Bottom line - getting good at "PLAY"ing the harmonica is "WORK"ing the harmonica...
Some players can confuse the two...
Example = The average person picks up the harp and excitingly declares " hey, I'm going to (play) the harmonica"...As if it's going to be EASY - like jumping into a sandbox with a bunch of toys and pretending your a heavy machinery operator.
The public goes to watch a performer "play the harmonica" Guess what > it's WORK...Playing the harmonica is NOT easy!!!
In all reality the audience are the ones in (play mode) while the musicians are [WORKING]...
The best players make it >>>seem<<< (effortless)!!!!
That is an *illusion*...
What they are doing DOES :take effort: - and a lot of it!
IT is actually #hard work# to "truly play" the harmonica!
Not digging a hole, construction type hard work - BUT WORK just the same...
So, the morel to the story is -- if you don't like your job, (WORKING THE HARMONICA) your not going to want to spend much time learning the trade of how to play it...
Practicing only while driving is ok if you are not that serious about harmonica, as you can not put your full attention into what you are doing while behind the wheel.
If you are committed to becoming a great player, you need 100% of your intent involved, for at least 5 min/day (or longer). ---------- The Iceman
playing with yourself is playing with yourself. im sorry i quit drinking the magic isnt there. i need at least one guitar to bump off of and foot drums and snapping my fingers dont cut it. i have absolutely no ideas alone. im going back to the open mics to find some ducks to sit in with.
The magic of inspiration. I understand perfectly what billy is talking about. Personally, I play better when I play with other musicians because i come up with things to play that i would never have thought of sitting around practicing by myself.
I believe the "magic" is "where do you come up with those them crazy idears?".
Depending on how you have chosen to learn an instrument and/or the teacher you have, you may find yourself on a path of memorizing other's "crazy idears" or endlessly looking for another "lick" or "riff" instead of starting to understand where these "crazy idears" actually originate.
Here is a great teaching tool I've used to help students become self creating...
Get seven 3X5 note cards. On each card, write with magic marker in large symbols each HNA (hole, number, arrow harmonica tab) for the blues scale including the octave up of the tonic.
Shuffle the cards and then deal them out in a row face up. It will create a musical line, in this case determined by the God of Chance.
Play what you see. In order to create a line that can be used over blues changes, you will have to alter the timing of the notes (don't just play them in a sterile equal sense, but linger over one note, find a pause, play a few in successions, etc). Here is where you add your input to the God of Chance note choice.
No inspiration yet? Try playing the sequence starting at the other end back towards the beginning.
No inspiration yet? Simply shuffle and deal'em out again.
This helps teach an understanding of what a "scale" represents (note choices) and how ideas are born from within these choices.
To learn understanding of the process moves you towards self creation rather than just memorizing other peoples self creations. ---------- The Iceman
Last Edited by on May 13, 2012 8:57 AM
ice that makes absolutely no sense to me, reading is rules when you have rules youre throwing feel right out the window and thinking inside the box. i dont want to think at all. elegua isnt a god of chance shagbata is, shagbata brings life or death. elegua gives tricks or treats. to put your mind blank between the earth and the universe and let these devils speak through you. if you can remember the 3 songs you played at a jam youre a player not a performer. a performer never remembers what they played sang danced did how they stood moved what this guy did that guy etc you feel it. and when you snap out of your trance you remember nothing. god i hate rules and disiplines why beat yourself up? why be on stage thinking ME ME ME, with your charts and diagrams? loosen up dont sell your soul, throw it away willingly. what good is it to be the richest man in the graveyard? if i did a solo thing or one man band its saying im an asshole that cant get along with anyone. i used to practice at open mics 3 times a week id like to get back to that without waiting in line for the 13 year old buddy guy impersonator and the silver mullet band to let me up at last call when all the strippers split so i can have a harp fight with 3 other harp players. pftttttt......
Last Edited by on May 13, 2012 9:04 AM
This exercise is a beginners understanding into creating their own ideas. Once the concept is grasped, you leave this exercise behind and are one step closer to your own creations.
In my years of studying teaching materials, attending seminars given by musicians, etc, there is a real lacking in how to create from within (aside from the very entertaining and useful seminars given by Kenny Werner when he was promoting his Effortless Mastery concept).
Within this vacuum I chose to devote my efforts towards creating tools to help students understand the process - time has proven that my concepts work quite well with those that are open to exploration.
