Wondering if anyone has experience with David Barrett's Exploring 1st, 2nd and 3rd position series of books/CD's? Do they offer more depth than the other books in his large teaching system much of which I have and very much enjoy.
I have the 2nd level ones. At some point I picked up the entire 2nd level series of books & dvd. I'd say their okay if you're a beginner/advanced beginner. They teach ya tads of theory, tads of licks, dabbles of history. A few hours of lessons worth of material in the books. Though to be honest they sit on my shelf and gather dust I'd be happy to barter them away, lol.
Anyway, the books are decent learning material until you hit a certain stage in your playing, like Adam's Intermediate or Advanced intermediate.
Some thoughts:
In my experience nothing beats a 1 on 1 teacher. If you want to supplement your lessons with other books & such go for it. You never know who's gonna say what you need to hear to do the thing you wanna do.
You don't need those books:
I think you could pull off exploring 1st, 2nd, & 3rd position on your own even better. Throw on some jam tracks, pick the right key harmonica for the position you want, memorize the scales, and start exploring & experimenting.
Need to memorize 1st, 2nd, & 3rd position scales from someone who makes it easy? Here you go:
Most appreciated Ryan. The thing I find with David Barrett is there's a lot of choice within the different levels which means that inevitably information gets repeated, albeit, in different ways. I don"t have any of the Exploring series and wasn't sure if there was a depth to the material that might have made purchasing worthwhile. If my music stores had the books a quick glance would answer that question but of course these books aren't stocked.
I think I'll try Exploring 2nd position as Amazon is almost giving it away. Can also get Tom Ball's Little Walter / Big Walter licks book though learning that way does fly in the face of the method preferred by my harp hero, Jerry Portnoy.
Over the years I've collected a lot of books - few on harmonica and a lot on jazz piano and jazz theory.
I realized that I was searching for some kinda "holy grail" book that would do it all for me - but came to the conclusion that this grail doesn't really exist. It was up to me to do the work and put in the time.
One on One teacher was the best solution I found for me.
Also, Jerry Portnoy has a great online teaching course that is covering positions as well - www.sonic-junction.com. He partnered with other blues greats on other instruments in a very easy to use format - videos, chat rooms, etc. ---------- The Iceman
Let me pile on with the recommendation of a one-on-one teacher. A professional, objective ear will hear things that possibly you don't, and a good teacher can evaluate your playing, strengths and weaknesses, and set some goals for you.
Mr Ruben is an excellent youtuber, always talks in a fashion that can sound "theory heavy" but you need to view a couple of times to work it out, the clip on 3rd is my fav atm, after 4 plus years learning, 3rd pos is my favourite, Ronnie Shellist has a neat riff in 3rd that kick started me, ...sorry, got of track a bit i think..lol.
