With all the wealth of knowledge on this forum, I am hoping to get a top 3 or 5 or even 10 list of the best player/teachers for harmonica. It is one thing to play and another thing to teach. I'll start the list in no particular order. If people want to include the why's or what you learned that would also be appreciated.
1)Adam Gussow (all around) 2)Ronnie Shellist (theory, technique, tone,all around) 3)Carlos Del Junco (breaking licks down and tone especially) 4)Roly Platt (all around)
I've had Carlos here on my farm three years in a row for our Week-end Harmonica Retreat. He won the Hohner Championships two times in the 90's I believe. He teaches folks how to use the Transcribe software. I have found it invaluable. In fact it is helping me leaps and bounds with learning new stuff. The only thing that has. If you order that software, do it through his site. http://carlosdeljunco.com It's worth every penny in my opinion. He is really good at working you until you are hitting all your bends masterfully.
I've hired and worked with a number of player/teachers over the years--at three Hill Country Harmonica events, at 10 Gindick camps, at five Gussow/Shellist clinics. I don't want to play favorites, but I'll tell you some names that come immediately to mind; people I've had personal experience with and wouldn't hesitate to re/hire
John Nemeth doesn't have a lot of experience teaching, but he got rave reviews as a teacher after he did the first Holly Springs thing last year.
Again: these players come first to mind, but there are more great player/teachers out there. I've never hired Barrett or Filisko, but they are master teachers and tabbers as well as fine players.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Jan 18, 2016 3:27 PM
In addition to quite a few of those named above whom I have encountered at various workshops, seminars, and SPAH, also consider Peter Ruth, Deak Harp, Michael Rubin, Brandon Bailey, James Conway, R.J. Mischo, P.T. Gazell, Charlie Barath, Paul Davies, and Winslow Yerxa who all offer good teaching in my book. ----------
Not sure this is exactly what you were looking for kham ... but, this is my list of top teachers for me personally. By that, I mean those that have impacted me the most as a harmonica player.
Jon Gindick - Like a lot of people, Jon got me started. His books taught me cross harp and the blues scale and a handful of riffs I could use to jam. This was enough to get me to the point where I could play with others musicians and got me hooked on the instrument. This was the starting point for everything.
Dennis Gruenling - Dennis taught me to tongue block and changed my playing style completely.
Matthew Smart - Some of you probably know him from his days with Hetrick, making cases and combs. Or possibly you know him as a customizer. We both lived in Atlanta and I met him when I was a beginner. I took lessons from him for a while, but mostly his influence on me was when we started the Atlanta Harmonica Enthusists together. Through the club I met countless players and a lot of pros and made lifelong friends and learned a lot of harmonica.
Jason Ricci - Met him many times over the years. But once he took me aside and showed me how to play patterns from the pentatonic scale. That had a big influence on how I think about playing the instrument.
There are a log of other guys I've met and interacted with that are great players and teachers. I just haven't spent enough time with them to say they had significant influence on me. Adam Gussow, Ronnie Shellist, and Annie Raines are all great teachers.
I have to mention one more. My total time spent with Deak Harp in lessons was about 5 minutes and he managed to get me to do something I was previously unable to do. I played a little for him and he asked me about my tongue blocking and asked if I could tongue switch. I said no, I tried but couldn't get a clean note out of the other side. He showed me one little riff and told me exactly what to do with the harp and after about 3 tries I got it. Amazing teacher! If you ever get a chance to hang around with this guy - do it! ---------- Jim McBride www.bottleoblues.com
Good thread Kham! I ve got alot of leads on new teachers i didn't know had lessons available.
If I can ask a relevant question.
I'm really looking to start adding more TB to my playing. I currently use TB for effects and octaves, but not runs or anything else.
Is there a teacher anyone could recommend with video/audio lessons for TB. I really would rather not skype or do personal lessons. ---------- ......." Where Does He Get Those Wonderful Toys?" .......
KH Best I've seen is a 24 lesson series from Lee Sankey on you tube. Check it out and see if it fits your needs.
Last Edited by ME.HarpDoc on Jan 18, 2016 5:10 PM
No particular order as each has their strengths, but I've found all these really good: -Adam Gussow -Jason Ricci -David Barrett -Todd Parrott -PT Gazell -Sandy Weltman -Mike Caldwell
I have probably learned the most from Jason Ricci's videos even tho I am not the biggest fan of his playing style. I think his teaching speaks to me best. As a former school teacher I know sometimes you can just click on a teachers style and find it speaks to you. Jason makes sense to me.
When I was strating out 12 gauge dan s stuff was really helpful
Jon Gindick got me started too. Then I found David Barrett, and the countless videos provided by Adam, Jason and Lee Sankey. In my experience, even a short time spent taking lessons face to face can equal years spent trying to learn something by watching videos. Also, by watching videos, there is noone there to show you when you do something wrong. This can lead to bad tendencies that become ingrained over time. ---------- "The blues are the roots of all American music. As long as American music survives, so will the blues."...Willie Dixon
What Goldbrick said: "I have probably learned the most from Jason Ricci's videos even tho I am not the biggest fan of his playing style. I think his teaching speaks to me best. As a former school teacher I know sometimes you can just click on a teachers style and find it speaks to you. Jason makes sense to me." And I would be negligent to not honor my first teacher, and he was serious about teaching harp: Pierre Beauregard
Killa_Hertz: You really need to check out Dave Barrett's bluesharmonica.com. He teaches tongue blocking technique with an expert attention to detail. As Adam Gussow himself puts it, Barrett is the "gold standard of harmonica education." Aki will tell you the same thing, that Dave is the "go to" guy.
