I picked up my first harps a couple years ago now. Sadly I am nowhere near where I should be experience-wise. There are many reasons why but I am working on that and playing more lately than ever before.
I don't even really have all the basics down 100%. Heck, I just got to understand positions in the last couple of weeks.Yet, I seem to find myself picking songs apart and trying to learn them.Not simple stuff like Mary had a little lamb but songs like Hammer Jammer!
Don't get me wrong. I understand music and understand the basics are important and I *am* working on them.
How many of you started to try running before you could walk, so to speak, on harp?
Just get stuck into it any way you can and even though you might attempt to do something that it way above your level you still might learn something that will surprise you or motivate you further. Always reaching for something slightly beyond you will keep you moving forward.
Ran for many years before I could walk. I am still learning to walk and hope to run right some day. Taking lessons helped. Learned the value of scales scales scales. Learned I didn't know sh**t about bending the 3 though I could overblow a 6 out of the box. I believe in walking (scales and repetitive riffs) while on long commutes in car. Run with the amp in basement after a couple of beers in the evening.
Sure, I did the same thing, both on piano and harp. I think a lot of people do, probably because they get bored with the simpler stuff.
I would suggest that if you're going to do that then practise those pieces that are currently beyond you at a very slow and manageable tempo, and in very small chunks.
I found that not doing that, at least on piano, set up an awful lot of tension in my arms and hands, which became habitual. I never really quite managed to reverse the damage done.
You mentioned Whammer Jammer. I mess about with that too, just for a bit of fun. But I usually start to practise it at about 1/3 of the speed on the studio recording, a phrase or two at a time. Result: no tension in my embouchure or breathing; and clean and accurate phrasing. Trying to play it fast in the first place will never achieve that result, not unless you're already at the level where the piece is manageable to you.
I expect that anyone else on here who's taught an instrument would offer you a similar suggestion, that is, if it's suggestions or advice that you want. ---------- YouTube SlimHarpMick
Oh I work slow at it. There's no way I could do it full speed. I learned to pick things apart and learn songs in pieces in my guitar days as a kid. If I tried to learn it full speed from the get go I would probably have thrown my harp against the wall,lol.
Ok, I can tell your in need of my opinion. Ha ha...just kidding. But! I do have an opinion on this; some of which is based on over 20 years experience teaching (non music related). Even though I don't teach music, I do use music as an example when explaining practice and learning methods. There are some good parallels.
Briefly, there are more than one variety of learning preferences when it comes to the individual. I won't delve deeper than that here, but let's look at those who try to run before they can walk. Generally it's a bad idea and can lead to the development of bad habits as well as missed points on fundamentals. But on the other hand, there are those (I'm this way sometimes) who are aggressive, but also intuitive, who jump ahead and test the waters. The difference in these individuals however, seems to be that although they are running (seemingly) before they can walk, what they are doing is teaching themselves. They are testing, and then making note (if they are the smart ones) of where they are headed. Then they are coming back to the fundamentals with a new and better understanding. Then back to the running, and again back to perfecting walking and so on. It doesn't work for everyone and it is a fine line you need to straddle there between how far to go and when and how much to come back. But at times it works...depending on the individual.
