Bio info on Dave's career as a player and as a teacher and Founder of HarmonicaLessons.com. Contact information for private harmonica lessons via phone, video, or in person, is found at the bottom of this page or in left column.
Harmonica Player
Dave Gage has been playing diatonic and chromatic harmonica for over 30 years. He was a music major as well as a Philosophy minor at UC Davis and then studied jazz improv for a year with Charlie Shoemake in Los Angeles.
Before forming the Dave Gage Band (now called GAGE), he played with numerous cover and original bands doing everything from folk and bluegrass to 60's and 70's rock, funk and Top 40, hard rock and heavy metal and all of these primarily playing harmonica.
In the recording studios, he has done much session work including all the harmonica on the late '80s network TV show "Davis Rules". He has also written, produced, and played the music for various radio and TV commercials. He has played or recorded with artists such as Andy Summer (Police), Mark Mothersbaugh and Bob Casale (Devo), Rick Springfield, Bill Ward (Black Sabbath), Jack Bruce, Lee Oskar and others. He also was one of the songwriters and lyricists for the Disney Channel show "Adventures in Wonderland." He has worked with the Hohner and Lee Oskar Harmonica Companies over the years as a pro endorsee and new product consultant. And he has written articles about the harmonica or aspects of its playing for Guitar Player Magazine and the Alesis quarterly "Reflections".
His influences on harmonica include not only the greats of his instrument like James Cotton and Paul Butterfield, but guitar players such as Eddie Van Halen, Joe Satriani, and Stevie Ray Vaughn (Dave uses a technique called tongue switching which gives an effect much like tapping on the guitar). Besides playing the diatonic and chromatic harmonicas and singing lead vocals, he also plays guitar, keyboards, and does sequencing and hard disk recording in his home recording studio.
His first album, "Well You Can't, Now Can You", was released on CD and cassette and was reviewed in 1995 by the Music Connection Magazine and rated a 9 out of 10. In early 2001, Dave and the GAGE Band released a new album on CD, "Love You Just The Same". This album includes a total of 12 songs, both original and cover tunes, done in the unique GAGE Band "alternative blues" style.
Teacher & Founder of Harmonica Lessons.com
Dave is the author and founder of Harmonica Lessons.com, the largest and most visited harmonica website in the world. He constructed it in 1999 as an off-shoot of the ever growing popularity of the instruction and information found on this site.
It grew and grew and grew, until it now contains over 500 pages of instruction and information that include basic and advanced playing techniques (single notes, bending, breathing, hand effects, chords, throat vibrato, etc.) Plus, the music for over 100 songs with harmonica key and playing tablature, theory, basic blues improv, games, jam-to MIDI files, riffs and scales, member forums, CDs "Keyed" section, chatroom, FAQs, glossary, MP3 sound files, graphics, photos, and the "Tip of the Day".
Prior to the Internet, Dave had been teaching the harmonica for about as long as he had been playing. The institutions and locations where he has taught include UC Davis, Santa Monica College, The Learning Annex, and McCabes Guitar Shop.
He continues to teach at McCabes Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, CA, where he has been a part time/full time instructor since 1980. Through mostly one on one private lessons, and as a class/seminar teacher, he has logged over 10,000 hours of harmonica instruction (and most of those hours without mind numbing drugs).
Private Lessons with Dave- If you are interested in lessons and live in the Los Angeles area, or you're planning a visit, you can contact Dave for private lessons info and scheduling.
