tookatooka
2206 posts
Mar 09, 2011
3:41 PM
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Just realised I haven't learnt a tune all the way through for over two years. When I started I got tabs and learnt tunes from start to end. I suppose that's all part of the learning curve and getting familiar with the instrument. I haven't used tabs for ages although I do collect any which may prove useful later.
I wonder if it means I'm maturing with the harp. I mostly improvise to backing tracks etc and don't feel the need to play a whole tune anymore.
It will be interesting to see what happens in May. That will be five years since I bought Gindicks Rock n' Blues Harmonica book where it said on the cover "Five minutes to play Five years to master". Well jon, I'm holding you to it. If I ain't a master in May, I want my money back :)
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Last Edited by on Mar 09, 2011 4:05 PM
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toxic_tone
20 posts
Mar 09, 2011
3:52 PM
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i feel the same way it will be almost 6 years for me. i improv alot thats what i mainly do i found out today that thats not always gonna be good enough. if u are just playing for fun then its ok but if u are going for making money then u have to be able to follow a script in a sense. try dubbing a improv, ull be there for hours and hours lol
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isaacullah
1439 posts
Mar 09, 2011
3:58 PM
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agree 100%. I'm in the same boat. I'm just not all that interested in learning songs anymore for some reason. I make up my own songs and play them pretty much the same way most of the time. And I improv a lot. I'm just playing out in the street a couple times a month, and I find that I get the change and interest from people just by playing whatever I feel like. But hearing Ant play Juke so well in his video makes me want to start learning tunes. I have to start playing with other people too, I guess.
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== I S A A C ==
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tookatooka
2207 posts
Mar 09, 2011
4:02 PM
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If you want to make money with harp, you either need to be an expert customiser with a full order book, an outstandingly brilliant player or a worker at the Hohner factory. Dream on toxic, you may get lucky but the odds are stacked against it. I hope you do make it.
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Last Edited by on Mar 09, 2011 4:04 PM
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toxic_tone
21 posts
Mar 09, 2011
4:08 PM
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yea you are right all i can do is keep my head on the prize and keep heading in that direction i might reach it i might not but it will be a fun ride either way :D
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waltertore
1163 posts
Mar 09, 2011
4:24 PM
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IMO if you feel like you are maturing you are. Nobody can make that call but oneself. I have been a serious player for 40 years and I feel like I am just begining to get to what I have been hearing on the horizion for so many years. I felt like I was always getting close but it was kind of like a distant mountain range in the desert. It looks so close but you keep walking and walking and still can't reach it.... People have been paying me money for most of these years and I have played with lots of famous people. Making money, getting known, are not benchmarks of ones growth in my opinion. This come from inside oneself. Walter
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Last Edited by on Mar 09, 2011 4:35 PM
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Aussiesucker
793 posts
Mar 09, 2011
4:25 PM
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Is it maturing or is it just a phase? Keeping motivated is really hard at times.
I don't like to learn songs for the sake of learning ie I generally have to like what I hear and if it grabs me then I mostly find a way to play it. But there are some tunes, in the Harmonica Academy course, which are fast difficult fiddle tunes that once mastered make it so much easier to tackle others. I learn by ear, hate tabs, but find tabs at times useful to steer through a difficult bit.
Many tunes have AABB structure or similar & I find that adapting and changing gives a more individual approach & can make the tune more interesting.
On the other hand I'm not really into jamming as I have no ambition to play in a group. I'm long ago retired. I like playing the harp unaccompanied and the only improvising I do is along the lines of Adams - Front Porch Blues. I'm improvising ok and sometimes hit a real groove but it's unstructured & maybe it's blues or jazz or....I don't know?
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Jim Rumbaugh
436 posts
Mar 09, 2011
7:04 PM
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When the 5 year mark came and went, I felt mildly depressed because I had not mastered the harp. August will make 10 years. I now realize I will never "master" the harp in my lifetime, but I'm on a joyride that will last the rest of my life.
That's good enough. I learn by trial error, and every day I get better.
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intermediate level (+) player per the Adam Gussow Scale, Started playing 2001
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7LimitJI
413 posts
Mar 09, 2011
8:46 PM
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"Just realised I haven't learnt a tune all the way through for over two years"
I've been playing approx 20 years, gigging for 15, and still learn songs note for note from beginning to end.
The song is not "in" me until I can.
This discipline has vastly improved my playing and helps each song have an individual identity.Especially with set piece starts and endings.
During a gig or at rehearsal, I'll then play parts of,or all of the solo depending how I feel and how its sitting in the groove. If improvising sits better, then thats what I'll do.
By playing like this I feel the songs still develop, and end up fitting the band better.
This way of learning is, or has been used by most of the players I know, and is advocated by many pro players too.
But hey, as Hvyj says YMMV !
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The Pentatonics Myspace
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"Why don't you leave some holes when you play, and maybe some music will fall out".
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Last Edited by on Mar 09, 2011 8:47 PM
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oldwailer
1570 posts
Mar 09, 2011
8:48 PM
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I feel I'm maturing as a harp player because I no longer need to order every kind of harp there is to see if one plays better than the other or gives me a better tone--I just order one now and then because I need to replace an older one. I've also, in my maturing, come to realize that no new mic or amp is going to make my dick any bigger. .
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Always be yourself--unless you suck. . .
