TheATL
1 post
Feb 28, 2012
9:26 PM
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Hi all,
As someone who is just starting out, and not wanting to repeat the mistakes of others, I have a simple question - if you could start all over again, what would you do differently?
I have a friend who said if he could do it all over, he would have learned to tongue-block rather than using lip pursing. How about you?
Would you have invested in one tuned harp to start with so you could get to know early what it felt like to play a good instrument?
Would you have bought an amp early on so you could master playing with a mic sooner?
Would you have learned to play with the opposite hand / upside down?
Would you have taken lessons rather than tried to learn by yourself or from the Internet?
I am so new that I am not sure what questions to ask - but I am sure if you look in your heart-of-hearts, there are some things you would have changed on your journey.
I would appreciate it if you would share your thoughts with those of us just starting out.
Thanks in advance.
Brad
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Greg Heumann
1512 posts
Feb 28, 2012
11:40 PM
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I would have listened to smart people's advice and wasted a lot less money on lousy amps and mics. But as a beginner, it is even hard to figure out who is smart and who isn't! The internet certainly helps there. The internet was new and there were no harp discussion forums when I started.
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/Greg
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The Gloth
634 posts
Feb 28, 2012
11:45 PM
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If I could start all over, I'd have learned to play guitar and bass twenty years ago, but then maybe I wouldn't play harp at all...
About the harp, there was no internet when I began ; to start now, I would have harps in different keys and not only in C, and learn the basic positions (1st, 2d, 3d). And I would have bought a mike and amp much sooner, not only to learn to play amped but also to make it easier to join bands.
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Leatherlips
38 posts
Feb 29, 2012
1:51 AM
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I wouldn't do anything differently at all. I started with a friend who was willing to play along on acoustic guitar for as long as it took for me to get it (whatever I was trying to figure out).
I also spent untold hours trying to emulate the greats and developing my own style.
I don't think there are too many short cuts to becoming an accomplished harp player, but of course if you have friends who will help out, then that counts for a lot.
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MN
131 posts
Feb 29, 2012
2:06 AM
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>>>>>"I have a simple question - if you could start all over again, what would you do differently?"
* I would start out tongue blocking.
* I would buy at least one custom (or at least modified) harp.
* I would wait to buy a mic and amp. Of it I DID feel the need to blow money on that, I'd just get a Shure SM57 and a VHT Special 6. Nothing more.
* And the number one thing .... I'd do whatever it takes to get personal lessons from a good harp teacher.
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Baker
213 posts
Feb 29, 2012
2:07 AM
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Like your friend I would definitely would have like to have spent more time practicing tongue blocking earlier on. I think developing both TB and LP at the same time would have been a useful approach.
Also overblowing. I have heard that some people learned to overblow at the some time as bending, I think this would also have been useful.
Last Edited by on Feb 29, 2012 2:08 AM
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bubberbeefalo
64 posts
Feb 29, 2012
2:11 AM
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I would have partied less and practiced more.
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jbone
808 posts
Feb 29, 2012
3:33 AM
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i'm like a few others here, there was no internet when i began. it may have changed my whole thing.
as it was i spent a lot of years basically in the dark.
i would have sought out teachers and learned how to study harp much earlier. i spent a lot of time acing like i knew something when i really didn't, and it showed if you heard me early on.
i would definitely learned tb much earlier.
my first amp and mic really sucked, i would have listened to some good counsel and gotten a champ or bassman and a bullet instead of the crap i started out with.
perhaps when my eye and ear were both sharper i could have learned how to do basic customization at least on my own stuff.
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Harptime
19 posts
Feb 29, 2012
4:00 AM
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I wish I learned to sing at the same time I started blowin' harp. That combination drastically increases the opportunities for work.
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Warren Bee
Marketing & Harmonica Raconteur
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GamblersHand
334 posts
Feb 29, 2012
4:30 AM
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I would have worked on the 3 draw bends. Like many beginners (and early intermediates) I put them in the too hard box and left it very late to really get comfortable playing expressively in the tonal zone between the major and minor thirds, as well as consistently hitting the major 2nd.
