I've just sent out an email to my mailing list but wanted folks here, obviously, to get the same invitation. Here's the complete email:
Dear Friend:
I'm looking to spruce up my Modern Blues Harmonica website. As part of that upgrade, I'd like to add a few testimonials from folks--you, perhaps?--who have made transformative use of my teaching materials: not just my free videos on YouTube, but the videos and tabs that I've been selling at MBH for the past nine years.
To make things interesting, I'm sponsoring a little competition, with a $100 cash prize.
I'm looking for the best, most convincing video testimonial. The winner will find a way of saying, in effect, "Adam Gussow taught me how to play like this." Not necessily in those words, but you get the idea.
The winning video will not only claim the cash prize, but will be posted prominently on the Modern Blues Harmonica homepage and Beginners page. (Second and third place videos may also be posted in those locations.)
I'm more interested, frankly, in people who have learned how to play with the help of my for-pay videos and tabs. But because there are some people who have made extraordinary progress with the help of my several hundred free video tutorials on YouTube, this competition is open to those folks as well.
Do I have your attention? Good. Here are the rules.
1) Videos should ideally be no longer than 30 seconds or so, and shorter than that is fine, but allowable length is up to 60 seconds.
2) All videos entered in the competition must be posted publicly on YouTube and must be titled simply "Modern Blues Harmonica testimonial".
3) There are no rules or guidelines for the form that your video must take. Talking heads are fine, but voiceovers are fine, too. Samples of your playing--"before" and "after"--are welcome, and some actual on-camera harmonica playing is highly advisable, but it's not absolutely required. Be creative, or not. What counts, finally, is the total effect. I'm looking for a video that will convince somebody to visit my site and choose me as their harmonica teacher.
4) Actually, there's one guideline: please be honest and authentic. Don't make stuff up. And don't oversell like a maniac. I like the Shamwow guy, too, but that's not what I'm looking for.
5) Once you've created and uploaded your video to YouTube, email me (asgussow@aol.com), put "Modern Blues Harmonica testimonial" in the subject line, and include a link to your video in the body of your email. I must receive this email from you, with a link, or you won't be considered to have entered the competition.
6) Deadline for entries is Thursday, March 10. All entries must be received by 12 midnight, Central Standard Time.
7) I will announce the winner on Friday, March 18. The announcement will be made in a dedicated thread on the Modern Blues Harmonica forum. I will also contact the winner and two runners-up by email, and I will pay out the prize money promptly via PayPal or, if the winner prefers, by a check in the mail.
8) Although the winner is the only person who will receive a cash prize, the second and third place entries will each receive $50 credit towards any of the digital products I sell at MBH, including audio books and music (i.e., albums).
That's it. That's the competition. I'm looking for a few good videos.
Before I go: one final thought, and an important one. Please don't assume that you must be an advanced intermediate player, or better, in order to enter this competition. What matters to me isn't how good you are right now, but how far you've traveled. So I'm just as interested in somebody who started from scratch three months ago and is actually playing SOMETHING that sounds bluesy--and is filled with joy and amazement at their own progress--as I am in somebody who has taken five years to go from raw beginner to a gigging musician. Both players interest me equally. Both have an equal right to enter this competion. Both have the same chance of creating a video that catches my interest--and the interest of the future students I'm hoping to attract.
anything up to 60 seconds is fine. Since I'm looking for something that I can put near the top of the homepage, it needs to hold the interest and attention of prospective customers. I decided that 60 seconds was the upper limit. When you see a 60-second commercial on TV these days, it seems to take forever. So my gut told me that 30 secs. was probably a good basic suggestion. But if you've got something and can do it in 60, by all means fire away.
I knew I should have gotten in the 'photogenic' line when they were handing out looks. Now it's going to hurt my chances! (Well, that and the fact that I have never once plugged in my webcam...)
I don't suppose you happen to have a George Bush mask lying around I could borrow?
