Hi Adam,

If I got on the next plane, flew over and shook your hand personally to thank you it still wouldn't convey the gratitude I feel right now having watched your "Raw Beginners Video". 

Aside from the value (against the Aussie dollar!!), that little piece at the end about the imbroglio the 2-draw can create for beginners was the most enlightening pearl of wisdom ever imparted in the history of man. Harp-playing man, that is. I was literally milliseconds away from brutally embarrassing myself at the local harp shop with a complaint about my Lee Oskar when I happened across your site. I learned more in an hour than I had in weeks. The 2-draw was, in fact, about to end my marriage, crash my car, take my business and personally hand me a complete and total nervous breakdown...that is, until you came along. For the sake of other raw beginners like myself you should make that information a stand-alone video.

You have new fan. Keep up the good work.  I'm off to learn Oh Susanna.

Cheers,
 

Professor:

Dr. Gussow,

I have been playing (pretending) for about 4 years now. I really like the stuff you have done on YouTube.  Thanks for the tips. I recently went to your website Modern Harmonica, I bought the 12 bar blues "how to". You would think someone who has been playing 5 years and gigging for 4 would have that down...nope. That video nailed it for me; it answered many of the questions no one could. I have been told so many times, "you just need to feel it". I was so pissed at myself for never being able to "feel it."  Like I said, I have been pretending. I knew that there was or had to be something mechanical about the 12 bar blues--I could hear it!! I just needed someone to explain what I was hearing and dissect it for me. The $5.00 video and chart did it, man THANK YOU!!

The guys in my band have said, Wow, you've been practicing!  I have of course, but that's not what they were hearing. They were hearing the harp player finally getting it and knowing where to be. For that, you are The Harp Doctor writing a 12 bar prescription for the Blooooozz!

Thanks again!

 

Adam,

Adam,

Hello Adam:                                                     

I believe I have purchased almost everything you have offered, I offer you my sincerest THANK YOU!  I began playing about 3 years ago, and if I can play anything at all, it is because of your lessons.  I take great pleasure, in being able to play along with many of my blues records. Only through your teaching, have I been able to accomplish many of the riffs and nuances of playing. Some of the little things, that really make it sound "bluezy" I would never have figured out by just listening to the recordings. If you hadn't given the lessons with the approach that you took, showing the inner workings, and breaking every note and timing down, in some cases, I don't think I would have ever been able to progress past playing "Old Suzanna" in the simplest one note at a time. 

I can't explain how deeply motivated I am to play well. I probably have every song you recommended in your lessons, along with about 1000 other blues tunes. It excites me. I'm also 65 years old, not too much else does anything to get me that moved. Thank You again for the thousands of hours of relaxation you  have afforded me.

Thanks!


 

Hey Adam:

The main reason I am writing today is to tell you that last night I finally got the 2-hole bend and it was awesome. As soon as I had it, I knew it right away. It just locked in. I have the 4-hole down and almost have the 3-hole as I have been working on the blues scale. Thanks for the good video lessons and tab sheets at Trade bit. They work great.


 

Hi Adam:

I played a song last night at Gip's [a juke joint in Bessemer, Alabama] with the Erin Mitchell Band. I happened to get very lucky as the guitar player requested "Hoochie Coochie Man". I have been really studying your videos and after last night it tremendously showed. Everything went smooth as butter and I wish you could have been there, I was standing next to the Satan and Adam poster the whole time thanking you for your help and feedback. I wish you guys would come back.  I am sitting in with Bruce Andrews next Saturday for a slow Blues song in the key of "E" so we will see how it goes. Also, Erin Mitchell wants me to sit in with her for an entire show but after listening to your critique I have really been thinking about it and I am not ready at all to play 2 to 3 sets. Anyways, thank you for taking the time to post these videos, because I am really picking up on alot of things that you are uploading.

Thanks again,

Dear Adam,       

Couldn’t let this pass w/o a big thank you! After purchasing your recent video on how to properly mic one’s harp/amp, my tone improved 100%. After 5 years of playing harp, I now finally have that Chicago sound! Can’t wait for our next gig in a week. 