-Joss Whedon
Last Edited by on Mar 09, 2011 8:50 PM
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boris_plotnikov
475 posts
Mar 09, 2011
11:05 PM
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I recently start define what music I really like from "music that is useful and I have to like it". I just realized that I really love Nirvana and Prodigy, while I hate most of jazz I intended to listen and play for years. It's way to find myself in music. I play harmonica for 10 years, guitar for 15 years, gigging for about 7 years.
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Excuse my bad English. Click on my photo or my username for my music.
Last Edited by on Mar 09, 2011 11:11 PM
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ReedSqueal
99 posts
Mar 09, 2011
11:25 PM
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"I've also, in my maturing, come to realize that no new mic or amp is going to make my dick any bigger"
Dammit! There goes that plan.
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Go ahead and play the blues if it'll make you happy.
-Dan Castellaneta
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Ant138
821 posts
Mar 09, 2011
11:52 PM
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@Isaac, thanks dude. I think the reason i learn whole songs now is because i could never do it on guitar. I'd always learn a few riffs here and there but could never string a whole song together and it really got me down.
On the harp it seems different.
Once i find out the key of a song on the harp i can learn it by ear fairly easily (as long as its not a Jason Ricci solo or anything). But i find the old Chicago stuff is pretty basic, i know its the small things within it that make the song but on the whole i can seem to learn those types of tunes fairly
quickly. It's also the type blues that moves me the most at the moment.
What i have noticed with alot of you guys on here is that you are alot more technically minded than me. i'm not very good with loop pedals and things like that so i think it swings in roundabouts.
Isaac and a few others on here run rings around me with pushing the bounderies of the harp and i am envious of that.
I guess we are all evolving with the harp. i hope were all still on the forum in 5 years. it would be great to see if i've managed to mod an amp by then or learn to harp box!!!
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http://www.youtube.com/user/fiendant?feature=mhum
Last Edited by on Mar 10, 2011 12:58 AM
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Rubes
240 posts
Mar 10, 2011
1:56 AM
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Yeh Tooks I've just decided to get a few of those 'Blues Jam Lyrics' songs a bash, just to help the growth thing. It's funny cause my bandmates are usually coming up with reasons not to do covers, and to concentrate on our originals which are going fine. I think this is good, but there's something about getting a tune downpat, especially if it's a favourite or an 'oldy'! :~)
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Rubes
241 posts
Mar 10, 2011
1:58 AM
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Oh and yeh Oldwailer, new stuff definitely makes it feel better!
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tookatooka
2208 posts
Mar 10, 2011
2:53 AM
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****************
STOP!!!
****************
I had better just clear something up. By maturing, I don't mean I have got to the point where I can play anything and do anything on the harp. I mean I have reached a level where I am comfortable with the instrument, I am reasonably competent and could hold my own at a jam (just so long as they play in a key that I have). I can find my way around the harp and have sufficient knowledge to be able to work out how to play a tune. I have been through the GAS cycle and am happy with SP20's the Roland Microcube and home made amp.
I still have loads to learn I know I doubt I,ll ever be a real master.
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colman
34 posts
Mar 10, 2011
8:36 AM
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i look at the blues as a language,i`v been doin it over 40 yrs.when i started i learned all the songs i liked and i reached a [point when it was language to me on harp and guitar.since i feel it as a language
now i approach it as singing,so the most important
part for me is the many different vibratos to have
it singing.....
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HarpNinja
1193 posts
Mar 10, 2011
9:37 AM
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That's a good feeling...sort of being content with things. It wasn't until I stopped playing with my previous band that I started to feel solid about things. I'd been doing the same thing so long that I couldn't put my playing in perspective.
It took a long time for me to really commit to accepting my style. I'd always hear something new and want to go down that road. I've accepted that I am not really meant to try and be a technical wizard like a Jason Ricci or have as much finesse as Chris Michalek...not that I am at that level, but you know what I mean.
Sometimes trying too hard to be like someone else can really limit yourself. It is very fun and rewarding to be able to make music and go the direction you want to go.
I too will admit to not really liking jazz. I like rock music. I like other stuff like blues too, but really my heart and head are in what others would consider rock. Not even blues rock, but straight up rock/pop kind of stuff.
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Mike
Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas
Updated 2/24/11
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Fingers
3 posts
Mar 10, 2011
12:20 PM
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I have been playing for 20 years 12 in bands! and i can honestly say i have only ever learnt one song and that was the first week of learning! (oh Susanna) LOL! i found that i !!borrow!! licks and phrases from other players and learn these when they catch my ear! i guess i am from the school of put it in my mouth and let it sing, and there have been some inspired moments and standing ovations!! hope this don't sound too cocky, but i am always learning and what some of you guys on this forum do still blows me away!! i have not played seriously for 2 years and you all have given me a new lease of harp playin life.
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mojojojo
68 posts
Mar 14, 2011
8:38 PM
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Heh heh...the joke should be...i play harp...at first it was hard getting used to carrying around something so small.
4 years as a hobbyist and 1 in a band, regular practice just the past 5 months. new to music.
Still an improviser but can "play the part" for some songs. Not interested with other songs except for playalong study.
Being in a band with experienced guys has put me a high learning curve...i have to suggest some harp-heavy songs and maybe soon sing on one too.
I'm pleased that i finally have some tone growing, although not totally consistent. Weeding out sour mismatched notes is a big challenge.
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I suck at harmonica!
Jakarta River Blues Band
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