Gargamel
10 posts
Jan 21, 2013
4:47 AM
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Hi everybody. I'm a beginner in mouth harmonica world and i'm not really the right person to advise my friend about it, so i'll put it to you, the experts:
Friend wants to learn how to play the harmonica. I tried to show him things, but i really don't want to be responsible for wrong teaching methods, because i'm a beginner too.
He wants to take an online class with videos, that are very good for beginners. So they teach very well, how to get the right embouchure, single notes, etc...and they lead you on with songs, tab sheets,...
He checked what is available online and somehow narrowed down the options to:
- Jon Gindick Video Harp Club for 40$
- David Barretts BLues harmonica site for 17$ a month,
- Howard Levy site for 20$ a month
Can anyone help, which site or material is especially good for beginners? For example, he studied many youtube videos for embouchure and single notes, but he has a lot of problems with it. He expects, that those sites will help him more than youtube only and that he will be GUIDED forward, so he doesn't get stuck somewhere, like he did now. Maybe, that he could contact the teacher and he tells him what he is doing wrong.
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Frank
1901 posts
Jan 21, 2013
5:47 AM
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Start with Jon, then Move on to David, finally give Uncle Howard a peek :)
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eharp
2055 posts
Jan 21, 2013
6:01 AM
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he should save his money and work on getting clean, single notes; preferably using the tb method. he must have seen several videos on the subject already. if he doesnt have this first building block down, he is spending money on something that he can learn, on his own, for free.
when he gets close, and if you cant advise him, i would suggest a skype lesson from ronnie shellist or another instructor that doesnt charge too much to help him tweak it in.
at that point he will be ready for the online courses.
i think barrett's is the best value. not only does he have lots of instructions, he offers downloadable tab, downloadable backing tracks at various speeds, a chance to get feed back on your progress for each lesson, a good forum and helpful interviews with well known players.
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tookatooka
3178 posts
Jan 21, 2013
6:02 AM
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"he studied many youtube videos for embouchure and single notes, but he has a lot of problems with it" Hmmm. Methinks if he is having trouble with the basic basics, he'd be wasting his money with online lessons at this stage. He must be able to grasp the idea of a single note from the videos on YouTube before he even considers further lessons.
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Airstream
17 posts
Jan 21, 2013
6:13 AM
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Check out Ronnie Shellist's Harmonica 123.com. Ronnie teaches through an online conferance setting. I've been doing this for the last few months, myself. It is not at all like Skype. Meaning you are not privately face to face ( very expensive). It's just mostly the instructor with a live message board. You can interact at any time during sessions on camara or mic only ( way cheaper). I myself have only been playing a little over 3 years and have been in a little bit in a rut. Ronnie's teaching methods are beginning to open my ears. Also all of his lessons except his open feedback sessions are recorded. So you can review anytime.
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Kaining
13 posts
Jan 21, 2013
6:59 AM
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I agree with eveybody, spending money on online tutoring now is a waste of time. Anyway, if he really wants to spend money on something, make him spend on a teaching book.
BTW, ask him if he can do 100 push up, 20 pull up, run a marathon right of the bat, without having trained one minutes before. The answer is no for everybody and getting clear single note is the same.
You are working some muscle that have never done anything even remotely close to what you are asking them to do.
Muscle take time to build up and muscle memory even more so just tell to take his time, no video will ever do the work for him.
As for getting single notes, just running up and down the c scale and some easy tunes like "michael row the boat ashore", "oh, susannah" or "when the saints" is probably the fastest way to go about it. No need for any teacher for that.
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chicagopsych
14 posts
Jan 21, 2013
7:47 AM
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Get a book with a CD for sound reference. That way he is not wasting money as the days tick off his membership and he is still struggling with basics.
Gindick's book is excellent as is the newer Blues Harmonica for Dummies.
Both have CDs to hear what one is supposed to sound like.
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isaacullah
2264 posts
Jan 21, 2013
8:08 AM
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good advice from the above. If he INSISTS on spending some money right now, I will second the idea of spending it on a SKYPE or LIVE lesson. It sounds like what he really needs to do is PRACTICE, and also to have someone LISTEN TO and EVALUATE his playing, and provided POINTED tips to how to move forward. Start with ONE skype or in-person lesson, and WORK on that for at least a month. THEN consider another lesson, or perhaps online tuition.
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SmokeJS
49 posts
Jan 21, 2013
8:19 AM
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Your friend is in exactly the same spot I was 7 months ago. I decided to go the book/cd route as one book is often less cost than one month's membership. And if the student takes their time a beginning Gindick or Barrett book will take months to study properly. The books can generally be read in a couple of hours but that doesn't equate to learning a musical instrument and acquiring new sets of muscle memory. There was a chap on the forum not too long ago who was getting all the bends on holes 2 and 3 after just a couple of weeks of playing. There are 4 year old piano prodigies out there too but most of us are what Gindick calls hammer and nail types who have to build competency one step at a time over a relatively long period of time. But down the road, for me it could take a year or two, I'll sign up with the Barrett website.
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Gargamel
11 posts
Jan 21, 2013
11:25 AM
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Ok i will give him your suggestions.
He thinks that his embouchure is wrong and thats why he can't get single notes. I can see he is trying hard and sometimes gets them nicely, but then a minute later can't get one to save his life.
So he is trying all the videos on youtube, almost eats the harp, but there is little constant success. So he thinks, that a paying site will give him more details about this topic and will also guide him on.
He doesn't want shortcuts, but the right way to do it. Right now he abandoned single note learning and he's just jamming along.
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eharp
2057 posts
Jan 22, 2013
2:53 PM
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and there aint nothing wrong with just wanting to stuff the harp in your mouth and try to jam along to some music!
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John Woolcock
6 posts
Jan 24, 2013
6:03 PM
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It took me a while to understand the nuances of the harp and I looked at a lot of stuff on-line. Here's the best tip I can give you- break it down to small chunks of learning and set realistic goals. Second- practice regularly. Third- try to learn songs that you like by playing along with the recordings- this is great ear training and has been invaluable in building chops. Fourth- be patient and go easy on yourself- this is a journey that has no defined destination. The joy will always be in the journey. There will be good days and bad days and one day you will discover that the bad days have gone away. Summary- be persistent and hang in there. You will love it one day down the road!
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mojojojo
130 posts
Jan 25, 2013
11:16 AM
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It took me a full month of practice a to get clean single note, and even then I was short of breath.
Most obvious...check out Adam Gussow's series of videos on YouTube! It's how I got started. Over a 100 short lessons.
I have a stack of books but they didn't even start to make sense until year 2. If you know.about music it will be easier.
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