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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
beginner issues
beginner issues
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kudzurunner
5192 posts
Dec 18, 2014
5:13 PM
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As a bad old year draws to a truly miserable conclusion and a sweet, innocent, happy New Year beckons--boy, do we need it this time around, and thanks to North Korea, sincerely, for this.........
HACKED
...ah, where was I?
So my question is: for those of you in the Beginner category who have found your way to this community of fellow harmonica students and players: What is THE issue that concerns you? What aspect of learning to play the harmonica makes you want to cry out for wisdom and assistance from the hard timers among us?
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barryl
12 posts
Dec 18, 2014
6:27 PM
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Great question: for me it is tone. That full, rich, deep sound that makes the blues. I still sound sort of like those cats in the video above.....
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PropMan
28 posts
Dec 18, 2014
8:45 PM
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Improvisation. I can copy like a xerox machine and my tone is decent and having a background with the bass makes my time pretty solid. But on the bandstand I tend to play the same shit over and over again. It sounds good to everyone who doesn't really KNOW. Unfortunately I think there's a talent/genius thing that I can't quite and may never grasp. But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the hell out of playing live- it's still a rush even though I really don't have much to say. I'm not a beginner but I feel like one in the presence of REAL players
Last Edited by PropMan on Dec 18, 2014 8:46 PM
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nacoran
8164 posts
Dec 18, 2014
8:57 PM
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Good question. Someone posted in a different thread what hole they should try to learn to bend on. Some people bend like a reed in the wind (well, I guess, that, in harmonica terms we all do!) but that was a big hang up for me when I was starting out too. I wasn't that familiar with harp music and I was playing a lot of tremolo. It wasn't until I heard Salty Holmes and his talking harmonica that I really heard what was going on inside the harp.
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Nate
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Mirco
232 posts
Dec 19, 2014
12:39 AM
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Keeping time. Ability to work with the band's time while not being constrained for it.
For example, if the band is playing a fast tempo, my mind jumps to triplets, but it sometimes doesn't work. I'd like to be able to play my own rhythm, still in time with the band.
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Finnegan
1 post
Dec 19, 2014
3:37 AM
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This question has prompted me to finally introduce myself and hopefully give some feedback.
I'm a 2 month in beginner working my way through Adam's 'Beginner' lessons, currently on 'Same Old Blues'.
I play whistle for a English Morris dancing side called Rivington Morris and a Ceilidh band called the Earth Quakers, so I have a musical background but very much in the traditional English dance music scene.
I first bought a harmonica maybe 12 years ago and very quickly gave up being very frustrated by the 2hole draw.
Then gave it another go 4 or 5 years ago. I got a Special 20 and fitted a BMH comb (which I'm now playing) and gave up again with the same problems.This probably sounds all very familiar.
So 2 months ago I picked it up again bought Winslow Yerxa's book, found this site and Adam Gussow's lessons and youtube tutorials. I got the 2 hole draw :-).
So to the OP's question, What is THE issue that concerns me?
The main thing is direction, meaning where do I go or how do I get to playing those funky blues we're all listening to and you're playing.
I know I'm not going to get there tomorrow, it took me a good few years to get from complete beginner to playing with a couple of bands for dancing, your rhythm and timing have got to be right especially if it's a solo step dancer, but once I've worked through the 'Advanced beginner special' where do I go?
Is that too simplistic?
Finn
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jbone
1835 posts
Dec 19, 2014
4:25 AM
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I'm currently working with my wife, she is a guitarist and singer but has loved harmonica for a long time. For about a year she has been working to play and has some progress now. She has had breathing issues since birth. She also has thin lips. But at age 65 she is moving forward and making progress. My challenge is to show her stuff without intimidating her to the point she feels like giving it all up. I have a kit of harps put together for her.
I think part of my challenge is to just be patient and keep stressing the right key harp, and just having a blast with it. She and I jam to some great stuff thanks to posts here and to youtube.
I know for me good things came only with time and stubborn determination. 20 years ago I barely had a couple of draw bends going for myself and I made up for lack of skill with volume and enthusiasm. These days there are so many great resources, if one just seeks and pays attention and uses a true student mindset, you will make good progress. Some things can only be learned on stage as well.
Much of what you will learn will hinge on who/what you listen to and what skills you develop to emulate that.
Adam has a lot of great tools here. Seek and you shall find. Ask and it will be answered.
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Mahcks
24 posts
Dec 19, 2014
7:23 AM
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I've been playing for almost 2 years, and I still think I'm a beginner. I'm fascinated by the physics and application of the free reed (strings are cool, too). You guys talk about that sort of thing, so I joined. I'd like to try my hand at some level of fabrication.
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tookatooka
3716 posts
Dec 19, 2014
7:50 AM
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Seven years for me but I'm such a slow learner. I tend to peak, then trough, level out, and so on. My main problem at the moment is that elusive but ever so important vibrato.