Thanks again!
 

Hi Mr Adam !

My name is Quentin. I'm 19, french and I've been learning harmonica for a year and a half.

I wanted to thank you for everything. First, for your amazing level ! It really is amazing to hear watermelon man from your little harp ! My favourite video ever is the one when you're playing alone in some odd room. It's called "adam gussow from satan and adam with harpgear1". It's abstolutely amazing to hear that sound. It's kinda both bluesy and funky, but neither of them at the same time !! Anyway Bravo !

And then i would like to thank you for your YouTube lessons. I didn't really like them at first. I thought it was hard to follow because there were no tabs, and you constantly changed the key. As i was just starting, i only had one harmonica and i couldn't follow by ear.  But i learned with other videos, how to blow, how to bend, how to practise, how to play cross harp blues. And then i came back at you ! you were a revelation. What seems to be an esoteric lesson for beginners is actually a gargantual treasure for advanced players !!!!!!!! I didn't need to read tabs anymore, i took the appropriate key and then i just played upon you ! You taught me great songs like watermelon man, i feel good, what i'd say... And you also taught me how to improvise, with basic riffs like harlem etc... And eventually you made me understand songs'structure, like the 12 bar blues, which I couldn't get for a long long time !!!  You made me realize all the possibilities of the harp. I would never have guessed that we could play funk and jazz on it.

Your explanations are fluid, we can learn very fast. They are also funny and you talk with passion. And you're not just a model to imitate. You really teach us to get the music we want to play, you do not only teach knowledge, but musical intelligence too.  You're a brilliant "pedadogue" (i'm not sure if you'll get it).

And most of all, you're a real people person ! It's so nice to share your knowledge like that. I'm sure all the future great harmonicists in 10 years will owe you because they would have start, like me, with you.

I've learned more from you in the past 3 months than i have in a year ! thank you so much ! Now i'm a good harmonica player (though i don't make the half of you), and i'm a bit known in my school. People always want to jam with me because i'm the only harmonica player around, not like guitarists ! Anyway, the little level and celebrity i've got, i owe it from you !!!


Thak you again !
Keep on blowing !
 

Hey Adam, just wanted to say thanks for the plethora of knowledge you put on youtube and the great lessons/tabs sold on your site.  I took guitar lessons for a few years when I was younger, and I always thought they were lacking.  Many were nothing more then the teacher asking me what song i wanted to learn to play and showing me how. Even though over the years I became technically very proficient at progressive rock and some blues guitar, I never really knew how to play, if that makes sense.  I knew how to play the songs and the solos but not the guitar.  Anyway, your lessons have a lot more substance and I'm glad that someone such as yourself made it available to the masses, otherwise who knows who I would be learning from.  Thanks again. I think things like this are really what the "information age" is all about.

G'day Adam,

My name is Alek Jacoby from Brisbane in Australia I am 17 years old. I have been learning from you since I was 15. You inspired me to take up this beautiful instrument and learn its origins, I love this music and your music. I put all the things i learnt into playing and have been playing harp everywhere including playing in a underground car park while on my shift at a supermarket to on the toilet hahah. I got noticed the other week and was asked to play at a local farmers market as a busker. So I got one of my mates to play guitar and sing some blues tunes. We did and made a killing, well a killing in my standards--haha, yours are probably a lot higher, we made about $140 in 3 hours. And got asked to play in a local bar and we will in the coming future. This is all thanks to you and i just thought you should know that what your teaching is getting through to another generation, i teach my friends harp and they teach their's the blues is alive in brisbane Australia. : )
 

Adam,

   Thanks for posting. Your lessons are great. I really appreciate how you "give it all away" and I know that I'm not alone.  My playing has improved greatly since I watched your first video on youtube. I played harmonica on and off since I started music 15 years ago but I never performed with it. I've always played music in clubs and bars and last night I finally performed with it for the first time. This would not have happened without you.