Granted, not everyone is willing to travel this particular path. ---------- The Iceman
Guess that performer will never learn anything and just be stuck with little ability, never able to channel everything the gods give him.
Billy man, I wish for you to get over this frustration and find some fun in the whole music thing! Why don't you just sit down and play some blues dude. Might inspire you!
@billy: What Iceman is recommending makes perfect sense to me. It trains a player to extemporize--be able to play freely but with musical competence in response to what other musicians are playing in an ensemble setting.
Developing the TECHNIQUE to be able to play what one feels on the spot interactively with other musicians during a live performance is what enables you to be spontaneous with musical competence. It's pretty far removed from regurgitation like, say, learning to play "Juke" note-for note or memorizing some SBW solo.
Correct - Blues music has "improvisation" at it's core...To create thoughtful music on the spot is at the heart of playing the blues - that's the magic, having something to say spontaneously that is poignant! And by practicing to understanding the notes on the harp, even fundamentally- will help a player to start finding their own story to tell on it...
I spent the last week studying with Carlos Del Junco. He gave us a "Notes on Practicing" handout -- it's too long to type, but here are some of the headings:
Make music when practicing Play everything, even scales and exercises as musically as possible.
Practice to your weaknesses Concentrate on things you don't play well.
Speed comes from accuracy Play your lick or whatever slowly at first; only speed up as much as you can still play accurately.
Transcribe "The answers to all your questions are in your living room," i.e., in your CD collection.
Playalong with songs you like or backing tracks.
Keep a notebook of practice ideas, things you want to learn.
Transcribe "The answers to all your questions are in your living room," i.e., in your CD collection.
Playing a harmonica instrumental note for note "that can be quite difficult for many to do" anyway - playing it note for note will strengthen you as a player in many ways, simply because if done accurately it is a "learning experience" that can be transferred to other areas of your harp playing.
The magic comes when you "UNDERSTAND" why the notes in that instrumental were chosen and used in that song!!! That knowledge instantly and powerfully can be transferred to empower your own "improvisational skills"
Learning solos or instrumentals note for note from recordings may be good exercise, but it does not teach a player how to extemporize live, on the spot, playing with other musicians.
Hvyj- But it does teach you technique and also forces you into a discipline. Without that,you can't find you own voice-or at least one other people want to hear. :<)
The magic comes when you "UNDERSTAND" why the notes in that instrumental were chosen and used in that song!!! That knowledge instantly and powerfully can be transferred to empower your own "improvisational skills"
I should of added > and having that skill of "understanding" is crucial for enhancing your ability to add interesting solos and harp parts while interacting live with other musicians.
I'm not saying transcribing is a BAD thing. It just won't teach you how to extemporize when you have to solo or improvise in a live performance situation.
I like to play, so when I'm not gigging, if I have time, I'll hit jams. At jams, a very common phenomenon is a harp player who does ok when he can play memorized parts to a familiar tune, but when he stays up and some musicians who can really play take off improving on a fast tempo shuffle, that same harp player can't go with the flow even though the chord changes are simple. Typically, that type of player will try to force fit whatever memorized licks he's learned over whatever is being played instead of playing stuff that fits. Not much fun to listen to, but it happens a lot. Being able to interact with the music going on around you is not a skill that is optimally learned from transcribing.
Transcribing will certainly develop one's ear and, depending on what is being transcribed, may also develop technique. I'm not saying it's a bad idea. But i know quite a few players who transcribe very well, but can't solo worth a shit. Different skill sets are involved.
Transcribing + Understanding what you learned = the springboard to improvisation...
ex: ( understanding the theory behind what you transcribed) will help give your improvising the wings needed to soar in live situations.
For with that knowledge a player can then simply improvise off of whatever scale is needed for the song at hand.
Players who understand what they transcribe are notably the best improvisers on their instruments too, whether playing live with a full band or in a duo or solo...
Last Edited by on May 13, 2012 3:10 PM
@Frank: In the abstract, yeah, sure. In an actual live performance situation, you've got to interact with what the other musicians are doing IN THE MOMENT, being able to produce coherent musical statements using the appropriate scales/arpeggios at proper meter and tempo with appropriate dynamics and artistic/emotional content and expression and without overplaying. If transcribing has equipped you to do that extemporaneously with consistency in actual live performance situations you are an extremely talented cat. For some of us, sitting around copying recordings isn't sufficient to get us there.