Hi Adam, greetings from the Moon = Finland. I ordered my first material “crossroads” from you couple of month ago. My intention for some time has been to make Finish version on that to Youtube. I’d like to participate to competition – not to win – but share my view that your method to teach “how to harp” is very good even for a bit advanced players https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPVno_ivf90 I hope that I have time to do something because I’m leaving to Miami 5.3. (holiday). Concerning the competition I have a question: Can one send to the competition more than one video-clip? I have some ideas how to make that but difficulties to make a choice. Unfortunately crossroads is the only one I can use as an example. And I am just a halfway of practising, however I think that one can recognise what I’m trying to play. Second question is: How much I can edit the video, mainly thinking here for example: If I am going to sing I’ll do that in Finish. The lyrics are not a translation of original, but my story of poor man who makes a robbery to get a ring to his girlfriend, she get the ring but he is convicted to prison, and she never comes to see him in to the jailhouse. So can I put subtitles in English in to the video and how about other embedded text, animations etc. or do you prefer one-shot simple video here, mara
Maraboy: Great question! May you submit more than one video? The answer is yes. I don't see why not.
I should clarify something about this competition, just so there's no confusion. I'm not looking for sycophants. I don't crave approval. I recently had an informal conversation with somebody who had taken a look at my website, knows something about selling stuff, and was surprised that I didn't have any testimonials featured prominently on the homepage--as, for example, my competitors J.P. Allen and David Barrett do. I realized that although I had a whole long page of testimonials--i.e., a dedicated testimonial page--I did indeed have nothing on the homepage, or beginner's page, or any other obvious page.
That's because I spend little time figuring out how to sell myself. I spend more time playing music and making the occasional teaching video.
So I'm trying to play catchup. By the same token, although I've received a fair bit of email in the past 9 years from people who tell me that my MBH and YT lessons have transformed their lives, I've never actually gone out and asked for testimonials. And to ask for video testimonials--heck, they take a little work. I didn't want folks to do free work for me. So I figured I would spice it up by throwing in some $$$.
It's possible that this has given some people the wrong impression. So let me just say: this is an open invitation and call for assistance. Obviously there are students of mine who are also students of David'd, or Joe's, or Ronnie's. In no way should my request be construed as me asking somebody to say, "Adam, you're the greatest blues harmonica teacher of them all." Far from it. I'm always tell students to check out the offering of those other three players.
Still, I could use a few video testimonials, and after nine years in the game, asking forthrightly for them seems like a reasonable request.
That's where I'm coming from on this. If you're interested in saying a few kind words but don't want to be part of a competition, by all means send me something anyway.
I've gotten eight submissions so far. I was hoping for a few more than that, but I've got some great material already. I welcome additional submissions from y'all.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Mar 02, 2016 1:58 PM
@Rogonzab: As for English only: Actually, I'm fine with testimonials in a foreign language, but I think they need to have subtitles so that they're accessible to the rest of us.
Handled properly, that sort of video could be really interesting.
You're right that it takes a little work to make a video. I could probably, and probably should, do a fairly good testimonial to those trade it lessons. I built my first set of bluesy material based on stuff I learned from your lessons...im still learning from them actually. Not all the lessons are there on the surface. I keep finding value beyond the fact of how to play the song or the scale or the ending/intro...but I'm a lazy/busy sob too.
Im just not sure what to do in the video. It's gotta be something that your willing to be potentially plastered up on the site for all eternity. 8^\ .... i really do want to do one. As i love those vids and feel that i really do owe it to do one, but ... hmmm.... i been Thinkin. Guess i should keep it simple, but not too simple.
Idk ... ill try to come up with somethin ---------- "Trust Those Who Seek The Truth. Doubt Those Who Say They Have Found It."
Killa: Don't worry about be plastered! I mean: on my site. Then again, it's a good thing when somebody says Lay it down! Throw down.
I was listening to Jimmy Rogers CHICAGO BOUND this afternoon. Little Walter is throwing down. He was on his game.
Good model.