   Our band covers Grateful Dead songs. Early in the band's career they were fronted by a bluesman named Ron "PigPen" McKernan who was a harmonica player and would often perform standard blues numbers. After watching your series "Records" I copied his riffs just like you showed. We featured 2 harmonica songs last night and our crowd absolutely ate it up. The songs we played were "Next Time You See me"(Blues Standard), and "Operator"(Song #4 American Beauty Album). I improvised by using the blues scale you armed us with on "Next Time You See Me," (your MBH lesson) and copied the solo for Operator just like you did on your YouTube "Records" series.

  These lessons have benefitted me and I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate what you are doing. Keep it up!!

Dear Adam,

It bores me how often I hear something described as "awesome".  I feel that the word "awesome" should be reserved to describe something that is truly above & beyond expectations and not only surpasses the current standards, but raises the bar to a whole new level of achievement.  After only a couple of weeks of working with your DVD, I am amazed at how fast I have progressed.  Even my 16 year-old thinks I'm cool now.  (Thanks for that as well !)  But getting back to the "awesome" thing.  Your work in creating these video lessons is BEYOND AWESOME !!!  I look forward to getting your newest lesson.        


 

Hi Adam!

I just want to thank you for all of the instructional material you supply on learning to play the blues harmonica. I have watched many of your youtube videos and have just purchased the MP3 collection of your first 100+ lessons.

I bought my Marine Band harp (C) about 12 years ago, around the same time that I bought my first guitar....The thing is that the harp has basically been laying around for the last 12 years doing nothing. I bought a book and tried to learn, but there was just something that would not click. I just could not get into it.

There is nothing quite like the sound of a harmonica player playing the blues and I really wanted to get that sound. That is when I stumbled upon your youtube videos.

I was blown away! Firstly by your playing and then by your generosity and willingness to share what you know. There is nothing out there that even comes close to the wealth of knowledge you are offering. And you are offering it to the world for free too! You have my deepest respect and gratitude.

Anyway, I watched a few of your videos and then dug out my old harp, dusted it off and gave it another try. WOW! something had clicked! I could bend the notes and had that bluesy sound going on. I really do not know how it happened, I went from completely useless to "hey, that sounds good" (according to my girlfriend) in the space of about 30 minutes. My playing needs a lot of work though, I am practicing hitting single notes, doing bends and obviously working on that 2 hole draw :) I am really looking forward to taking this journey and consider myself very lucky to have your lessons with me for the ride. You have provided something very unique. Hands on lessons from a talented and professional player who also has the ability to transfer his amazing knowledge in a friendly, easy to understand, fun, inspiring and down to earth way.

Thank you so much Adam.

All the very best to you and yours.

Dear Mr. Gussow,

A couple weeks ago, a friend of mine who’s a devout Stevie Ray Vaughan fanatic sent me a video link and said "Hey, check this out, it's pretty cool." The video showed two guys on stage playing a song I'd never heard, and while the guitarist was, indeed, brilliant, it was the harmonica player that blew me away. I'd never really listened to any harp blues before, but I fell in love with the sound on the spot. The video was Adam and Satan playing "Mother Mojo," and I think it's safe to assume you don't have to guess who the musicians were.

Well, in a fit of musical inspiration, I ran down to the local music store, picked up a harp and an instruction book, and immediately thought "Okay, here are the basics. I've got these down alright with a couple problems, but how do I fix the problems and, more importantly, how do I get more?" I discovered your set of videos, sir, and they answered every question I had and more. I've been watching them religiously, and playing my harps fanatically. My father, a jazz musician of thirty years, compliments me on my tone and rhythm daily now, something I don't take lightly and something he doesn't give out freely.

I've been playing seriously for a little over a week. I've downloaded all the Paul Butterfield, Little Walter, and Muddy Waters I could get my hands on. Yet I keep returning to "Mother Mojo" (I bought the album the day I heard the song) and these videos, and there seems to always be something more. I've got a long road ahead, I know, but I would just like to take the time out to thank you for giving me and countless other harp players a good place to start from. Your videos have been absolutely invaluable, and the sincerety with which you teach is not only helpful, but also encouraging, almost as if you're saying to me personally: "Just keep at it, you'll get the hang of it!" Thank you, sir, and may there always be music in your life and heart.


