after reading the thread on writers block i thought to bring up the common phenomenon of hitting a plateau in your playing where one tends to regurgitate the same old stuff.
i'll get it for months or a year and bore myself silly,but eventually move forward and have a new ballgame.
rather than talk about me, i'd like to hear what other players do when they run out of ideas and are stuck in bore yourself silly land.
suggestions?
MP doctor of semiotics and reed replacement.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
I'll study a song in depth, what really is making it tick, the notes, the phrasing the dynamics, the spirit - that usually gives me a jolt of freshness to my style of playing. Going over basic scales and chords up and down the harp seems to help my ear and minds eye stay up to date so I can Improvise on them thus creating my own style of phrasing.
Last Edited by on Mar 23, 2012 3:20 PM
Once again, not to be redundant redundant, the plan is to get a lesson from a competent professional. Several are listed on this site. He/she will evaluate your playing, point out some weak spots and give you some concrete goals to work on, dependent upon what you want to accomplish.
Also, you might not REALLY be on a plateau. I started keeping a journal on advice from Ronnie Shellist. When I think I'm not making progress, I look back on things I couldn't do a year ago and now have mastered.
As I posted last week, I recently had a lesson with Todd Parrott. He evaluated me. We talked at length, and identified some things for me to work on. Now when I practice in the evening, it's a more structured and goal-oriented process rather than just practicing the stuff I pretty much already know.
I'm not a wealthy man, otherwise I'd do it a lot more often.
I prefer a scaffolding analogy though, where you climb the ladder of enthusiasm and then walk the plank of endurance.
Only to climb another ladder etc.,
A long time ago, there was no inspiration except recordings, but now we have youtube, and so I would say to you MP click the mouse and see what makes you climb that next ladder..
A real bummer. The sad part is that I not sure I´m moving forward anymore coming, well, "down" (?) from the plateau -- but anyway it starts to feel fun again to play. But as you say, it can be years. Only thing I´ve learnt is, don´t stop playing (at least not for any longer period). Since I´m boring myself with my playing it may be a good idea to play boring things: scales and stuff. I think just about the only interesting thing Eric Clapton says in his autobiography is that no matter what, how copious amounts of drugs and booze he ingested, he never stopped playing. He kept practising on that guitar. /Martin
It's not quite a plateau issue, but when I'm just don't feel like playing (sore lips, asthma, or just plain played out) but I still feel like I should be doing something harmonica related I find other ways to amuse myself. I scan eBay for old art deco harmonicas and take screen captures of the better ones. (Before my old hard drive crashed I had quite a collection.) I read harmonica history. YouTube is great. Listening to music is great. Sometimes I get burned out on that.
As for trying to get past the plateau, I often find that taking a few days off resets the brain for a new round of learning.
@Mark you are a great harpmechanic are you getting a lot of work there????going to HCH 2012 wish you could come....sharing my cabin @walldoxey with a harp player from isreal.....as somebody keeps saying...why cant we all get along????well we can....peace and joy from oak ridge tennessee
Ruts can really mess with you. My strategy is to acknowledge and accept the rut, but not be bothered. You have to pretend its not there. Know why? 1. Because you often only THINK you're in a rut, but nobody else can tell. 2 Ruts are your brain's way of reinforcing stuff before it makes the connections for the next jump up. It's all part of the process, so it's easier to embrace than stress over. ---------- 12gagedan's YouTube Channel
i change positions on a given song, on a lot of songs, just to challenge myself some. i have yet to learn 12th or much about 5th but working between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd has opened up a lot of new ways to address the same old stuff. i also try and branch out into music have not played much of.
the other thing i sometimes do is, just put the harps down for a while and let my mind catch up with my body on stuff. when i get back to harp after a break is when i have a-HA moments. ---------- http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
Thanks guys! all good and some great responses. though i'm not in a rut or stuck on a plateau right now it happens sometimes. these things make me curious.
paticularly like dans' post where he delves into the brain. ". Because you often only THINK you're in a rut, but nobody else can tell. 2 Ruts are your brain's way of reinforcing stuff before it makes the connections for the next jump up. It's all part of the process, so it's easier to embrace than stress over."
good stuff.
ok, here's what i do. i select several notes at random. i do not think or plan. it doesn't matter if one is repeated as an octave.( actually, the harp is chock full of octaves). i mix them up in as many variations as i can think of. i change the values, as in 'well, this will be an 8th this will be a 1/2', vibrato here, split octave there, OB etc. pretty soon i've strung together an unplayable monster. then i set about taming the beast. this is time consuming so i make sure i'm not needed for a long time.
i make sure i am as far away from people as possible so as not to hurt or punish innocents.
cheers, mark ----------
MP doctor of semiotics and reed replacement.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
Last Edited by on Mar 24, 2012 11:15 AM
