Alright, I'm gonna post my first ever recorded jam. I just used the video feature on my iPhone while it was sitting on my table, so don't expect the video to do anything, lol
I've been playing for about 2 months now, and this is the first instrument I have played since grade school band so go easy on me. I've gotta say though, I was pretty pleasantly surprised when I replayed it. I kinda lost it for a second there at the end, but I got back on track and finished strong. I can't wait to start doing this with real actual people, i'm starting to run out of good jam tracks on Youtube!! haha.. Careful, it gets loud in the last couple seconds when I pick the phone back up..
Yea its been about 2-3 months now.. But I spent 2-3 years before that hanging out with some ammmmmazing musicians here in Chicago so I guess I just kinda "soaked it up". Ive been itching to start playing an instrument again, away from formal school music lessons, and as soon as I hit my first bend on the Harp I have been hooked..
Not bad for 2 months, perhaps ease off the notes instead of just stopping, however harmonica boogie.com is somewhere you can join and get loads of tracks and upload your licks and everyone comments, So see you in the main stage as its about to kick off again. Adam has some great lessons for free so watch, listen learn, after 7 yrs I still cant get things right, but I'm better than 7 yrs ago.
Thanks Stan, I definitely hear what you mean, some of the notes are a little too ridged/ staccato. I was also half laying down when I played this so my airflow was a little bit cutoff (I know its bad to practice like this, but it was late and I was feeling lazy). A little more finesse on the ins and outs of notes is a great suggestion.
I just checked out Harmonicaboogie.com and am definitely intrigued. I get the feeling you will be seeing me on there more in the days to come. I forget where I read it, but recording and listening to yourself jam really is the best tool to improve. It seems strange at first but its the only way to really hear what you don't like about your playing so you can take steps to improve it.
This was the second one from that night.. A little shorter, but still a lot of fun. The last three seconds are kinda loud again when I pick up the phone.. From now on I will be sure to pause the phone before I pick it back up :)
ok, so i'm gathering my 5 harps and heading towards the receptacle to toss them in. i've been playing for a year and can come nowhere near that kind of playing. great job. so if you can help out a fellow beginner; how did you get to that level so quickly. how/what do you practice. are you taking lessons; jamming to tracks....? thanks for sharing and keep up the great work.
Hey Arron, I would say first off, don't get discouraged!! Playing music is i'd say probably like 25% skill and 75% feeling. If your not feeling it, wait until you feel it to start playing. Watch something or listen to something that inspires you and then use that inspiration as fuel for your jam. Thats one of the beautiful things about the harmonica, we don't have to spend years building the muscle memory involved in playing every single scale on a single instrument because the harp is already broken down into the different scales for us! Just breathe and let it flow!
The three skills that you really need are single notes, bending, and breathing/proper airflow.. Once you can do those 3 things as second nature the rest is up to you to assemble those into something that, if nothing else, at least sounds like how you where feeling in that moment.
Thats how I approach it at least. It is very rare that I jam to the same track twice. I just like to pick a track, pick the right key of harp and go for it. My good friend who is a jazz bass player gave me some great advice, he said "if you play a wrong note just play it twice and you're all good" and I find this to be very true when I play harmonica. Understanding and believing this theory allows me to not be afraid to just dive in and play a random note, if for no other reason than to give my brain a jumping off point to figure out how the rest of the lick sounds. You gotta start with something so just play any note in the right key for the song and then start playing what your brain hears after you hear that note. The pentatonic scale is natural human instinct (this has been proven) so once the brain knows where each of those notes are on the harmonica it should be fairly natural to play the harp almost as if you are just humming along to a song..
I should also mention that I have been stuck at home on house arrest for the last year so I have had a lot of time to do research and just generally feel bluesy so it has made it easier. Not that I would advocate committing any crimes to get better at the harp, but it does help, lol
Oh and also, PRACTICE IN THE CAR!!! Thats when I practice all the stuff that sounds terrible when I do it wrong (high notes, tongue blocking, over blows etc..) If I leave the house for work without a harmonica I will usually turn around and go back for it, and if I don't i feel naked when I drive home (weird)
Anyways, I hope that helps and didn't just confuse you.. I would say definitely don't quit though because there is nothing more freeing than truly "letting yourself go" on a harmonic and playing something from the soul..
Haha, yeah thats my bad. I made that my signature when I first made the account and never figured out how to make it smaller. If it didn't make me laugh so hard when I looked at it I would have gotten rid of it by now, lol. I try to only use it for my first post on a thread but sometimes I forget. If its that annoying I can do away with it all together..