Scales are only part of the equation. Note section in relation to chords is also a big part of it. For example, when you transcribe you have something that was played to a static set of chords. what if the band uses a different progression from something you've worked on transcribing? Or, say, the band does an original reggae arrangement of "Summertime"? It's not clear to me that transcription practice, by itself, optimally equips a player to deal with situations like that.
I'm not saying transcription is a bad idea. It just only takes you so far.
Last Edited by on May 13, 2012 3:49 PM
The learned note by note solo, once obtained (memorized) should be the starting point in the process (even though leading up to this starting point is, for most, a long and winding road), not the goal.
There is the "String of Pearls" approach: solo is learned one note at a time, tentatively strung like individual pearls onto a nylon line. Eventually the String is complete and the "stringer" goes out proudly to show others this beautiful necklace. He hits the jam session, calls the tune from which the solo is lifted, and then proceeds, one pearl at a time, to display the necklace. However, very often the necklace breaks in the middle of the solo, scattering pearls all over the floor. What to do?
This is a visual of someone who forgets where he is or what comes next in the middle of that memorized solo. (Believe me, I've been there early on in my evolution as a player, and it is not a fun place to reside).
What if once the string of pearls is constructed, you start to go over and over this necklace, eventually tying a tiny knot on either side of each pearl before trotting it out for all to see. In this case, if there is a break, maybe one pearl will roll across the floor, but everything else will remain intact.
This scenario is when that memorized note for note solo is played so many times that you don't depend on knowing what note follows the next, but start to get a larger overview of the whole process, including seeing these notes as coming out of a scale or a chord, seeing the arc of a musical line and understanding it inside and out. You don't use your brain in quite the same way as when it is trying to remember note to note. Your brain is free to start to absorb the whole conceptual angle that gave birth to the solo.
Now, perhaps, you will start to choose a different direction or note here or there as you play through the solo without freaking out that the whole string will collapse in a heap at your feet.
Most transcribers stop just short of breaking through the conceptual membrane. ---------- The Iceman
You've got to keep your ego at the door...The KISS method works well when interacting with others players in real time...
If you have done your homework and understand the fundamentals of improvisation, then anything thrown at you in a live blues scenario will be welcomed to groove to.
Frank: It would be very instructional if you would be so generous as to lay out the fundamentals of improvisation for us. It would be so enormously helpful if you would take a few minutes to do that.
You see, I've been playing live for over 30 years, and, unlike you, when playing live, I still get hit with stuff that throws me off. So if you can lay out the fundamentals of improv for us, that would be a big help to my development, and I'd really appreciate it.
here is one for everyone to listen to. Just me and my harp, that was inspired by this thread. Walter do it your way I'll do mine
---------- 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Remember, you don't have to play every song that comes down the pike "that's the ego callin" - if it ain't your cup of tea, sit it out...No need to bastardize the instrument! Just like you can choose your friends, a player can choose to play what brings them joy, Keep it simple.
I think part of learning to improvise is a willingness to fall flat on your face. Then you have to be willing to objectively look at why it didn't work and figure out a way to make it work. A lot of harpers are terrified of making mistakes(and learning from them).
play blues? yes ive been doing that. it used to be my secret thing when everyone thought boston was the best band on the face of the planet. then came the blues bros album. and it just became a farce like reggae used to be revolutionary and now is just cruise ship music.i played on the road again with the tanpura tuned DaaD, G harp. voice was ok no coughing. the only thing i caught was Practice to your weaknesses Concentrate on things you don't play well. so i should focus on this one song? even if i play it in D not E and im not using a specially tuned harmonica like blind al wilson? i should keep trying to play bing crosby temptation on the koch harmonica? i had a band we did out go the lights a mix of two versions we played the little walter version a few time i switched around some lyrics but we did it how we did it i did the solo however my demons instructed me to. we did my babe as a country western and i really liked doing sweet black angel to a crowd of rowdy rednecks usually uttering some drunken possesed diatribe while playing and singing invisbly lying like a corpse beneath the pool table about how if i ever had to sing stormy monday or redhouse again i would shit my pants and how sex with white women was the worst than sobriety because they wont have sex in the mornings. yeah i always like that tune but we never did anything note for note or off the record or even did the same song the same way twice. i dont even speak to the audience they make me want to puke what uninteresting people they are with no imaginations and easily offended by songs like kill for peace. if youre a soloist or a one man band your a jackoff. your nothing without your girlfriends and your gang. yeah your nothing alone no matter how big your brain is. i dont know i guess real blues is dead and blues is nothing more than an old hat and sun glasses. i should have drank myself to death on mothers day 1995 instead of quitting where theres sobriety there is no happiness. in those days people will envy the dead.
