David is from San Jose, California, and is part of the great West coast harmonica scene
Started playing harmonica age 14 and harmonica recordings remain his greatest influences
Saw Gary Smith perform at a blues festival at age 16 and ‘begged’ him for lessons
Gary Smith didn’t teach much harmonica before teaching David
David recorded the lessons with Gary and believes it’s important to record any lessons you have
Played some trumpet and saxophone in the school band before taking up harmonica
Initially learnt from Phil Duncan’s harmonica tuition book published by Mel Bay
Crossroads movie soundtrack was a big inspiration
David’s teaching is very rigorous compared to his main way of learning by playing along with records
As student progresses tries to write less down and teach more by ear
In his early days probably gave too much information as a teacher as wanted to provide good value
Important for students to give themselves time to absorb the material
Teaches study songs and how he crafts instrumentals and solos
Transcriptions has always been an important part of his own learning and teaching
After having written so many tutorial books BluesHarmonica.com website changed his approach of teaching
Learning songs is often the most fruitful way for a student to learn, and so David focused writing songs to teach
Most difficult thing about learning harmonica is the learning curve when moving from simple songs to blues
Took a long time to record first album, although had recorded a lot of tuition material
Songwriting skills were what David could offer in the album
First album was Serious Fun from 2003
Starts writing a blues song with the groove, also a hook or a head and then soloing
Started teaching age 18, and his teaching career grew organically from there
Had decided he wanted to be a performer and did everything he could in that direction
Turned his written teachings into his first harmonica book: Building Harmonica Technique, published by Mel Bay
This was probably the first focused harmonica tutorial book focused on blues
Steve Baker’s Harp Handbook was probably the first serious harmonica tutorial book, but wasn’t focused just on blues
Focused on blues tuition from the beginning as that is David’s true love
Focuses on traditional blues harmonica, and not modern approaches to playing blues
Ran the School of Blues for twenty years which gave local musicians a chance to play with a band and form their own
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
Released an album with the School of Blues All Star Band, which used to educate students
The History of the Blues Harmonica concert, with Joe Filisko, Kinya Pollard and Dennis Gruenling, released as an album in 2009
Deliberately kept the songs on this album true to the source as part of the educational aspect
Fourth album: It Takes Three, with Gary Smith and Aki Kumar
Gary Smith has been doing multi-harmonica player albums for years
Added Aki Kumar, who was a students of David
Wrote horn style parts for the harmonica for the album
Grammy nominated from appearance on a John Lee Hooker Junior album
John Lee Hooker Jnr plays more complex blues arrangements, which David was qualified to play over due to his knowledge
Has taught at workshops for a long time, running the first one in 1994, which was a big success
Workshops aren’t so popular now due to YouTube and other online resources, but still does Trossingen Harmonica Masterclass
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
First interview was with Gary Primach, who died a month later
Plays Hohner Marine Bands customised by Joe Filisko
Why Joe’s custom harmonicas are so good include the ability to play them softly and greater dynamic range
Doesn’t play different tunings, although has used them in the past
Plays in 1st, 2nd and 3rd and is working hard at improving his 1st position
Embouchre: big advocate of tongue blocking for Chicago blues style, but uses some puckering when called upon
One advantage of puckering is the speed of articulation
Plays blues chromatic, although doesn’t spend lots of time on it
Amps of choice include a Fender Bassman, Masco ME18 amps for medium sized gigs
Mics: likes the older CR black label elements. Also recommends the Husky Red Devil mic to his students
Effects: uses some delay, with the Dan Electro Echo pedal
Future plans: continuing doing lots of transcribing and lots of teaching and performance groups
Can’t share transcriptions due to copyright
Has a black belt in Taekwondo