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Honkin On Bobo
983 posts
Feb 29, 2012
4:52 AM
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Get in the habit of picking up the harp on most days even if you've only got 15 minutes to mess around on it. I didn't do this. I still don't. For some reason, i've got my self brain washed that in order to "practice" I needed to set aside a block of time. Which inevitably leads to days missed on the harp. If there's one thing almost all teachers of all musical instruments agree on, it's that it's better to spend 15 minutes a day on your instrument than 120 minutes one day a week. Of coures, if you can carve out more than an hour a day....all the better.
To that end figure out two "woodshed" routines a long one and a short one, so that if you've only got 15 min you don't spend half of it trying to figure out what to practice.
Try to figure out a way to keep it fresh and fun (the answer will be unique to you..what you like and what keeps you passionate), while being serious about the instrument, this still has eluded me.
Last Edited by on Feb 29, 2012 5:37 AM
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norrin_radd
13 posts
Feb 29, 2012
5:36 AM
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I'm still a beginner so my advice is pretty general. Dont give up on yourself, keep playing even if its the same old tune, focus. Like anything you want to get good at, you kind of have to make the harp part of who you are.
I got my first harp about 30yrs ago, I wanted to play campfire songs, but I could not really play anything until about 1 1/2yrs ago. Id re-learn "When the Saints Go Marching In" from the standard insert about every 5yrs or so and put it back in the drawer. I wish I would have been able to focus on it better back then.
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TheATL
2 posts
Feb 29, 2012
7:57 AM
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Thank you, thank you, thank you! Great suggestions everyone. Basically I carry a harp everywhere I go these days. I play a lot in the car, and since I am at a conference in New Orleans this week, I can just walk down the street blowing away without anyone looking at me as if I have three eyes.
I played every day when I was in High School, but there was no Internet, so believe it or not, I just played stuff like Old Suzanna and Saints. I figured everyone who was blowin' down the house was playing "some other kind of harp" that I could not afford. I wish I had found someone who showed me how to play all those years ago. But now, its full speed ahead.
Thanks again.
Brad
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Tuckster
986 posts
Feb 29, 2012
8:11 AM
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If you're in NOLA this week,you might want to get hold of forum member Todd Greene. I think their harp club meets somewhere in NOLA on Wed. Don't worry about your skill level,the club is very accommodating.
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mr_so&so
517 posts
Feb 29, 2012
8:28 AM
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I would have invented the Internet and set up a harp forum. Seriously, I struggled along with books for a few years, and stopped and started many times, but didn't get rolling until Adam Gussow came along.
I think the best advice I can give for beginners is to carry a harp (I'd suggest G, or A) with you at all times and play it whenever you can. Try to play every day, as suggested above. Also have a goal or two in mind to work on, e.g. clean single notes, then 4d bend, then the rest of the bends, then the blues scale on holes 1-6. Personally, I think that lip pursing is a good way to start, but also begin to throw tongue blocking into the mix fairly early on -- you should be able to do both.
There is a lot to be learned using decent, but inexpensive harps, e.g. Suzuki Blues Master or Hohner MS series. I'd say invest in at least one good quality harp, e.g. Hohner MB Deluxe or Crossover or Suzuki Manji, or Seydel Session Steel so you know what those are like. Learn to gap your harps for better performance. Custom harps can wait until you have the breath control and techniques to really make use of them. If you must buy amps and mics and other gear there is plenty of good advice here and elsewhere, just try not to get too wrapped up in the gear before you can make good use of it. Work on your own tone.
Finally, be patient with yourself. There have been a handful of new players on MBH who have gotten pretty good in one year, but as someone who has been on this forum since its early days, most of the people who where beginners then and who have stuck with it have taken a about three years or more to get into solid intermediate/advanced intermediate territory.
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MrVerylongusername
2260 posts
Feb 29, 2012
10:21 AM
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I'd have saved a lot of money on amps.