Beyond the fact that transcribing is likely a long but interesting work in musical theory, I don't understand why we should do that in place of playing by ear. I find that indirectly Iceman backs this basic method up, since during the hours you work (by ear) you're never disconnected, nor from the tune's harp nor from the musical background; at the end of the transcription on the contrary, you face the notes and then you learn to play. Now improvising with a band is certainly the ultimate practice, but gigging or jamming might not be the goal of some real musicians (who write themselves AND have their used band(s)or musicians. This beeing said I completely agree with Frank about understanding why this tune is good, this one mundane and this other outstanding or even made by a genius -I don't speak about listening, but well about writing. I am personnaly far from understanding and I've no friend musicologist.
Walter, you're are a kind of illustration of previous lines, your tune's nice and well inspired. Could I order you some tune for my tax office, could be titled "you remind as you want, I don't pay"?
Last Edited by on May 13, 2012 6:39 PM
Ah OK! I'm not sure that french forums (where I come from) have the same definition...actually in "transcribe" there is "scribe" which doesn't mean "ear" ! Thanks for enlighting.
@Frank: "Just like you can choose your friends, a player can choose to play what brings them joy, Keep it simple."
Well, the problem with that approach is if you only play tunes you like and are comfortable with, it really cuts down on the gigs you can do. To work, you need to be able to handle a wider range of material with at least a passable level of competence which often requires getting out of one's comfort zone--but inevitably, I learn when I've had to do that. It's a growth thing.
Example: i had to learn to play 1 and 2 chord Delta blues material in my current duo. Some of that stuff was hard to fit harp to and i was uncomfortable until i finally figured out that a lot of it uses minor pentatonic scale instead of blues scale. Then, things started to come together and started to work pretty well. A growth/learning experience, but not without some growing pains along the way. Couldn't do it by transcribing because in its original form, most of that material is just guitar without harp. Fortunately, i was strong enough on the other material to carry it as i worked out what to do on some of the Delta stuff. Live and learn.
Last Edited by on May 13, 2012 7:48 PM
Hvyj: Why couldn't you transcribe the guitar? Does he use different notes? If you had spent some time transcribing harp, your ear might be more developed to hear what other instruments are doing. I love your interest in theory and wished others shared it, but I believe transcribing is very valuable and will help you learn much about improvisation. Why don't you transcribe 100 songs and then make up your mind from a place of personal knowledge? I know 100 songs may sound like a lot, but once you get over the hump of learning how to do it, it goes quickly.
Iceman wrote: "Practicing only while driving is ok if you are not that serious about harmonica, as you can not put your full attention into what you are doing while behind the wheel."
One could just as easily question the seriousness of another who only devotes 5-min/day to practice.
You know, this sort of "it works for me, so it's a rule/fact" type of thing is dangerous. Perhaps, different people have different aptitudes towards multi-tasking. Maybe there's different learning styles, too?
Ever drive as a passenger with a person who just can't help but turn to look at you when talking, while driving? They drive me nuts. Hey buddy, I can hear you. You're two feet away. Keep your friggin eyes on the road. In that case, I suppose I'd want to agree with Iceman.
In general though, the harmonica is blind, and it does not require lips to drive a car, so if one cannot multi-task, well them's the breaks. We're all different. ---------- 12gagedan's YouTube Channel
12gagedan, I think the point about the 5 minute practice is that it gets you into a routine where you practice regularly, which usually gets you practicing a lot more than 5 minutes. As for practicing while you are driving, there are two parts to the practice equation, quality of practice and quantity of practice. You multiply them together and you get your output. Ideally everyone could practice under perfect conditions every minute of every day. I'm not sure how to weight those halves of the equation. In another thread I said I'm not going to harp on distracted driving again. I'll just quote Albert.
“Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.” -Albert Einstein. :)
Not because there is anything wrong with playing harmonica distracted, but I worry about driving distracted. On the bright side, Google has been testing a fleet of self-driving cars.
