[Harp-L] New course reviewed by Pat Missin

[Ben Hewlett <ben@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Folks, did I tell you about my new years resolution course? I started it after Christmas '13 and it's been  well received so far. See what you think of it. 

20% discount for Harp-lers: http://tinyurl.com/BensNewCourse

Review by Pat Missin

Ben Hewlett is a full time harmonica teacher based in the UK and is currently the only one on Udemy offering harmonica tuition. He seems to have the 10 hole diatonic pretty much covered with this course, consisting of 115 HD video lectures, totaling more than 14 hours of teaching. The course starts out with the absolute basics, including some  really useful advice on how to get the most from the lessons and how best to navigate Udemy's site. Right from the very start, the focus is on making music, with techniques that sound good, but are relatively easy to pick up. Before long, he's coaching the student through rhythmic chordal grooves, single note patterns and a few well known tunes, then we get into detailed stuff on note bending, the hows and whys of positions, the building blocks of improvisation, plus some advice on how to strut your stuff at jam sessions.

The intermediate section leads off with lessons on breath control, working on your tone, different embouchures, more complex chordal patterns, modal improvisation and playing in the styles of Sonny Boy Williamson and Sonny Terry, then wraps up with some country style playing, some Irish tunes and more blues from the repertoires of SBW, Sonny Terry and Little Walter. As you would expect from the esteemed Mr Hewlett, all lessons are clear and to the point, yet relaxed and enjoyable. Ben is especially good at being able to explain potentially challenging concepts in easy to understand ways without, if you'll pardon the phrase, dumbing things down.

Most of the individual lessons are around 10 minutes or so in length, which means that you can take a lesson on your cell phone, or iPad, or whatever, whilst waiting for a bus, during your lunch break, or as you wait for a pizza to be delivered. I did find that Udemy's site works somewhat better on certain platforms/browsers than others, but they have support staff whose goal is to make sure everyone is happy and in the extremely unlikely event that you simply cannot get things to work smoothly on your device, there is a 30 day full money back guarantee.

You don't have to take the full course. If you're not a raw beginner, you might want to dive in at the intermediate level, but buying the complete package does have its advantages. If you sign up right now, you get lifetime access to all 115 lessons for $99. Ben tells me he will be adding new lectures to the course over time and the cost of the course will rise accordingly, but if you buy now, you will get all the new stuff as it's added without having to pay a penny more. Udemy also allows you to give gift subscriptions, so this would make a great Christmas or birthday present for someone you know who's interested in learning to play the harmonica.

Go to Udemy.com and search for 'harmonica'.

Many thanks

Ben
Ben Hewlett
ben@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.harmonicaworld.net
01454 881 089
07973 284 366