David Barrett interview

01:27 - David is from San Jose, California, and is part of the great West coast harmonica scene

01:51 - Started playing harmonica age 14 and harmonica recordings remain his greatest influences

02:08 - Saw Gary Smith perform at a blues festival at age 16 and ‘begged’ him for lessons

03:14 - Gary Smith didn’t teach much harmonica before teaching David

03:51 - David recorded the lessons with Gary and believes it’s important to record any lessons you have

04:21 - Played some trumpet and saxophone in the school band before taking up harmonica

04:47 - Initially learnt from Phil Duncan’s harmonica tuition book published by Mel Bay

04:57 - Crossroads movie soundtrack was a big inspiration

06:11 - David’s teaching is very rigorous compared to his main way of learning by playing along with records

07:23 - As student progresses tries to write less down and teach more by ear

08:45 - In his early days probably gave too much information as a teacher as wanted to provide good value

09:13 - Important for students to give themselves time to absorb the material

09:49 - Teaches study songs and how he crafts instrumentals and solos

10:42 - Transcriptions has always been an important part of his own learning and teaching

11:45 - After having written so many tutorial books BluesHarmonica.com website changed his approach of teaching

11:59 - Learning songs is often the most fruitful way for a student to learn, and so David focused writing songs to teach

12:55 - Most difficult thing about learning harmonica is the learning curve when moving from simple songs to blues

14:32 - Took a long time to record first album, although had recorded a lot of tuition material

14:46 - Songwriting skills were what David could offer in the album

14:52 - Doesn’t sing

15:32 - First album was Serious Fun from 2003

16:18 - Starts writing a blues song with the groove, also a hook or a head and then soloing

17:25 - Started teaching age 18, and his teaching career grew organically from there

18:20 - Had decided he wanted to be a performer and did everything he could in that direction

19:14 - Turned his written teachings into his first harmonica book: Building Harmonica Technique, published by Mel Bay

21:08 - This was probably the first focused harmonica tutorial book focused on blues

21:14 - Steve Baker’s Harp Handbook was probably the first serious harmonica tutorial book, but wasn’t focused just on blues

21:37 - Focused on blues tuition from the beginning as that is David’s true love

22:32 - Focuses on traditional blues harmonica, and not modern approaches to playing blues

22:49 - Ran the School of Blues for twenty years which gave local musicians a chance to play with a band and form their own

24:26 - Once a month would do a harp night for the School of Blues students where they would play in front of other people in a low pressure situation

26:42 - Released an album with the School of Blues All Star Band, which used to educate students

28:56 - The History of the Blues Harmonica concert, with Joe Filisko, Kinya Pollard and Dennis Gruenling, released as an album in 2009

29:33 - Deliberately kept the songs on this album true to the source as part of the educational aspect

31:57 - Fourth album: It Takes Three, with Gary Smith and Aki Kumar

32:33 - Gary Smith has been doing multi-harmonica player albums for years

33:13 - Added Aki Kumar, who was a students of David

33:25 - Wrote horn style parts for the harmonica for the album

34:13 - Grammy nominated from appearance on a John Lee Hooker Junior album

35:06 - John Lee Hooker Jnr plays more complex blues arrangements, which David was qualified to play over due to his knowledge

36:59 - Has taught at workshops for a long time, running the first one in 1994, which was a big success

38:13 - Workshops aren’t so popular now due to YouTube and other online resources, but still does Trossingen Harmonica Masterclass

39:03 - David has done video interviews of around 50 harmonica players, available on Blues Harmonica dot com, which David sees as a great legacy of harmonica knowledge

41:10 - First interview was with Gary Primach, who died a month later

42:36 - Ten minute question

44:27 - Plays Hohner Marine Bands customised by Joe Filisko

45:08 - Why Joe’s custom harmonicas are so good include the ability to play them softly and greater dynamic range

46:47 - Doesn’t play different tunings, although has used them in the past

47:43 - Plays in 1st, 2nd and 3rd and is working hard at improving his 1st position

49:02 - Embouchre: big advocate of tongue blocking for Chicago blues style, but uses some puckering when called upon

51:01 - One advantage of puckering is the speed of articulation

51:29 - Plays blues chromatic, although doesn’t spend lots of time on it

52:46 - Amps of choice include a Fender Bassman, Masco ME18 amps for medium sized gigs

53:51 - Mics: likes the older CR black label elements. Also recommends the Husky Red Devil mic to his students

54:41 - Effects: uses some delay, with the Dan Electro Echo pedal

55:06 - Future plans: continuing doing lots of transcribing and lots of teaching and performance groups

56:14 - Can’t share transcriptions due to copyright

58:14 - Has a black belt in Taekwondo