Do you think he's done it? Discuss. I'm especially interested in hearing from folks about what I'll politely refer to as "the taping issue." I didn't say "the taping-her-wrists-behind-her-back issue." But...my god.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Apr 14, 2016 8:26 PM
He sounds like an Aussie and if they are famous for anything it is their love of a 'pisstake'(taking the mickey) Mind you the riff did work. I think that the lesson on bending might involve the knee joints....^
This is what i used to learn the 12 bar. Worked wonders for me! I just wish they would make a harp with 2 holes because the scotch tape makes my manjis look ugly. And hurts my lips. So i use cheetah print duck tape.
Seriously? This is rough. Maybe one should learn single notes before tackling the 12 bar. And if you do learn the 12 bar .... maybe some mention of the changes would help. I know this was ment with good intention, but it probably would do someone more harm than good.
Someone not knowing any better might think ... Gee Thats All I Need To Do!? Play some notes for 12 bars?
The riff did sort of work, but he could have implied changes with those holes also. And not used tape. Lol.
Not exactly 5 mins either
Cripey ... i was thinking of that skit myself. ----------
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Apr 14, 2016 11:02 PM
I did a quick internet search on Max Tinkle and apparently he has lots of experience playing in jazz and blues bands. He was also planning a book about the history of harmonica players in Australia but I couldn't find anything about it.
Whether the tutorial was intended as a joke or not, I did find the "I want cupcakes" thing for getting the timing useful. And as someone said the riff worked. So I don't think it will make anyone a blues harmonica player but it still had some use.
When I was struggling to get single notes I used to block holes with my fingers to get a reference for the sound I was aiming for. If I'd seen this then I probably would have tried taping the holes!
I agree though that the concept of 12 bar blues was definately inadequately explained.
Last Edited by Glass Harp Full on Apr 14, 2016 11:25 PM
...but then I thought back to when I used to teach complete beginners. More often than not people who had never played any kind of music at all. Trying to explain some of what we all probably consider very basic concepts was really challenging at times:
What is a beat? What is bar? Why are there 4 beats in a bar? What do you mean there can be 3 beats on a bar? How do we know if its 3 or 4? What does listen for the 1 mean? When you say one note is higher than another note what do you mean?
Because I'd played music since I was a kid I'd taken all this for granted. Faced with having to explain what I then realised are actually fairly abstract concepts, my approach was to break them down into the smallest parts I could – Trying to explain too much of a concept in one go can be really overwhelming and alienating if the students not getting it.
There are 4 beats in a bar and 12 bars in a 12 bar blues. You don't need to know any more than that for the time being.
If this video is aimed at complete beginners – and it feels like it is – this explanation of what a 12 bar blues is enough to start with.
As for the "taping" issue. This is probably not the way I'd choose to start people off. However it is a quick and easy way to get people involved and playing along ASAP, and there is value in that.
I don't think he's delivered in the promise of "Learn blues harmonica in 5 mins" – but this is a title of YouTube video and there's lots of reasons to give your YouTube videos promotional titles like this...
...and he has got across the main concept of a 12 bar blues in a way that rank beginners can understand, and he has a solution for getting people involved and playing along straight away – in 6:12mins.
Last Edited by Baker on Apr 15, 2016 6:25 AM
I agree with Baker. For anyone with any sense of music this seems like a complete piss take. There are, however, many tone deaf people out there with no sense of rhythm, who are desperate to get on the musical bandwagon. Believe me, I'm doing an "advanced beginners" course with people who still read "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" from sheets after four years of playing harp, as they haven't managed to commit it to memory...
The question then, is whether these same people really are fit to hold a musical instrument in their hands? I say "yes, if they enjoy doing it, then why not"... as long as they don't get the idea that it's OK to inflict it on others without fair warning.
For anyone with a smidgen of musical talent who could benefit from just using one or two notes at a time - me, for example - this clip from Will Wilde has the potential for being a little more helpful. I need to sit down and study it properly, methinks.
First of all, I disagree that he's "taking the piss out of it". I think he's genuinely offering a lesson for the most raw of beginners, perhaps those who feel that they are almost hopelessly non-musical.
The "LEARN (FILL IN THE BLANK) IN 5 MINUTES!!!!!!" videos and ads are all over the place and for all instruments and skills. It's a particularly seductive message because who wouldn't want to be jamming out like their favorite musician inside of a day? Those of us with common sense and/or who have tried, realize the folly. There is muscle memory and a whole host of things than just can't be mastered without putting in some time, the length of which depends on some inherent ability of the student, level of dedication and a well thought out learning plan.
So has he done it? Yes and no. Even the most inept student could follow this lesson and play along to a 12-bar backing track. Nobody thinks they could then walk out on a bandstand and hang for an evening.
