David Barrett (born February 6, 1973) is an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

harmonica player, author and teacher.

Early years

Barrett started playing the harmonica at age fourteen. At age sixteen Gary Smith took Barrett as a private student. Smith also introduced Barrett to the local blues jam scene and even invited him to participate is some of the local harmonica blowouts. At age eighteen Barrett was studying music theory in college (De Anza College in Cupertino, California) and started teaching private harmonica lessons at local music stores and institutes in the California Bay Area. Since 2002 he has been teaching at his own School of the Blues in San Jose.

Author

Barrett has authored a number of harmonica instructional books with Mel Bay Publications. He also runs a website, BluesHarmonica.com that teaches harmonica and is the founder and head instructor of Harmonica Masterclass Workshops. Barrett also teaches, judges and performs at events around the world, such as Hohner’s World Harmonica Festival and Steve Baker’s Harmonica Masters Workshop in Trossingen, Germany.

Private lessons

Since age eighteen Barrett has been teaching blues harmonica lessons. In 2002 Barrett founded School of the Blues in San Jose, California—the first school for the specific study of blues music. Its instructors (Guitar, Bass, Organ/Keyboard/Piano, Vocals, and Drums) teach private lessons and workshops as well as fly-in lessons. Barrett teaches on average fifty private students a month. Barrett is also active in working with local hospitals, teaching his Harmonica for Fun & Health classes to people with COPD (Emphysema), asthma and heart disease. David, in conjunction with Dr. Dennis Bucko, developed a harmonica based pulmonary therapy program and book/CD designed to help people with respiratory problems etter Breathers

Performing and recording artist

Barrett is a Grammy Nominated blues harmonica player (for his work on John Lee Hooker Jr.'s album ''All Odds Against Me'' ) and performs regularly in the California Bay Area (San Francisco Blues Festival, Monterey Bay Blues Festival, etc.) and abroad (Chicago, Germany, etc.). Recently he played as a featured artist in

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, and

. Barrett has recorded three albums, ''Serious Fun'', ''We Are The Blues'' and ''History of the Blues Harmonica Concert''. He has also released ''It Takes Three'', a project with Gary Smith and

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Musical associates

Barrett has worked or played alongside the following musicians:

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, and Nick Moss.

Discography

As bandleader

* 2003 ''Serious Fun'' (with John Garcia) (Harmonica Masterclass Company) * 2006 ''We Are the Blues: School of the All-Star Band Live in the Studio!'' (Presented by the Monterey Bay Blues Festival) (School of the Blues) * 2010 ''History of the Blues Harmonica Concert'' (Featuring David Barrett, Joe Filisko,

, Kinya Pollard, with

Rusty Zinn Rusty Zinn (born April 3, 1970 in Long Beach, California, United States) is an American electric blues and reggae guitarist and singer-songwriter. Zinn released six albums between 1996 and 2009, on Black Top, Alligator, Bad Daddy, and 9 Above ...

and John Garcia) (Back Bender Records) CD* 2015 ''It Takes Three: Three Generations of South Bay Blues Harmonica'' (with Gary Smith and

) (Greaseland Records)

As sideman

* 2004 ''John Heath'', John Heath * 2007 ''What You Need'', Shane Dwight * 2008 ''All Odds Against Me'', John Lee Hooker Jr.

References

External links

BluesHarmonica.com
– Online Harmonica Instruction by David Barrett
HarmonicaMasterclass.com
– Workshops and Method Material by David Barrett
HarmonicaSessions.com
– eZine, Editor/Writer
Blues Review Magazine
– Writer {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, David American blues harmonica players Harmonica blues musicians Living people 1973 births Place of birth missing (living people)