 

Hello Adam:

A great big thank you so much for all your time and effort on putting the harmonica lessons on Youtube. I came across you purely by accident as I had seen all different lessons other people put up and thought harmonica techniques and low and behold there you were. That was 3 months ago. In that time I have learned so much from you and my playing has improved greatly. Before I was trying to play along to records looking at harp tabs and I was in a bit of a rut to say the least. Now I have renewed confidence all the little things you have mentioned I have taken note.

I play every Sunday with a pal of mine at a local pub at a busker’s night. Since taking your lessons now I get asked by other players to get up and join them, its a great feeling . I know I still have a long way to go but where I am now is all down to you. The utube lessons are great and I like the location videos as well I hope you continue with them.. your other web site modern blues harmonica is great to. I am also looking forward to your book, Journeyman’s Road. Thank you again Adam for sharing your knowledge and your time. I am looking forward to more lessons on Youtube and your other site.
all the best


 

Adam:

I just wanted to send an email to thenk you for all the wonderful instructional videos you have posted on youtube. I have watched about 1/2 of them so far, and my playing ability has drastically increased. I have played the electric guitar for about 16 years, but purchased my first harp 6 weeks ago. I got a couple of books, but I really didn’t get the feel of the harp until I watched what you were doing.

I can now hold the harp properly, create the wha wha sound, get a decent train going, get clear single notes (including the 2 draw) and I can even bend notes already (although not as consistantly as I would like). I can also do decent warbles. Oh, and I ever so slightly increased the gap on the draw reeds for my Hohner special 20 in the key of A, as well as my Hohner MS Blues Harp in C.

I am working on purchasing a mic, so I can plug it into my Fender Pro Jr. and get amplified, for that amazing dirty sound.

Anyway, keep up the awesome work…….

ALSO

When I first got the idea to pick up a harp, I thought, "well, it only has 10 holes, how hard can it be?" After about the first 10 minutes of playing, I was really discouraged, because I could not make any sounds which resembled what I was hearing in the music that inspired me to engage with this instrument.  I went online, and purchased [a well-known instruction book], and it actually pointed me in the right direction. The CD was helpful in that I could hear what the text was directing me to do. So I picked up a piece here and there, but really couldn’t put things together.

I found your videos on YouTube about 5 weeks after I bought my harp. I was playing about 1 hour per week, just messing around with it, but not really playing music, just blowing and drawing some notes.

The very first video I watched was the one where you explained how to hold the harp. About the only thing I was doing right was that I held the harp in my left hand. I could never get that wha sound, no matter what I did. Then I tried the traditional grip that you showed, and a clear, almost vocal wha emitted from the harp.

After that, I had to have more. I moved to the next video where you show the position with your thumbs up. Oh, that is so much better for me. It just feels right. Then I kept moving on to your other videos. I probably watched about 15 more that very day. I sat there with my harp in front of the screen, studying. Your descriptions and explanations helped me to understand what I needed to do to get the sound that was in my head to come out of this new and exciting instrument.

As I practiced for a few days, and reviewed the things I was exposed to in your videos, I actually put some things together. I played a little tune for my wife, and she was like "oh, that sounds so much better than when you first bought it, is that the same harmonica.


 

Adam you rock!!!

I am a beginner and have learned and progressed more in two weeks after discovering you on you tube than in the last year trying to figure things out on my own. The info you provide is priceless and I will defintely be purchasing a online lessons and DVD. Keep it up you are making a difference to all us wannabes! Thank You!!!

Good Evening,

I cannot begin to tell you how much you have helped my learning the harp.

I started watching the You Tube movies, followed closely by the purchase of the 1st DVD you produced. I have learned an incredible amount of the subtleties that make for a better harpist.

I am an advanced beginner, according to your "scale". It has helped having access to your talents AND music. I LOVED the piece on Paul Butterfield. I cannot wait to download the music and MP3 from Tradebit.

