing, because I think David Barrett has the most integrity of anyone I know, Notmtwain. I've been studying with him for 2 years. Please give this a chance and you'll be giving David an appeasement present!
David is a good business man, absolutely. But he earns his living the hard way, he works for it constantly! Start to tally up what he produces, the CDs, the books, the web site, the lessons, the jam sessions, student concerts, continuing study and performance, transcriptions, interviews, artist studies......What have I missed? And he never runs out of stuff to offer us.
I don't know if David has a deal with Hohner, but if he does it's because he believes in the product. In the past 2 years I have learned about several harmonicas, it seems to me the Hohner is the best bet for those who are just trying things out, but not all students have the same mindset as you. I knew I wanted to go the distance with this and would have liked to have started with all custom harps of the best quality, it would have saved me money. David can't read people's minds.
As for the A harp, I highly recommend getting the Amazing Slowdowner, a software package you can buy online for about $40 or $50 bucks. I think you can get it for free for a trial period. You can slow things down and change the key. So you can play everything for the C harp on the A instead. Also, bending on A and C takes a different callibration of the mouth, so you'll want to get working on a couple of them.
Best of luck. Let me know what little gift you decide to send David when you realize he's the real thing. :-) There's no harder working harmonica teacher on the planet. Can't wait to hear about your progress and your aha! moments.
Best,
Annamarie
Wish I had seen this before purchase and sign up. I am rather annoyed by the same issue. Bought a C after research on web all of which points to the C as the best starter harmonica (which made sense based on previous musical experience) only to be told at first lesson "You need an A." And this thread was posted in 2011 so obviously nothing has been done to address the issue.
While I could easily buy another harmonica, the issue is the annoyance factor and feeling turned off by the experience. Sapping trust, interest and morale in the first lesson is a bad start. This Barret site looks great, and I doubt the issue is with the site or Mr. Barret, but rather with Hohner's packaging. "Free Lessons" on every harmonica, regardless of it's key. With zero warnings that you are buying the "wrong" one for the free lessons offered.
You can play the introdutory course in the key of C using special course for this key. If you decide you like this, then you will need an A for the initial courses. Later on, you'll need to acquire a partial set in order to proceed with this course. But for now, the C is sufficient using the special introductory course in the key of C.
If you're new to harmonicas, you may not realize that every diatonic harmonica is identical to every other diatonic harmonica, regardless of key. You can play a song in the key of A using a C harmonica and all the holes will be exactly the same, only the pitch of the notes will be different.
I bought a C at first and then signed up for the free lesson on this site, the one in the key of C. I liked it so much I've been on this site now for about 15 months and have progressed from complete novice to having completed LOA3. Given my complete lack of musical training, this is IMHO a significant accomplishment. I now have a set consisting of low F, G, A, Bb, C, and D and I use them all.
Look in the menu and find the lesson in C If you are new to the harp this lesson will take you a month or more to complete (so that would be your free month) and the study song is the same as in the LoA1 so this will give you a leg up for the Levels of Achievement program if thats what you chose to do with your new A harp. The draws and blows in C will be the same for any harp. If you are half serious about playing blues you will need a number of harps so the C would be a start and nothing wasted.
The lesson in C is worth a lot more than the cost of a harp in my view and there is a heap of stuff that you can also access on the site. Perhaps after you have had a chance to look around and experienced the site you may have a different view of things. I would recommend that you have fun with the studies and enjoy the journey.
I need to say thank you to AceVentura and John S. Like most of us, I've joined various forums and such, and upon offering a contrarian view, or noting a difficulty, or asking a question, have been shouted down by trolls. Here, what I've been offered are actual, considered responses that acknowledge my situation and offer valid solutions. This kind of response is amazing, and the positive vibe on this site is impressive. It restores my desire to participate.
Thank you!!
Enjoy your study I am sure you will.
I also started with a C harp and quickly relealized I needed an A and G harp. it was the best decision I made. If you want to learn how to play harmonica, get an A and a G harp and go through all aspects of lesson 1 and 2. David Barrett is an incredible teacher. Take your time and enjoy the journey. Dave will be there for you at all times. I characterize David as a man with integrity and dedicated to teaching. Also, please get the Amazing Slow Downer and Harp Ninja (make sure this program is compatible with your computer), and a Wittner MT-60 Metronome. If money is tight, only purchase an A harp for now. Hopefully you will continue your studies with Dave. It has been an amazing journey for me for over 5 years and I plan to continue learning with David for the foreseeable future. Good luck.
Thank you James Micarelli. Diving in now.
I have been working on David's site for years and I endorse him and his site 100%. Leaning a new insturment is difficult and time takes a very big personal committment. The cost of a harp or a half dozen harps is a small part of it. Your time is what is most valuable. Anyone starting has to make some level of committment to even determine if you are going to stick with it. The harps I have average $40 a piece. The hours Ive put in far exceed that. I love it. I wish I had more time to put into it.
No worries. Enjoy the ride.
I spent several months on my C harp checking other sites, many quite good actually, but ultimately settled here specifically because of the emphasis on blues and also the Levels of Achievement. I feel the structured, step-by-step approach works best for me.
Also, as to the cost, its really not that much. My partial set of Hohner Rockets in LF, G, A, Bb, C, and D cost approximately $380US, and these are excellent harps. A full set of these harps will run $740US. Bear in mind, this is for professional quality harps, not the cheapie stuff. A Fender Telecaster or Stratocaster or a Gibson Les Paul will easily run you north of $1,500, if not much more.
This is a great site. Enjoy the ride.
I'm pretty new too. Signed up using the free trial that came with my C harp. Unfortunately the trial code didn't work but signed up anyway. I decided that this site was going to be a slow burner for me and will take me a long time. Daves instruction is methodical and challenging and is certainly not going to be a fast track to learning to play. But it will embed the learning in me I'm sure. So anyway I bought an A harp, and a golden melody in c - harmonicas as so beautiful aren't they? And they cost less than a meal out (which I don't do!). So I say use a c harp to okay any song you like and get an A harp to work through the levels and take it real slow! It is a bit of an own goal by Hohner to include trials that don't work though!
Courtesy is king always!
StevieP:
You have to input the trial code at www.bluesharmonica.com/hohner
The /hohner takes you to a site seperate from bluesharmonica.com where you can input your trial code.
Steviep,
Regarding your statement that "this site was going to be a slow burner for me and will take me a long time", that's pretty much the case with any musical instrument, especially your first instrument. It is rather easy to play harmonica "chordally", that is blow and draw multiple holes at a time In the style of Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen, and that's fine. Playing chordally is a perfectly legitimate way to play the harp. However, if you really want to play the harp for all it's worth, well, that will take time. There's a saying in photography that you can learn 80% in two weeks but the remaining 20% will take a lifetime. With the harp, it's a quite a bit longer but still the same principle. Enjoy the ride.
Welcome to the site notmtwain. There's one simple answer to this... the A Harmonica is the most common harmonica used for playing blues. By starting with the A Harmonica... learning how to move around and bend on it... makes the A Harmonica the reference point for the new player... this is very important. As time goes on students move to the G Harmonica, then D Harmonica, etc... and yes, each harmonica is approached differently (especially bending).
Secondly, the site is built 100% for the education of the harmonica player... and if that means buying a small set of harmonicas to prepare you for the best education, then buy a small set. My opinion at least ;-) Your time is way more valuable than the $35 you spend on each harp. A beginner guitar combo (cheap guitar, amp, cable, picks, etc.) cost over $200. By the way, a small set is G, A, B-flat, C and D (a low F would be a wonderful addition as well).
Have fun on the site and best wishes on your studies.