I recently completed David Barrett's LOA program. I joined bluesharmonica.com about 3.5 years ago, and I started working through the lessons. Along the way, I started taking private lessons with David Barrett, too. Before I started with bluesharmonica.com, I really didn't have much harmonica skill (and I'd only been playing for about 6 months at that point).
So, if anyone's interested in the efficacy of Dave Barrett's program or teaching, I'm about as much of a "control" case as you could probably get (I mean that, I think you can pretty much use my progress as a barometer of Dave Barrett's teaching ability and his program. I'd let you decide whether that's good or bad.)
Here's a playlist of my concert from April 1. I was required to play five songs. Four of them are original instrumentals in different positions (1st, 2nd, 3rd, solo harp), with one song of accompaniment.
You can contrast it with this performance from December 2013, very early on in the process. https://youtu.be/0scZUaJ0gWU
Overall, Dave Barrett's material and teaching style was really well suited to me. So much of the material out there is so scattered, but Dave's approach was really comprehensive. It laid out a path for me to follow, and I feel like I have a pretty well-rounded set of skills. ---------- Marc Graci YouTube Channel
Last Edited by Mirco on Apr 08, 2017 12:27 AM
Marc - Congrats! David Barrett certainly found his niche as a teacher and the quality of your playing today is a testament both to his program and your hard work and ability. ---------- BnT
Thanks, everyone. I can definitely recommend Dave Barrett's system to get a new player up to speed. They can feel confident that they wouldn't have any gaps in their knowledge. As Dr Gussow says, Dave Barrett is the "reference standard" of harmonica instruction. ---------- Marc Graci YouTube Channel
Yea Dave is what I would call the academic master of the harmonica. He is a very effective communicator with not only the harp but with the spoken and written word.
I went to a seminar he hosted years ago and learned quite a bit. I kept my notes and, I still use and recommend his reference materials, as he discusses theory and phrasing advice (Question and answer, etc.).