I could probably ramble on for a while, but won't take up too much of your time. Thank you...for being willing to help train those of us trying to be "true" to the craft. PLEASE do not stop teaching...it would be a terrible loss.

 
 

 Adam:

I've been playing harp for a bit over a year now (picked it up while laying on
the couch for 11 weeks after breaking my leg skiing).  At that time I ordered
David Barrett's books and have been working through them.  He is big on using
tongue slaps especially once you get up to hole 4 and above.  As I mentioned
before I just have a real hard time doing it.

There are many things I have really appreciated from your lessons.  One is the
fact that you talk about different techniques and where your strengths lay
(pucker and triplets) as opposed to others (I've heard Jason Ricci twice now in
Pgh, he is amazing!).  I especially liked the lessons on the type of performer -
warrior, lover, painter, trickster.  It has made me feel more comfortable with
where my fledgling talents lie..and being more of a lover with the harp rather than a warrior, for example, as I really love the slow playing by Big Walter and Junior Wells.  I
also appreciate that you stress learning from others yet developing your own
technique.  I love the fact that your lessons are not "perfect" or staged, and
that you are willing to put yourself out there making "mistakes" and that you
show us how you work through issues.  It makes me feel hopeful that I can work
through my issues and eventually be able to perform in front of more than my dog.


 

Hey Adam: 

Just wanted to tell you that your lessons are amazing and once my friend and I have come across your youtube lessons our lives really changed.  We are playing blues harmonica for many years now and we always felt like we are walking in the dark when it came to the real blues riffs and articulation.  We are both Israeli musicians working in Israel and Blues harmonica teachers are impossible to find anywhere around.  We started by watching your videos from the start, taking it very slow and progressing one lesson after another according to our own progress.  It is a great pleasure watching these videos over and over again.  You are the first teacher we really feel connected to and we treat your tutorials with great admiration.
 
P.S.:  'Hi this is Adam Gussow from Satan and Adam' phrase became our new way of saying hello.


 

Adam:

It is a pleasure to find you.  I live in Santiago, Chile.  A lot of time ago, I was playing harp but everything stop because I was learning alone. Nobody helps me. So, my own limits stop myself.  But now, I can say “Thanks!”, I find you and your lessons too!. All my life I admire the “Blues men” and their rhythm, now I think I can be one more.  I hope you are well, and please, continue with your useful help.  Today, I start with your lessons… My own lessons now.


 

Hi Adam!

I just wanted you to know that me and my friend just won the "Troubadours: Finnish Championship in Multicultural Streetplaying". It was held in Faces Etnofestival at Billnäs, Southern Finland last weekend.

That's right, we also have a blues duo and I also play the blues harp, although our music has a kind of anatolian/orient twist in it. But without your lessons I wouldn't have played that good and we wouldn't be the national champions today.

I want to thank you for being the best teacher I've ever had. Right now I'm feeling so grand it seems unreal. We both are barely 21 years old, and yet we are some sort of champions. I can't believe it. All hail the Blues Harmonica Anarchism!

But! The first prize included that we must perform in the Faces Festival next summer, as a "real" artist. So keep on posting those brilliantly insane lessons, and we are guaranteed to rock the festival next year too. Hope I see you in Finland someday, or at least somewhere in Scandinavia. Or let’s just say somewhere, as I think we both prefer life on the road.
Take care.

 
 

Greetings Adam,

I recently came across your youtube videos…. I must say I am totally impressed with your teaching techniques both on youtube and in your lessons for download. I have learned so much since dloading some lessons and also from your youtube videos. You have a way of clearing up things and in demonstrating those unique techniques I’'ve wondered about in such a clear and concise manner.  Thank you for all your work in providing these lessons. All I have to do now is practice, follow your advice and buy a few more harps!