Please feel free, as several folks have, to record several different videos, upload, keep them "unlisted" (meaning that only people with a link can access them; they're not searchable), and send me a link. I can assure you of one thing: If I pick your video as the winner, I won't absolutely insist that you let me post it at the top of the homepage. I'll just try very hard to convince you. And I'll pay you $100.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Mar 02, 2016 5:33 PM
Here is my attempt, using the famous, 'Tongue in Cheek Embouchure'. I may give it a real go later, but I figured I'd at least figure out how to use the camera. I bought it a few months back and it was still sitting in the box until a couple days ago.
"I want to be a rockstar but I ai t no good" That is profound Nate. I think it may be an aphorism. You are an un-rockstar. I am genuinely happy to have watched that clip.
Hey, Nate, no luck finding that George Bush mask? You do know they come in Senior as well as Junior sizes? :)
This contest is a great idea... so much of the free learning material we receive goes uncredited.
As a beginner without disciplined goals, I often start projects but rarely finish them. One project I've started is based on Salty Holmes' 'I Want My Mama'. I just found listening to him play 'taking harmonica' made me smile, and wanted to give it a try. I thought it might also be a fun way to practice bending.
Then I suddenly remembered Adam's 'wah wahs' video and in particular how he mentions the reverse wah for the 'ow' sound. So I tried it and found that 'ow wah' simulates 'I Want' pretty well...
I'll follow Nate's example and be brave enough to post a work in progress:
Point being, I don't think I've ever seen or heard that reverse wah mentioned anywhere else. So my thanks to Adam for being so comprehensive and thorough in his lessons - you just never know when a hidden nugget of a tip might come in handy...
Harmlessonica, I didn't know much about harmonica when I started and I really didn't know what a bend sounded like. It was actually after listening to Salty Holmes that I first really could hear the bends in isolation in a way that I could practice and by the end of that day I had some basic ones going after a few months stuck in first position.
I got distracted and never did actually do a 'real' entry for Adam's contest. (The weather has been crazy here. It was 70 here today. I figured I'd get outside before it gets cold again.)
Just remember that if you want to enter the competition, you need to send me an email with the words "Modern Blues Harmonica testimonial" in the subject line and a link to your video. I've gotten about 15 and several very, very good ones came in today. I'm dumping them all into an AOL folder. I'll sit down at some point after Thursday, notebook in hand, and watch them all straight through. I'll select the top five and watch them again with my wife and make some final judgments.
Send me emails, folks. Nate, have you sent me an email?
My previous post was in response to the 'kind words' comment earlier. I don't come here as often as I used to, but seeing this thread just struck a chord so I thought I would share it.
Thanks for that note, Harmlessonica. The way you used that particular lesson is exactly how I hoped my lessons might be used. I hoped that I was filling in the cracks, as it were, between more obvious bricks of knowledge.
I've got roughly 17 entries at this point and I expect a few more to come in today.
Hi, I sent my second testimonial to Adam last Wednesday and I made a proposals that he could put the links here of those he has got so we all could see them. They are not secret being already in YouTube, but very hard to find because they all have the same name. Since I haven’t heard from Adam since then I don’t even know if my second testimonial is in the competition (even though it will be disqualified later being too long) I repeat my proposal concerning the links here. (I’m working with my third testimonial but I’m hardly getting it ready in time.) Maraboy
6) Deadline for entries is Thursday, March 10. All entries must be received by 12 midnight, Central Standard Time. I ought to ask what’s the time then here in Miami, but I just noticed that I’m late already :o( So I thought for the whole time that deadline for entries is March 12 by 10 midnight, Mara from the Moon.
I've got about 18 entries. It's an extremely busy time here and I'm about to head out on vacation--no time to post stuff now. Maybe later.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Mar 11, 2016 10:32 AM
Just a heads up: I'll do my best to post the winners this Friday (I'm writing on Thursday morning), but I've been laid low by a bad back strain and muscle spasms and may be a little late. The doctor has me on three drugs, including hydrocodone--that's opium, my friends--and I'm not my usual brisk and efficient self.
Enjoy it Adam. ( As much as you can with your back screaming) Everyone deserves a lil doped up lay on the couch now n then. Just don't like it too much. Hope your back gets better.
Can't wait to see the results of the contest. ---------- "Trust Those Who Seek The Truth. Doubt Those Who Say They Have Found It."