On the taping subject. If I were a teacher I wouldn't begin with this. I'd reserve it for only what seemed the most hopeless of students as a final desperate attempt to keep them from giving up on trying to get clear single notes, and thereby giving up on the instrument.
Last Edited by Honkin On Bobo on Apr 15, 2016 5:44 AM
I am kind of embarrassed. All these years ,I have been saying " I want crumb cake, " when I should have been saying " I want cupcakes!" But now,I know the truth . ---------- www.shakeylee.com
Last Edited by shakeylee on Apr 15, 2016 7:37 AM
Darn! All these years trying to LP those holes and then learning to TB them.All that time wasted when a little piece of tape would have solved all my problems.
Seriously.perhaps a good approach for rank beginners,but sometime down the road you'll have to lose the tape.
i seem to recall tony glover's book had a chapter on using tape to block off the holes. i like the production, he is dressed nice, the backdrop adds to the professionalism as well. i like his demeanor. the i like cup cake part is just way too silly, this is a blues video? i like cold beer. to be honest, i learned something by watching. i wrote out the scale degree's for all 3 chords who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
Last Edited by 1847 on Apr 15, 2016 8:28 AM
in to my third year as a student harp,as for taping,sometimes when i'm trying to learn a particular riff or lick that calls for some muscle memory I'm not familiar with, I'll use some tape(the less sticky residue painter's tape, because that's what I have on hand)just for the sake of repetition until I'm hitting the hole clean, then it's off. I find it gets in the way as I learn the lick and need to move on to the next note. It seems like I block holes on the right while I'm using holes on the left.
Baker you have a good point. I think if he didn't use tape or the name of the video wasn't learn in 5mins it wouldn't have got the same reaction.
But the name makes sense when you say it that way. Im sure he wouldn't get as many views without a name like that. The tape thing tho ... smh .. i suppose your right though. If it kept someone from giving up then that's good. But .. teach some chord rythms until they get single notes if they cant get it.
Idk i still think it's a bit crap, but not quite as much as i did. ----------
I've always been a fan of using nonsense phrases to remember beats. I don't remember, off the top of my head, how long your video(s)? on twelve bar were. His is decent and his production values might be a bit slicker than yours were, but I think actually yours were much more thorough. I worked with a friend who played guitar for several years as a duo and he could never quite play the blues so one day I sat him down in front of your video and he had a eureka moment. (And of course, I'd thought to show it to him because it had given me a moment like that.)
One little 'error' I'd point out in his presentation is that in the process of over simplifying things he makes some sweeping generalizations that could come back to haunt someone. For instance, he seemed to imply that all twelve bar blues was in 4/4. There are three basic ways, I think, to explain ideas that have complex parts that you won't explain until later- 1) tell your student that this is how things work. 2) tell them this is how the simple part works. Once you master this we'll move on to more complex stuff. 3) Try to explain everything all at once.
Number 3 usually overwhelms people, but #1 always bugged me as a student, particularly in subjects where I already was ahead of grade level and knew the 'rule' wasn't really a rule so much as a guideline. You have to, of course, strike a balance between informing and not overwhelming, even more so, perhaps, in a subject where someone is learning voluntarily, since if you go beyond their frustration level they will just stop (although, of course, that happens in classrooms too. I went from being a star math student to not taking any math past my sophomore year in high school because I grew to hate it so much. Now my eyes glaze over when numbers come up, unless maybe it involves baseball stats).
I remember trying to teach a friend what the difference between a major and minor chord was. Baker makes some good points. I was trying to explain that to make a major chord minor you just lower the third. I'd lost her at 'chord'.
(And her boyfriend, who is musically brilliant, but a bass player, was trying to explain it in an entirely different way that was even more complicated, trying to kind of get her to memorize what each chord was and whether it was major or minor.)
Simple is good. One of the tougher things giving pointers on the forum is always that unless the person explicitly tells you what they know (and don't know) you kind of have to guess and just jump in. I remember for a while I was posting the Circle of Fifths from Wikipedia. I still swear by the circle as the best tool for learning positions, but that particular one also has all of the key signatures and the relative minors. Having taken a little bit of theory I knew which parts to ignore for harp purposes, and I had a blind spot, not realizing how much extra information I was presenting at the time. (Accidental method 3).
Pretty good work from max I thought. I mean, I know he didn't waste much time getting philosophical about it or relating his personal history to establish his credentials but he pretty much simplified the problem to play this hole or that hole...so that will still teach the first skill of playing a single note, and teaches counting, listening to the chord change and a technique for highlighting getting hang of a rhythm. Also leaves no doubt there is more to come. What's wrong with that?
I think it's great. Get people playing immediately. Show them something that can be placed in a musical context.
This can be fun. When teaching a raw beginner, it's important to make it fun. People who watch this can immediately play along. JP Allen has some great intro videos, too. I'm not above it. These guys are great. ---------- Marc Graci YouTube Channel