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Harp Study
53 posts
Dec 19, 2014
2:19 PM
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For me it is improvising and lick vocabulary. Very similar to Propman... I have been playing for around 3 years; so maybe I'm not a true beginner, but after listening to some players I sometimes sure feel like it.
I learn songs/copy songs; study licks, scales and music theory, but ultimately I only end up with a very small percentage of study material that is on hand for improvising and I tend to reuse that same small amount of material way too often.
I would love to know how a person build a vocabulary on the instrument; beyond just a handful of licks. How does one take the licks they know from one song they've copied and truly make them their own licks at their disposal. I've yet to figure that one out, but I keep plugging away at it.
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Palmetto
4 posts
Dec 19, 2014
4:14 PM
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For me the topics I'd like to see more info on are timing, rhythm, and ear training.
There are loads of videos on the basic techniques, such as bending, warbles, etc. I've got the basic skills progressing. As someone with no musical background, my challenge is transitioning from a guy who can do exercises on the harp to a guy who can really feel the music and play more subconsciously. I still get lost at times keeping the beat, figuring out the song key, improvising, etc.
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kudzurunner
5194 posts
Dec 20, 2014
4:27 AM
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Thanks, everybody, for your replies. All of them resonate for me--which is to say, I can think back to my own learning curve and remember when each of them was a very personal issue for me, something I fretted about.
The one that leaps right out is Harp Study's complaint about how to make the leap from studying/copying songs, licks, and music theory to actually getting that stuff into your improvisations. I remember framing this issue for myself as "How do I get the stuff to 'stick'?" I felt as though I were dumping a lot of stuff into the hopper, but when I ended up on a jam session bandstand, I could never remember 80% of the stuff I'd studied. I just couldn't pull out melodies and string them together.
I can easily think of three different routes to breaking through this particular wall.
First, you might try SIMPLIFYING your licks-palette, reducing it for the moment to just a few simple motifs, and then working those licks in a way that lets you really own them--that lets you be seriously musical. I did a video on this four years ago:
In other words, you should remember that all the musical information you've poured into the hopper isn't, in itself, music, or musicality. You need to THINK music, and in order to train that capacity, it sometimes helps to work with much LESS information. It's like training to be a chef. If you've got a kitchen stocked with every possible ingredient, it can be overwhelming. But if you've only got five ingredients and I say, "Make three different dishes," you actually start to work your culinary creativity. And that is what great chefs do.
Secondly, you need to jam along with jam tracks a LOT. I'm talking about a minimum of 20-30 minutes, every day. Not just three or four minutes. I'm talking about putting on one track, one groove, and playing everything you know over it, again and again. Again, that's another way of actually hard-wiring your knowledge.
Third, I found it really helpful to make a list of different ways that I could play through, say, a medium shuffle. Different modes.
--play the root of every chord: quarter notes on the beat
--play the roots, but play dotted eighth notes
--play root, third, fifth, third, root, as quarter notes
--play a melody that starts on the 4 draw, has some bending action, and ends up on the 2 draw (in other words, play the same basic lick over bars 1-2, 5-6, and 9-10
--sing over bars 1-2, 5-6, and 9-10, and play fills in bars 3-4, 7-8, and 11-12
--use lots of warbles
--hold one note (5 draw) a long time, then slide down
That sort of thing. That helps you get over the standard problem, which is blowing your wad over a jam track on the first two or three choruses, playing everything you know, and then complaining that you keep "repeating yourself."
Those three things all helped me break through, expanding my improvisations, and helping me really own the melodic material that I possessed as an improviser.
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Harp Study
55 posts
Dec 20, 2014
6:20 AM
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Adam- thank you for the wonderful advice. Your help/lessons have been invaluable during my harp learning journey. I will make these 3 things my main focus for a few months and see how they help me out. Thanks again.
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Palmetto
5 posts
Dec 20, 2014
12:09 PM
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Thanks for the tips Adam. I bought your lessons after I had already studied some others, and I found yours really helped me the most on timing, syncopation, etc.
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barryl
15 posts
Dec 20, 2014
12:17 PM
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I just saw your "Holiday Greetings" email with the embedded the mournful sound of blues harmonica 1 video. That has gone a long way to answering my question on tone. Thanks.....And, a very Merry to you!!!
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groyster1
2725 posts
Dec 21, 2014
8:34 AM
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same as with tooka....still trying to master throat vibrato
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Billfish89
15 posts
Dec 21, 2014
12:43 PM
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Great topic and very helpful advice- thanks Adam!
My Status: Adv. Beginner/?.
1.Consistent tone and volume.
2.Timing and keeping in time. Trouble hearing the beat (playing to tracks in garage) while my foot is keeping time, the music is going somwhere else..this community has lots of commentary on this...
3. Developing tone and the great acoustic tones you can create with hands& airway. Check out Diggsblues post on acoustic tones. about 90% of my available practice time I can't use a mic and amp anyway. I.e sitting in the (parked) car, or late evening & kids are sleeping.
4. Warbles are essential... As someone posted in a beginners thread -starting and keeping warbles in time with the beat is tricky.
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