There are over 1000 videos on the site. Transcriptions for songs that dial in specific TB techniques, with a video to explain each chorus.
As far as teachers: 1) David Barrett 2) Dennis Gruenling 3) Joe Filisko 4) Jason Ricci 5) Adam Gussow ---------- Marc Graci YouTube Channel
get the basics from Barrett or whoever and then do as 1847 said is my vote. That's basically what I'm doing.
I also don't really get the point of this thread. The very best teachers won't be the best players because they devote themselves to teaching rather than playing.
But really the best teacher should be you.. I think it's unavoidable to some extent with the harp since it's so bound to you and the sound really comes from inside of you and you can't see shit except hand technique from other players.
---------- 4' 4+ 3' 2~~~ -Mike Ziemba Harmonica is Life!
@slaphappy I'm looking for people's opinion about the best balance between the two. (player/teacher) Of course its totally subjective. If you want to learn tongue blocking you might have a preference or if you want a certain tone, or jazz, chicago blues, folk, speed etc...
I think face to face is the best environment for learning.
Have to agree with slaphappy about how this thread makes me feel. Like what even is a best harmonica teacher? That is even subjective. There's a difference between the teachers that share general information free on the internet (like YouTube or forums) versus the teachers you would consider first to teach a seminar at the next convention or festival versus a teacher who's really good at teaching one specific thing versus the teachers you could and would consider for weekly or bi-weekly lessons year round for multiple years who can teach a plethora of things. If my definition for best teacher is the later there's a bunch of teachers mentioned above that don't fit. If I think the best teacher is the one I can watch on YouTube for free while eating breakfast that's another list. If best teacher is any harmonica player I've learned something from and influenced me I'd start naming people you probably never heard of or don't even offer formal lessons.
I also think face to face in person is the best environment for learning. I think Skype is a close second. I think the best teacher is one who'll stick with me for years and help me become the harmonica player I want to be. But I also think you can learn a ton from seminars and workshops along the way as well.
Harpdoc ... yea i use daves site. As it DID say in my post. Idk how, but it disappeared. I use to just browse thru it for what i needed at the time because its a bit structured for my taste. However Ive revisited recently since I'm trying to learn TB better and now I find it much more useful.
Ofcourse its subjective. It's not a contest, but rather maybe useful to people who are looking for more avenues for lessons.
My 2 cents.
Props to the Harp Techs for what they teach aswell. ---------- "Trust Those Who Seek The Truth. Doubt Those Who Say They Have Found It."
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Jan 19, 2016 7:11 AM
Jerry Portnoire 3 cd instructional deal --years ago--he explained -toungue spits--chords--- octave splits---bassline boogie beats--syncopating backbeat bassline boogie beats---"EVERYTHING" ---my playing jumped up a couple notches with those 3 cds--u can still get it online---- For ob od and harp set up--A GUSSOW--R sleigh-H Levi--[Jim Mclaughlin, in the flesh, on a blues cruise]--Rupert Oysler--J Ricci---J speirs---You tube videos-and [like previously aid--comp hdwr, transcribe, audacity and burning slowed down versions of stuff to cd
There are thousands of excellent harp teachers around the globe. Very, very few of them are on YouTube.
And yes, there are also 6 or 8 excellent teachers (Adam, Jason, Gindick, etc) among the 15-20 instructors on YouTube...
Last Edited by A440 on Jan 19, 2016 8:40 AM
Most of my teachers were not harmonica players. Robert Bonifiglio is probably the best Chromatic technique teacher today his lineage goes back to Cham-ber Huang. Probably the best classical teacher also. ----------
@Goldbrick, yes, Pierre is the General's great great great grandson. The first PT that didn't go top West Point...! Without a doubt one of the finest harp players ever. Seriously, he's as good as the best. Played for years with the DC based Powerhouse Blues Band. A Monster.
"I also don't really get the point of this thread. The very best teachers won't be the best players because they devote themselves to teaching rather than playing." -Slaphappy
I don't know what kham is specifically looking for, but it seems like a good question. If I am going to buy something the first step I take is to get an idea of what is out there. You make a list and then you compare across the list- who has YouTube videos? Who does Skype lessons? Who is local? What do people charge? Who is taking students? What are people's teaching styles? How about a forum where you can get opinions from a bunch of people? And specifically, since the Venn diagram with 'best teachers' and 'best players' may not have total overlap it's good to solicit opinions about who can teach.
I've only met Pierre Beauregard once, at a very special evening that began in Soho (there's a famous photo of about 25 fine harp players on the street in NYC) and ended in Wade Schuman's apartment), and I'll never forget him. Yes, he's a monster player, but he's also a very distinctive human being. An original.
This guy just knows the harp backwards and forwards. And he's got that spirit.
His YouTube channel has 1 subscriber. I suspect he's OK with that. But I suspect he won't mind if we add to his subscriber list.
https://www.youtube.com/user/beauzoz
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Jan 19, 2016 6:37 PM
