Leader in Blues Harmonica Education

| Home | Workshops | Instruction Material |

About the Author David Barrett
Harmonica Masterclass Lesson Series

  Click the cart to check your order

 
Choose from over 40 FREE GIFTS (one per order) when ordering from our website!
New: Blues Harmonica Accompaniment Playing / Improvising Blues Harmonica
 
 

Lesson Series Level 1

Turbocharge Your Harmonica Vol. 1

Straighten Up and Tune Right! by Richard Sleigh

Price: $19.95
Length: 63 Pages
Format: Spiral Bound Booklet
Level: All Levels

Word from the Author:
"Do you ever feel like you have to work twice as hard for half as much when you are playing one of your harmonicas?  Wouldn’t it be great if you knew you could take a stock harmonica and get it to play in tune and have an even response, get all the bends without having to work your ass off for one or two of them? Do you ever find yourself at a jam session hoping that they don’t throw you a solo when the only harp you have in that key is a real dog?  Maybe you now have some custom harmonicas that play well and you really want to conserve them, but get really frustrated with everything else you try to play.

Let me confess something – I used to be totally frustrated at my ability to make a harmonica respond to me and stay in tune. I even gave up playing the harmonica a couple of times over the years because I got so tired of trying to fix the damn things. It just didn’t seem fair – I got hooked on playing an instrument that seemed so simple, but I  could not find anyone who could explain how harmonicas really work or how to work on them.

Back in the dark ages of the blues harp (OK, I guess I have to reveal my age, sort of – I started playing in earnest in 1969) having a great harmonica was pure voodoo and good luck. I was allowed to try out harmonicas in the music store, even though you weren’t supposed to, and I just bought the ones that worked the best. If I got one that was particularly nice, I did everything I could to make it last, and I grieved when it died. Because there was nothing I could do about it.

I became determined to learn everything I could about how reeds work, what makes them bend, what makes them overblow, how you tune them, how you replace reeds. I made a series of prototype harmonicas, a version of the idea that the XB-40 uses to make all the notes bend on a diatonic. I repaired and customized thousands of harmonicas and made thousands of mistakes and went down countless dead ends figuring out the best tools and the easiest ways to work on harmonica reeds.

I studied with the best teachers out there and I ended up helping to develop the method that is now the standard by which all modern custom harmonicas are judged. If it’s a fact, it ain’t braggin. I played a big part in developing the Filisko Method, the process that rocked the harmonica world in the 1990s.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because if you are looking for tools and methods that will save you time and effort, if you want to understand how the harmonica works and how to work on it, I want to make this as easy as I can for you. I want you to cut through the line, skip the dead end experiments, and focus on a few skills and techniques that really get the results that you are looking for. And to do all of this with some tools that won’t let you down.

Now I can’t take you and turn you overnight into a top harmonica technician. That takes a lot of time and patience. But it is just like playing the instrument – if you find a good coach, some good books, and some good tools then you can make more progress in a month than you would in years of working alone.

If this sounds good to you, check out “Turbocharge Your Harmonica Volume 1- Straighten Up and Tune Right.” This book will give you detailed information on how to tune, adjust and maintain your harmonicas. The main focus is on the diatonic, but the information on reeds can be used for any type of harmonica or free reed instrument."

Click cart to add this booklet to your order

 

| Home | Search | Mailing List | Harmonica Information & Links | Vintage Collection |
Harmonica Masterclass® Company Info or E-mail