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eharp
1738 posts
Feb 29, 2012
11:06 AM
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i would have learned to play tongue blocking.
i would have spent time learning some theory.
i would have been more patient in buying an amp and mic.
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Kingley
1824 posts
Feb 29, 2012
11:20 AM
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Back when I started there was no internet. If I was starting again or knew someone who was. My advice would be: Join www.bluesharmonica.com and study every single lesson from the beginning. Watch every single video on there. Paying special attention to the interviews. Listen to everything those interviewed have to say.
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toddlgreene
3569 posts
Feb 29, 2012
11:26 AM
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@the_ATL-drop me a line(my email addy is in my profile name, just click on it). I work in downtown NO-maybe we can meet for lunch, and I'll bring some harps if so and maybe show you a thing or two. Tonight is a great jam at the Deck Bar, with Oscar and the BluesCats-very harp-friendly. If you go, tell Oscar I sent you.
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Todd L. Greene
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HarpNinja
2237 posts
Feb 29, 2012
11:32 AM
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I would have started playing much earlier in life (after learning guitar, lol). I was 22 when I bought my first harp. I was fortunate in that it was the start of the Internet age and I was able to save a lot of time and understand a lot more about what I was doing by having so much information available.
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Mike
VHT Special 6 Mods
Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas - When it needs to come from the soul...
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Joe_L
1761 posts
Feb 29, 2012
12:01 PM
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This is easy.
First, I would have talked to more of the masters when I lived in Chicago. I learned a lot from many of great players. I wish I had taken the time to get to know the people.
Second, I wouldn't have quit playing for a number of years only to come back to it much later in life.
Finally, I would have started singing much earlier.
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The Blues Photo Gallery
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MP
2055 posts
Feb 29, 2012
12:06 PM
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learn ukulele instead.
i could gig in waikiki and play weddings and baby luaus and hardly lift a finger to find gigs.
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MP
doctor of semiotics and reed replacement.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
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TheATL
3 posts
Feb 29, 2012
12:06 PM
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@toddlgreene, I do not see an email address in your profile. it would be great to get together. I should be clear around 5:00 PM. email me at harp a t gilmer dot tv
Thanks very much for the offer.
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Honkin On Bobo
988 posts
Feb 29, 2012
12:21 PM
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"learn ukulele instead."
Ha, reminds me of an interview I once read (or watched) with the late great Who drummer Keith Moon who, never one to take himself too seriously, when asked about tips on learning how to play the drums said, "learn guitar".
Note: before anyone piles on about the benefits of how knowing what the other instruments are doing can only help you as a musician....in context, it was clear Moon was having some fun with the interviewer.
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bloozefish
11 posts
Feb 29, 2012
12:31 PM
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What jbone said. Learn TB earlier, found an experienced harp player to give me advice (I was the only blues harp player I knew for quite awhile.) Learned to tweak harps. Back in my early days, you could tell a good harp player because he would soak his MBs before playing.
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toddlgreene
3570 posts
Feb 29, 2012
12:44 PM
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Good thing this isn't a reading comprehension test website;-)
from the bottom of my profile paragraph:
crescentcityharmonicaclub at gmail dot com
I'll drop you a line.
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Todd L. Greene
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Jehosaphat
184 posts
Feb 29, 2012
1:16 PM
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Great thread.
1)Iwouldn't of started out on the cheapest harmonica in the shop.that is a really false economy.
2) I wouldn't try to start out by playing blues.I would learn my way around the Harp by learning 'tunes'first.Then move onto blues.
3)I would learn to play those tunes tongue blocking.
4)I would definitely try to practise regularly.
5)and i would spend as much time learning to sing as Harp playing.
A very good Harp player once told me"if you want to play Harp ..you gotta be able to sing as well"
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nacoran
5319 posts
Feb 29, 2012
1:24 PM
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I would have learned to play and worked on singing when I was still skinny and had hair (the girls used to love my beautiful, thick, dirty-blonde hair. They used to say I looked like David Cassidy or Don Johnson. Not so much anymore. I could have been a contender! lol.
