I think I know what answer you'll give to this before I ask but I'll ask anyway.
OK, I've got a fairly good technique and am comfortable with the harp and think I play quite well. Chords, octaves, overblows, blow bends (not quite) etc. I'm OK with those.
The problem is lack of imagination when it comes to improvisation. I get stuck and tend to repeat myself. Once I've established a string of licks to go with a particular tune in the first twelve bars, I find myself repeating them through to the end but with maybe a few small differences.
My question is how can I be more imaginative in my playing. If your answer is listen to more blues, my response would be, OK, but what if I want to be different and not just copy that which has already been done?
Stop practicing the licks you keep doing and study only new material. Also, listen to new music. *Actively* listen to any music and think about what you can do to better your playing.
What you are doing isn't entirely bad. I have the opposite problem where I can't limit what I play so I end up not getting a 'theme' into the song. Argh!
I would say branching out in the type if music you play along with will force you to try new things. If you're used to blues, try your hand at jazz, or folk/gypsy punk, ska, swing etc etc etc. They all have different ways at looking at chord progressions and licks, and it will force you to adapt.
For myself I don't actually practice "licks" as much as I practice scales and agility running those scales. I think that makes it harder to get stuck in a rut, playing the same thing over and over again.
Learning new positions helped me branch out too. Different positions favor different note patterns.
You've hit the plateau that is common with "lick based learning". Now it is time to discover why the licks you've been learning have so much power. Study musical melodies in all their forms to become the creator of licks. This includes listening to orchestral recordings like Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, artists like Miles Davis, Chet Baker and Maceo Parker.
There's no short cut. Fill your head with ideas and melodies and try to understand what makes them work. ---------- The Iceman
Do you play with other musicians or do you just play by yourself? Personally, I find that I think of things to play when I am playing with others that would never have occurred to me if i were just playing by myself. What the other musicians play is frequently a source of inspiration for me.
How do you come up with your Fruity Loops stuff? Is there something different in the process?
I find playing along with different things helps me come up with new ideas, but I sometimes fall into the trap of following the melody or the bass line too closely (and sometimes they follow me, so even when I'm being original it sounds like I'm copying!)
Listen to different instruments and try to copy different instruments parts... sometimes even moving a harp part to a different part of the harmonica without transposing it works or a different tuning works. It can take a little adjusting but I was playing the same hole pattern for 'When the Saints Go Marchin' In' on my minor tuned harp without adjusting for the fact that I was on a minor harp, so I ended up with a different melody. Try switching the rhythm. Sometimes purely mechanical changes like that can get you unstuck creatively. You force a mechanical change and that creates a new sound.
Another thing I have done for solos is turn my head off long enough to choose my first note randomly and then play the first thing that comes to me off of it.
This is especially effective playing with other musicians where there is some pressure, 'cause the groove moves on! ---------- Shane,
Shanester has a great suggestion. Miles Davis was asked how he came up with his musical ideas. One answer he gave was "I think of a note and then don't play that one." His way of saying that he begins an idea in a fresh and new way, like choosing the first note randomly. I've done this a lot and it is a great way to put yourself in the moment and lets the notes almost decide for themselves where they lead.---------- The Iceman
Last Edited by on Aug 14, 2011 5:46 AM
Lately Tooks I've been jammin' to a bit of digital radio. JAZZRADIO.com seems to give me a nice balance of sounds with and without harp, and I find I generally use most of my harps (all keys + lo-F & C) plus the chrom often gets a workout. I'm also very fortunate to be involved with a trio and am surrounded by a few good muso mates, so the experimentation factor of this is second to none, but the radio jams are like a bit of discipline... :~}
Tooka, good question. I have also been working on the same issue.
Dave Barrett teaches the concept of "focus notes". That is, in each chorus pick a different note to start your licks on. This forces you to break out of old habits.
I also like to learn the lyrics for songs and play harp solos with those lyrics running through my head. That gives me ideas for diverging from the melody line. Also, it good training for learning to play what is in your head or echoing what you are singing.
