RE: [Harp-L] David Barrett's Harmonica Scales Books

["MLeFree" <mlefree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

samblancato wrote:
> Bill Hines had mentioned the two scales books by David Barrette and I
wanted
> to make some comment on this.  I have the second book and it has just
about
> every scale there is in it but it's pretty useless except as a reference.
I
> think the world of Barrett's material but he makes the same mistake
> everybody else seems to make when they approach this thing.  Everyone
> presents all the scales relevant to their discussion but nobody seems to
> understand that know a scale in and of its self is worthless unless it's
> within a context of a song or chord progression.  You might be able to
> recognize a scale and distinguish it from another but without a context
it's
> meaningless.  How does a Dorian scale work melodically over a major
> progression?  How does it compare, given the same progression, with a
> mixalydian scale?  Barrette only touches on this at the very end, and I
mean
> the very end of the book.  In this instance he plays a really neat figure
> over a progression and gives you the teenyweenist taste of what can be
done
> once you understand a scale in context.  It is really frustrating.
Barrette
> is taking on an issue and then he doesn't really take it on.  Presenting
> this kind of stuff for harmonica players (who learn their chops by
instinct
> mostly) is like trying to explain something to a blind person by drawing
> them a picture.

Sam, I have been reluctant to either comment on or purchase any more of the
Barrett series of instructional books for the exact reason you mention.  I
know there are lots of people who swear by Barrett's body of work and I wish
them all continued success with them, and to David as well.  To those who
appreciate his style of teaching I say more power to you for finding a
resource that is useful to you.

It's just that I have found Barrett's books difficult to use, even with the
CD's that are included.  To me, his presentation is very dry, being pretty
much "Here's the blues scale: dunka dunka dunka dunk.  Now here is the
______ scale: dunka dunka dinka dink."  And so on.  No context, no
background, just an announcement of the "lesson" and a single example, and
then on to something else.  At the end he tries to tie it all together with
a single song that incorporates all the techniques he demonstrated
individually.  I'd have to play that single song six thousand times to get
it all down.

So, I thank you for your candor, Sam.  I usually don't criticize a product
on list, but in this case since your experience echoes mine I thought I
should chime in.  For ~me~ personally, I didn't get much out of my single
David Barrett book/CD so I don't intend to buy another.  I think there is
better learning material out there, again, for ~my~ style of learning.  And
I guess your's too, Sam.  :^)

So I suppose that if anyone gets stuck when using one of David's books, my
message is that you should realize that the problem might not be ~yours~,
and that there are other ways to go.  I know it took a while for me to
realize that my inibility to use the Barrett book might not have been my
fault alone.

Michelle