That said, the thing that I did do right, I think, was to not worry about doing things exactly right at first. I just played any old notes (heck, your harp is all in one key!). I had absolutely no expectations of trying to play a particular melody. It was all about learning how the harmonica sounded, and teaching myself the intervals between the holes. I did that for 3 months and then all of the sudden I could pick out melodies by ear. I never relied on tab. I know in the world of instant access with smart phones that's not as important as it used to be, but if I can hum a melody I can probably play it. If I can play the melody I can improvise something to play with it. I'm convinced it's because I consciously tried to approach harmonica more like the human voice, where pitch comes naturally, instead of trying to learn songs from tab.
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waltertore
2027 posts
Feb 29, 2012
1:34 PM
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absoluty nothing I would change. I followed and continue to follow my dreams and if I was to change any of it, I wouldn't be who I am today. Regrets I have none with my entire life journey. Life is great today as I type. That is all that matters. I feel bad for people that have burried, sidestepped, tried to to control their dreams, and reflect on what they wished they had done. time is something we can never buy, delay, rewind, or speed up. Life is a quick trip and regrets are very sad things. Walter
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
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3,700+ of my songs
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Last Edited by on Feb 29, 2012 1:37 PM
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lumpy wafflesquirt
537 posts
Feb 29, 2012
1:51 PM
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@~norrin_radd ditto I started about 30 years ago but only got serious in 2007. I should have started playing sooner and got serious about it sooner.
maybe not played trombone for as long although I did have some great times in a big band for 20+ years.
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"Come on Brackett let's get changed"
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Aussiesucker
1030 posts
Feb 29, 2012
1:57 PM
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Making all the mistakes, some are costly, is all part of the learning process. There are no short cuts and one size doesn't fit all.
But, on here you are in the right place to get a mix of experiences & ideas. Avoid such things like internet video instruction that promises to make you a blues harp god in a day or a week. There is lots of bad stuff out there but lots of good.
In the very early stages I would seek out a good personal instructor (face to face or on skype) as this quickly helps to avoid bad habits. I didn't until years later & guess what, lots of bad habits that are tough to unlearn.
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HARPOLDIE’S YOUTUBE
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BronzeWailer
413 posts
Feb 29, 2012
2:27 PM
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I would learn TBing, not have a 20-year-plus hiatus, start singing, learn some music theory, get a mentor/teacher.
Hindsight is nothing more than a pain in the a$$, sometimes.
Now I try not to look back on my missed opportunities, but seize every chance I can to go forward.
Good luck, TheATL!
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TheATL
4 posts
Feb 29, 2012
3:48 PM
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@BronzeWailer - very good advice. Thank you. Playing the blues is something I have wanted to do all my life. As I said, when I was in High School I was so uneducated that I thought my harp only played the "straight up" notes, but the guys who were wailing away were playing on expensive harps that hit notes that my harp just did not have.
Perhaps this is not the place for getting emotional, but I just cannot tell you guys how my heart felt the first time I got a harp to bend. From that moment on, it as if a door has opened, and I have just stepped across the threshold. It will be a long road (hopefully for the rest of my life). I am not interested in gigs, although if that happens - whatever. I am just interested in playing from the heart to make myself happy.
@Aussiesucker - you are exactly right - everyone has to make their own mistakes, and those mistakes are just the price of admission. I am not after any short cuts. Just looking for the obvious places where I can save un-learning a bunch of stuff later.
Okay - think I will go to my hotel room and see if I can figure out how to TB bend reliably. No problem - probably will have it knocked out in two or three years.
Thanks all for making me feel welcome!
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BronzeWailer
414 posts
Feb 29, 2012
5:04 PM
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Brad, I hear you on the bending breakthrough! Sounds so cool. Ya gotta love it. Keep on harpin'!
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XHarp
470 posts
Feb 29, 2012
6:29 PM
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Get good breathing habits from a vocal coach and practice them.
