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I've checked out a lot of the materials out there over my journey. So
the below is just my opinion/observances.
Whether David's books/cds/videos or others from Jon Gindick, Jerry
Portnoy, etc will work for you specifically depends a lot on what type
of learner you are. Some folks are more visual and like to go through
the excellent youtube series by people like Adam Gussow, or DVDs out
there from many others. Some of these are great, some are strictly for
humor (Junior Wells) and don't teach much. Gindick takes a very relaxed,
humorous approach that doesn't assume any knowledge of music theory
(although he teaches some basic ones). Rock n' Blues Harmonica is a fun
easy to digest classic that has been updated, and his jam camps are
amazing for beginners to intermediate players.
David Barrett's stuff is more dry/scholarly and much more based on music
theory. Although you don't have to know it and can ignore that, it's a
*good* thing to learn if you want to be a musician! Much of David's
material is copied/repeated in a lot of his books/cds, so be careful you
aren't buying the same thing over and over. I loved his Classic Chicago
Blues book/cd (it's now two volumes I think), it was just the ticket for
me from A to Z (I had already been through Gindick's Rock 'n Blues as a
fun way to get started). But others of David's (scales, patterns,
bending exercises) left me lost and I was disappointed. perhaps I wasn't
ready for them (and should revisit now!). HIs books/cds on position
playing are great too.
Jerry Portnoys 3 CD masterclass is excellent, especially if you don't
want a book and want to do this while you are driving (ok, i can't
recommend that but i'm sure the vast majority of us play while driving
sometimes).
The stuff on the internet that you can get for free ranges from
excellent to really, really bad of course. Lots of the folks here do
skype online/remote teaching as well, that's good to supplement your own
self-learning.
Bill
On 10/1/2013 7:44 AM, Brian McInnis wrote:
If you want to learn all the necessary techniques (including tb) to build a solid foundation in the Chicago Blues, buy David's books.
There is nothing close to his his study of Classic Chicago Blues Harp technique.