Jerry Portnoy's Blues Harmonica Masterclass

[T-Bone Bruce]

Does anyone have a copy of this and what are your opinions of it? The reviews say it's a good product for both beginners and more experienced players alike. I'm feeling a bit stagnant in my playing (again!) and wondered if it's worth a try? Try as might I find some of the youtube lessons out there really hard to get into...

[Kingley]

It's excellent!
Costs about £50 I think.

[Doggycam]

Hi Bruce,

Sorry, never seen/heard Portnoys study stuff. Brilliant player though.

I learnt a lot from this book

http://www.melbay.com/product-print.asp ... D=95452BCD

Its one of David Barrats earlier books with cd.

Depends what level your looking at . The above book deals with tongue blocking, bends and riffs. I would say intermediate.

He has got an online school now that looks good. Got a couple of freebie lesson too, so you can check it out, before paying. Deals with advanced intermediate stuff like solo building.

http://www.bluesharmonica.com/home

I haven't signed up, just had a look at the free stuff out of curiosity.

I was in a rut, regarding most of my playing and decided to take it all back to basics and try and play more simply, and melodic.
Attempting to start my solo's simply, then build and build, always mindful of the melody. Trying to go somewhere with it rather than just noodling.

Its not easy !

Failing that go and see Stevie Weston !!!

Good luck

Cameron

[Ev630]

If you can already TB and play the blues well, the most useful parts are to hear how he approaches playing over different feels in different positions. He has a great Boogie Woogie work out that is very useful to cop parts from. Also a lot of his philosophy and advice is very useful, including stuff on working with your diaphragm.

I found the overall package to be a big kick in the ass for me when it first came out. I was TB-ing but only chordal work like John Lee Williamson. I went back and re-learned TB for single notes and it opened up tonnes of stuff - back rhythms, slaps etc. It was an eye opener. It made me realise why I could never previously get some of the sounds off my old LPs all those years ago. Every now and again I will play the entire series through as I'm driving around town. It's a great refresher.

[Ev630]

Oh yeah - Portnoy's signature toungue-switch/octave splits are GREAT. You can hear me doing those on the track I recently uploaded to Boobtube.

Drew

[T-Bone Bruce]

Thanks guys: I have the masterclass on order, should be with me early next week. Drew, I can TB, but I wouldn't say I played the blues well.. .
Cameron, my local music shop carries a lot of the Mel Bay books, I'll look and see if they have it in stock. I want to get up another level of playing, so I've got some solid foundations to build on. I really should see if I can arrange some tuition with Steve sometime in the near future...

[jspiers]

I can recommend Dave Barrett's bluesharmonica.com for a good kick in the butt if you're feeling stagnant. Great personal video interviews with several of my harp heroes. Those alone will take some time to digest. I got more out of the interviews personally than Portnoy's lessons (or even Dave's), but everyone has different learning styles.

[Ev630]

I have Barret's DVDs. By the time I got them I didn't need them but they are really terrific. I especially like that he shows the student how to build a blues solo using a "12-bar" whiteboard and demos all his examples. Excellent stuff.