Learn to sing (if nothing else you can front a band as a vocalist/harp player)
Ditto to mr. so&so, keep a harp with you and follow my tag line advice. It was simple and sound advice I got from Jerry Portnoy once during an online Q&A session.
Take lessons from someone, Adam's lessons are great.
Define your own music style and stick to it.
Play like noone else is listening!!!
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"Keep it in your mouth" - XHarp
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isaacullah
1823 posts
Feb 29, 2012
9:00 PM
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#1: I would have saved money up and bought the best equipment I could have afforded from the beginning (harps, mics, amps, fx, etc.). Learning on substandard equipment held me back for a long time in the beginning.
#2: I would have used that equipment, and practised more, rather than trying out a bunch of different stuff, and not being satisfied.
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Littoral
493 posts
Mar 01, 2012
9:30 AM
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hmmm, Almost nothing realy-except singing.
I started in 1975 and had an excellent teacher.
I worked on TBing A LOT, and rhythm too.
Waited 9 years before I bought my first amp, a 57 Champ.
I guess I could have amplified sooner...?
I own 35 amps now though. :)
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bluemoose
693 posts
Mar 01, 2012
12:30 PM
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I would have skipped school in grade 9 and gone downtown with this guy from my homeroom class to hear Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee. Might have saved me 25 years.
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7LimitJI
632 posts
Mar 01, 2012
1:15 PM
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Don't think you can buy tone.
I went through a lot of amps and mics thinking I could get "that" tone.
Many years of practise later you realise, its the player,not the equipment.
Join David Barretts site. I learned how to TB from one of his books years ago. His website is where I'd go now.
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"Why don't you leave some holes when you play, and maybe some music will fall out".
"It's music,not just complicated noise".
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laurent2015
25 posts
Mar 01, 2012
5:51 PM
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Great thread, full humanity and humility and that's not
common.
I began with a chromatic harp early 70's: I attempted playing also during the night, under my covers, rehearsing what I heard from a tape recorder, trying not to make "noise".
Nobody around me gave a slightly care at music, even if sometimes I played facing patronising or indifferent people: thus not a least encouragement.
Then by chance I discovered that diatonics existed and
later could try the first bends, also by chance.
After that (end 70's) there is a huge gap, till 2009.
I have thus no real past with the harmonica, but never forgot the instrument; I can't say I should have done differently, since I've done nothing or so few till 2009.
Someone have evoked tongue-blocking: I learn and practice the technique for about 6 months, while lip-pursing was the only tech I knew: it's really worth, but far from easy, especially bends when tongueblocking.
I just wanted to say: it's never too late.
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easyreeder
220 posts
Mar 01, 2012
7:37 PM
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"...believe it or not, I just played stuff like Old Suzanna and Saints"
I learned those and more by listening to my mother sing them in the car on cross-country trips. That's a permanent memory. Never even heard of the blues until high school.
What I'd do differently would be to treat it like something that must be learned instead of waiting for an epiphany. And I'd look actively for opportunities to learn by playing with others (not jamming, learning songs), and I would ASK them to teach me what they could instead of looking on and wondering why I couldn't do it.
Playing without an amp for decades was, I think, a good thing. Acoustic guitarists aren't much interested in playing along with you if your tone sucks and/or you play too loud, so you have to learn to play delicately, which helps improve your tone.
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shanester
525 posts
Mar 01, 2012
7:44 PM
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I could say I wish I had more balls earlier or whatever, but I have come to see my path as perfect as it has been, all of it has contributed to me finding my personal musical expression in the world.
Once upon a time I didn't believe I would be standing where I azm today, now I only look forward to the future with a sense of adventure.
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Shane,
"The Possum Whisperer"
Shane's Cloud
1shanester
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Jehosaphat
186 posts
Mar 01, 2012
8:48 PM
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@easyreeder" What I'd do differently would be to treat it like something that must be learned instead of waiting for an epiphany."
YES! That was what i was trying to say but it took a lot more words.
Soon as i could bend a few notes i thought now all i need now is the right gear and i'll sound like........
Didn't want to do the work i guess.
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