 

Dear Mr. Gussow,

I couldn't resist the urge to write to you to thank you for the 57 wonderful blues harp lessons you posted on YouTube.  I have been trying to learn how to play the diatonic 10 hole harp for the last 25 years and always ran into the lack of good audio-visual training; this frustration made me drop the studies many times. The books that are available in the market are no good in terms of technique and what you termed the Blues Harp Machine Language. Now, thanks to your wonderful work, I feel like I have a reasonable chance of becoming a good Blues Harp performer. As soon as I feel confident enough with my playing technique I will mail you a sample of my progress.

My most sincere appreciation to you and your loved ones.

 

Hi Adam,

I just wanted to say that I really have enjoyed your lessons with the Crossroads Band CD. I think it is a very unique thing you have offered on YouTube. An infinite amount of riffs can be shown and practiced and techniques can be sharpened, but you have shown us how to take it beyond that. It really is a case of "give a man a fish feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and feed him for life". Today I was able to listen to your latest lesson and find the correct key and play the riffs on the first listen stopping after the music was played and then checking back with what you had played. Yet another little moment of triumph.

Your lessons have filled a massive gap in the blues harmonica lesson market and I for one thank you very much. The lessons that you provide on the website are great case studies to tear apart and study and apply the things you have taught in other lessons and while you are charging for them you are practically giving them away! haha Not that I am complaining mind you!


 

Hello Adam,

My name is Yohan and I live in Quebec, Canada, in a small city calles Ste-Sophie not to far from Montreal. I am writing this e-mail to say thank you for all the time you are taking and all the videos you are making for Youtube. I have a little story for you if you have the time to read it because my harmonica maybe saved a man’s life.

I am a paramedic here in Quebec and have been for 4 year now. I love my job and love to help people the best I can. Once in a while I even save a life. A few months ago I was looking an instrument to play. I’m not rich so I thought the harp would be nice and not to expensive. Not only that I can prictice on the job when I’m not on a call. I bought a C harp and started to listen to your videos on Youtube. The minute I started I loved playing and now the harp is always on me whereever I go. After a few months of playing I can say that I am an ADVANCED BEGINNER to INTERMEDIATE player. Now here is the story. A few weeks ago I was on the job and it was a boring day. It was raining and we had no calls. Me and my partner are just sitting in the ambulance on the verge of falling asleep. Finally the dispatch calls us for a man wanting to end his life and we are called to help the police who are already there. We get to the man’s house and all we hear is yelling. The police and man are almost fighting. The man who is in his late 50's does not want to go to the hospital and all he wants to do is die. As the man sees me and my partner walk in he is even more pissed off. The man is not armed he is just sitting in his couch and he dose not want to leave his house but he said he want to commit suicide. (I don’t know how it works in the states but here in Canada it is illegal do commit suicide and I can’t leave the man there knowing what he will do when I leave.)  After 10 minutes of yelling between the police and the man, I reach in my pocket and pull out my harp. I look at it, bring it to my mouth and start playing... I started with Oh Suzanna and then other song that I learned by ear. When I started playing everyone stopped yelling. My partner was looking at me with this big question mark on his face saying what the hell are you doing? After a minute or so the police and the man had big smiles on their faces. Then I stopped playing put the harp away and everyone was looking at me. The man looks up at me and said that he had not smiled like that in years. I then tell him that music always dose that to me too and if he wants to talk about it on our way to the hospital I would love too. I did not think i would work but the man got up took his jacket kissed his wife and told her he would be back later. Everyone had the same question on their mind including me, what in the world just happed. All this yelling just few minutes ago, a little harp, and now everything is calm and the man is coming without a fight.  As I sat with the man in the back of the Ambulance the man told me he use to play in a small band years back and me playing brought back lots of memories. We talk about other things for we had 45 minutes ride to the closed hospital. I told him he was not alone and dieing was not the only way out. When we got to the hospital the man thanked me. It was probably the most sincere thank you I ever got in my life. I will never forget the way that man looked and smiled at me. Did i really save his life? I dont know. Did he get help? I dont know. The only thing I know is that he did not do it on that day.

Well that is pretty much the story. I am not much of a storyteller so I told it the best that I could. From what I learned from you helped another man. I want to thank you again and keep up the good work!