i was a self teacher for many years. it was a long slow process and it had its own cost, not only in time wasted. being sent packing a few times got my attention. early on i was basically unable to learn by studying printed material, and too impatient to dissect a recording and figure out how to work a harp that way. i just sort of stumbled along and picked up a clue here and there, so i was really slow to make any true progress. after about 15 years like that i began to sober up and grow up. and it still took me some years to actually realize i needed badly to be a student if i wanted to really learn anything. still not much for print or notated learning, i went a slightly different route once again, and began studying individual players who inspired me. in there someplace i began to learn how to breathe, and where from, and how to better focus air in my air column. somewhere along the way a couple of guys who were far ahead of me on harp basics more or less took me under their wings and showed me some things, and tried to teach me. ultimately some things these good guys told me finally sunk in and i began discovering a couple of different positions and also studying more deeply some different genres of music than the usual blues. the internet and the resources available here have been very beneficial to me in the past 10 or 12 years. that's when i truly began the journey past my limited success on the learning curve. i even now am not given to scales or practicing riffs much at all. i am still very much a by-feel player. the years spent on and near stages have taught me good musical manners at least, and i know pretty much what will fit and when to put it in a song. and when to be silent and enjoy just being there. about 10 years ago i got an open invite onto a guy's stage. when i would walk in a place where he was playing he expected me to sit in. i took this opportunity to do a lot of exploring of different harps, keys, positions, etc. it was not a paid sideman gig and he didn't mind as long as i was polite on stage. after all, he always sounded good no matter what, so if i kept in my place and sounded off, it was obvious who was off! about 5 years ago my wife and i began as a duo in earnest. she is 99% rhythm and has tried to do everything i've asked of her. she has been successful in most cases, and we've agreed that if either of us doesn't like a particular song, or if something is off in a song we're writing and working up, we move on the something else for a while. the upshot here is that i have had for 5 years now a place in a project where i was expected to fill in a lot of gaps, work out new parts to old chestnuts, write parts for progressions i had no idea what to call them, and generally go crazy like the kid in the candy store. the duo idea may be limiting for some but it's been very much a freeing-up for me. i see it this way. life is a lab. i'm in a maze. i get the prize by negotiating through my own ignorance, the prize being a good piece of music. there are plenty of routes to take. some are dead ends or seem to be until revisited with new information. the goal is always to keep moving. sometimes this means sitting quietly and listening, others it means struggling through unfamiliar territory until it is familiar. i am largely a gut player. i have a decent instinct of what will sound good where and when to be quiet. this is just how things are for me, neither good nor bad. but i just posted on a new thread- our new cd is up for a Blues Foundation award. i must be doing something right! ---------- http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
Tommy what you said made sense and that is what I do. I think,,,let's see what I CAN do. If it's too much I slow down and back off and practice on what I know I can do.
Kind of like training a dog. If you have one that really wants to please you and he is obviously getting frustrated not knowing what you want it to do,,,stop,,,then ask it to do something you know it can do well. Then try the new trick again later. ---------- Bend it like Ricci - Me
Hey Reed Triller. Interesting thread. I think it is also about being out of your comfort zone. I am cautious by nature, but believe one grows by going (slightly?) out of one's depth. I think Adam said something in one of his vids about going to your first jam even though you are unsure if you are good enough. I did that last October, not sure whether I would be able to keep up or not. Went OK but I wasn't great. The people there welcomed me though. The guy who ran it said "You know how to play." I went back and got a bit better each time (praticing hard in the two weeks between each jam of course). Met a guitarist there and started busking earlier this year. When he got a day job I started solo busking, with some trepidation, but I have gone OK. I bit the bullet about six weeks ago and started singing in public. No one threw stones and I even noticed that I almost always got a tip when singing. Did my first singing at a jam a couple of weeks ago. Then I got asked (with my busking partner) to come on community FM radio the other day. He got unwell at the last minute, but I wanted to do it, so played a few tunes, sang one song a cappella and did a duet (unrehearsed)with the presenter playing guitar. All of these things have put me outside my comfort zone, but they have all helped me grow as a player. I reckon I am one-third of the way down the road to where I want to be, musically speaking, but I try to step out every day by 'running before I can walk' aware that I need to try to avoid forming bad habits. But good things happend when you push yourself. Luckily I have a teacher who jumps on any mistakes pretty quickly! I am posting a vid of me playing on the radio. Not perfect but I had a blast doing it!
I find myself asking am i practicing correctly this can be frustrating. what i do is practice riffs that i pick up here and there mostly from Ronnie Shellist run scales,and practice technique. I spend a lot of time driving and practice a lot in my car but i find blending riffs to sound smooth is tough and improvising.
