I have read most all the books about the tongue and what you speak by authors like Capps and Hagin, but this add to them all with Joyce's anointed teaching. This book is a must for all christians.

If you want to play classical (ie Larry Adler) or jazz harmonica this book is essential. The book treats the chromatic harmonica as a serious musical instrument. Just like learning a "real" wind instrument (eg oboe, clarinet, flute etc) you will start by learning posture and breathing. One of the most important parts of the book is the detailed and very clear explanations of how to play legato on a harmonica (ie how to make a smooth flow going from a blow note to a draw note!).

Although this book was published in 1999. I previously had a (more expensive) "home published" version of this book for more than 2 years. This book significantly sped up my learning and even years later I still get more out of this comprehensive book. Every time I play the harmonica I sit/stand, hold the instrument and play legato the way i learnt from this book - even years later.

There are no scale exercises or notes on staves in this book - there are plenty of other books for that. This unique book is a comprehensive method and resource that taught me how to adjust my hand position to get "resonance" from the instrument and many other major advances in my playing.

Doug Tate is well known and respected on harmonica newsgroups for his excellent advice on playing chromatic harmoinca. A perfect companion to this book is Doug's other book "Make your harmonica play well" - it covers maintenance and modifications to the instrument so that a poor instrument doesn't slow your learning.

I got this book because a couple of my harmonicas weren't working all that well, and I thought the book would help me get them back into shape. Much of the information here is available on the Net for free, and repairing and tuning a harmonica is like trying to write the Bible on a grain of rice. It can be done, but it's extremly difficult and time consuming.

If you have a lot more time than money, this book "might" help you out. However, while you may be able to fix your car, build a deck, and even perform brain surgery, you'll soon find that repairing and tuning a harmonica is not as easy as this book makes it appear, regardless of how much patience you have.

I give it three stars because it's informative, but those harmonicas I wanted to fix still aren't, and I'm usually very good at stuff like this.

Poor instruments was the major impediment to my ability to play harmonica. This book taught me how to turn a bad instrument into a great instrument and my skills as a musician have jumped ahead. This is a great book by a master of the subject. The book has two sections. One section for simple and easy things to do to improve the chromatic harmonica. These require only basic tools and experience. I've used almost all of Doug's simple modifications and they make an enormous difference. The other half of the book takes you deep into the jungle of customisation and is very complex but explained carefully and thoughtfully. The second half of the book will keep my busy for years and years. This is the most comprehensive book I've seen on maintenance and customisation of chromatic harmonicas.

Doug is a well known and respected expert on harmonica improvements and customisation and construction. He has made and customised harmonicas for Larry Adler (who writes a forward for this book) and is frequently providing internet newsgroups with his excellent advice. A perfect companion to this book is Doug's other book "Play the harmoinca well" which teaches you how to play the harmonica - once you've used THIS book to make the instrument work properly! ;-)