I believe I was the first person to be a full-time harmonica teacher in the UK, there are still very few of us - so there's plenty of room if you want to come and join me.įor the last few years, I have been the Chairman of HarmonicaUK - formerly known as the National Harmonica League (NHL) which supports the UK harmonica players community. I have started tens of thousands on their way to play the harmonica and I can tell you - it sure beats working I have been teaching people to play the harmonica since 1996 as a full-time job.
I would recommend using 'Transcribe!' for slowing down and changing the key on my backing tracks - it's free as a trial and well worth a look in my opinion. Ben has played Bodhran in bands and sessions for years and even has a Senheiser bass drum microphone embedded into his drum. He got so into Bodhran playing he bought an expensive tuneable drum from Marc and it works better than ever to this day.
'You'll know Ben better as a harmonica teacher but he also studied Irish Drum - Bodhran - and tin whistle in the 1990's with the now very famous Steafan Hannigan and Marc Moggy from Renegade Rhythms. Ben is used to teaching all over the world at prestigious harmonica festivals and is delighted to offer his services to you.' His teaching style is confident, practiced, humorous, skilful, knowledgeable and packed with information in bite sized chunks.
He will lead you through the ins and outs of harmonica playing through a series of short video lessons. 'Ben Hewlett is one of the UK's most respected harmonica teachers and the UK's most prolific author on harmonica tuition. *Ben's teaching business 'HarpsCool' is proud to be *Accredited Diatonic Harmonica Teacher 1993 - HTAB (Harmonica Teachers Accreditation Board, supported by Lee Oskar Harmonicas, the National Harmonica League of UK and the International Harmonica Organisation). *Certificate of Music Workshop Skills (Goldsmiths University of London) in 1995 *Ben qualified as CTABRSM in 2002 (Certificate of Teaching - Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) *Professional Harmonica Instructor since 1996 *Ben is the Vice-President of HarmonicaUK - formerly known as NHL - The National Harmonica League in the UK I also have three percussion courses for you on Bodhran and Washboard. If you are into Blues look for any course with the word 'Blues' in the title.
If you are new to harmonica please take the '30-day challenge' or the big 'Learn Harmonica - the easiest instrument to pick up' course to get you started. Please see my copyright policy at the bottom of this page. I make one brand new short course every month. This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICASWow, I can't quite believe this - over 48,000 students, and 67,000 courses purchased - come and join us.they can't all be wrong! If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):Īlso check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast: More recently he has performed in an acoustic duo with Shun Ng. Magic Dick was an integral part of their sound with his harmonica work central to their output of Rhythm & Blues, Rock, Pop and Soul.Īfter the J Geils band split in 1985 he took a break from playing before coming back with some session playing and then forming the band Bluestime with J Geils. He was a founder member of the J Geils Band, who had great commercial success for over 15 years. He started playing trumpet at age 9, and this instrument along with his love of jazz and rock and roll shaped his approach on harmonica. But his long career has produced so many more highlights than just that. Magic Dick created one of the all time classic harmonica instrumentals in Whammer Jammer.