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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Long practice sessions - keeping it fun?
Long practice sessions - keeping it fun?
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RyanMortos
1113 posts
Sep 03, 2011
11:52 AM
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Long practice sessions - keeping it fun & interesting?
Scenario:
It's the weekend, you have the whole day to yourself for a change! You manage to get all your responsibilities done for the day & seem to have 6 hours (or more) to practice harmonica (Huzzah! Right?).
My practice experiences summary:
My average practice sessions consist of a good hour of as many different techniques or playing with other recordings I can think of (not including the hours I listen to blues recordings, ha). Usually when I add another hour to that I break out an amp and practice all the same stuff but amplified, that certainly keeps it interesting. On days I go over 3 hours this usually means I went to an open mic night or my harmonica club or SPAH or something in which I'm surrounded by harmonica & music for longer periods of time which keeps it interesting and fun!
Question:
If you had 6+ hours to practice/play harmonica how would YOU keep that time fun & interesting (assuming that you don't know anyone local who is also a musician to play along with or has time that day & there's no open mic nights that day)?
I came up with thoughts like playing outside, as in busking maybe, but I'm not sure I can do that around here but maybe on my front porch I can play for fun & outside. Or I guess you just spend all that additional time working on note for note renditions of blues songs but I think even that sounds like it would get tired after a few hours.
...thought it was about time I started a thread, heh.
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~Ryan
"I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window." - Stephen Wright
Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
Contact:
My youtube account
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nacoran
4553 posts
Sep 03, 2011
1:35 PM
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6 hours straight?
Lip balm.
I'm toast after half that. Our band practices run that long but that includes switching from recording to new jams to lyric writing. Some of the time I'm singing, so my lips aren't completely destroyed.
Those are all good ways to keep it fresh, by the way. The days that feel best usually include learning a new tune, writing a new tune, and recording something, plus maybe a run through of a few favorites. Switching keys and styles is fun too. I've had days where I practice a lot but still don't feel like I've gotten anything accomplished. The things I hate doing, memorizing lyrics and tightening/finalizing arrangements, don't get done as often, but it's important to get them done too.
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Nate
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Diggsblues
977 posts
Sep 03, 2011
4:12 PM
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Never practice longer than two hours without at least
a fifteen minute break. The brain needs a breather.
Make a lesson plan that covers different areas of
playing. Get the Todd Parrott stuff. Play songs
scales arpeggios. Practice with the radio but plan it
out. Lots of books to study from. Charlie McCoy is great. Chromatic stuff from Robert Bonfiglio. There is plenty of material
just organize it.
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Emile "Diggs" D'Amico a Legend In His Own Mind
How you doin'
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HarmonicaMick
301 posts
Sep 03, 2011
5:48 PM
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Diggsblues put it well. I would add that if you're going to practise for 6 hours, it won't do you much good unless it's extremely regimented and analytical and regular. Even then, a lot of folks won't be able to practise for that length of time and pattern everything onto their neurons.
Some of the stuff that I've found tricky to get right has come not by practising per se; rather, it's come over time by noodling mindlessly here and there while watching some brain dead drivel on the telly.
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YouTube SlimHarpMick
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Jorge Jane
46 posts
Sep 03, 2011
6:43 PM
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From my understanding it's actually better to practice in small sessions and make those as effective as possible. There is more mental retention of information this way this is what i have heard.
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boris_plotnikov
595 posts
Sep 04, 2011
12:23 AM
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Start from chord wamping and go to chord wamping every time you get tired. Different rhythmic patterns (breathing rhudiments, like drum rhudiments). Eight notes, 16-th notes, 3 16-th per blow/draw, triplets (eight, quarter), quintoles, septoles etc. Improvise over rhytmic patterns using metronome.
Play all scales and arpeggios you know. Learn new (e.g. diminished scale or wholetone scale or altered scale).
Play the same scales in broken 3rds, broken 4th, broken 5th, broken 6th, broken 7th and even broken octaves. Better with metronome.
Play melodies you know, better with playalong. Improvise over chord progressions.
Learn new melodies. You have to know bunch of them. My repertoire list contains about 100 melodies and I sure it's not enough, I want to know at least 1000. Different styles and genres.
Spend hour on transcribing someone's playing you admire (I prefer trumpet players).
I think it's enough job for 6 hours.
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Excuse my bad English. Click on my photo or my username for my music.
Last Edited by on Sep 04, 2011 12:24 AM
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RyanMortos
1120 posts
Sep 04, 2011
6:08 AM
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Wow, I appreciate the responses guys. Gives me something to think about! I didn't necessarily mean 6hrs+ straight, more like a day you have that much time and take a few 30 min breaks here and there :) .
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~Ryan
"I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window." - Steven Wright
Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
See My Profile for contact info, etc.
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