@timeistight and Laurent2015: I think that many people have a different definition of the word transcribe. I have always thought that it involved some sort of 'scribing' or writing down. How about this definition from an online dictionary:
tran·scribe (trn-skrb) tr.v. tran·scribed, tran·scrib·ing, tran·scribes 1. To make a full written or typewritten copy of (dictated material, for example). 2. Computer Science To transfer (information) from one recording and storing system to another. 3. Music a. To adapt or arrange (a composition) for a voice or instrument other than the original. b. To translate (a composition) from one notational system to another. c. To reduce (live or recorded music) to notation.
Setting a certain goal can be helpful when practicing the harmonica.
And if possible leaving a time frame for accomplishing it out of the equation can also helpful...
If there is something you are really excited about learning - zero in on that daily, with no expectations other then knowing that if you persevere the results you desire will be achieved eventually!
Most things learnt on the harmonica, can't be rushed - concentrate, remain focused and try not to sabotage your progress by giving up to soon.
----------I'm such a busy bloke what with kids, corporate wife, a couple of bands and extra interests like surfing and fishing....jeeeez! There's never enough hours in the day! But I still find (or MAKE) time to practice EVERYDAY, yes...EVERYDAY!!! Even if it is just five friggin' minutes! One of Rubes's bands, DadsinSpace-MySpace Old Man Rubes at Reverbnation
Last Edited by on May 14, 2012 4:40 AM
Hard to disagree w/ Michael Rubin. But the musical and non-musical demands on my time right now don't allow me to sit around transcribing 100 songs. No doubt that would be wonderful training for developing a better ear.
I do find it disturbing that I could not more readily pick up what was going on on the minor pentatonic Delta stuff. But I got there eventually. We all have our limitations.
how good do you want to get? Are you resolute in your commitment,and your desire to learn the finer points? (bending, blocking, turn arounds, solo's, comping, etc etc.) ...nothing is gonna happen over night. Or even in a few years... When you hear pro's like Kim and Charlie, they have spent their whole lives playing and learning things we can barely imagine doing. You might want to tone down your expectations. And leave the limelite for the pro's....for a little while. Rubes has a good approach. I'm never too busy for a couple moments of practice.. I carry one (almost) all the time. And when I do...I focus on the subtle details. Stairwells, elevators, in the car, or anywhere you can get away with it. Play play play play...and you will find yourself doing things you never imagined. It's THAT easy!(NOT) But it will take a lifetime...what else are you doing with those few moments out of the day? Too bad it doesn't pay, huh?
I don't anymore. I just play songs to have fun almost every day. I refine technique while working on harps. That has REALLY helped a lot as I am pretty much always trying to play something hard like 4ob, 5ob, 6ob arpeggios on a G harp, or bending overdraws to pitch on an E or something.
I'll wood shed the next week or two, but that will be 99% practicing solo arrangements, which is hard work for me in all areas OTHER than harmonica - I suck at playing hand percussion, for example. I don't really practice taking solos when doing that. I just do whatever seems fun and rewarding.
Practice feels like work, and I work enough in other areas to just try and have fun. If I get frustrated, I just stop.
I spend a good deal of time listening to music and woodshedding theory - like what harp and position would be cool in a tune - but I know where all the notes are and enough theory to just play...maybe not awesomely, but in nearing my 10th year of playing, I think I've developed a bit of a voice, and can generally play what I want to play.
When confronted with something new, I again, usually feel I have enough background to figure things out as needed. I am nowhere near as good as a lot of people on this board, but I know if you put me in an improv situation that was rock, blues, country, etc, I'd do just fine. I'd suck at following jazz progressions unless I looked at it ahead of time and figured out the changes. There is a lot I can learn, but I just don't always find it useful.
I've never been asked to play a song note for note, so I just don't put much stock into doing that. If I hear something cool I want to learn, I take a couple of moments to learn the riff, but that isn't something I intentionally sit down and practice.
Here is an improvisational tune during a practice session. I practiced 2 more minutes after that and I was good for day...Iceman would be proud of me :)
I get more or less 1 hour of practice time daily. This is not including the 15mins-1hr of jamming time along with my iPod during commutes throughout the day which I don't really consider quality practice.
I mostly practice things presented to me from my teacher who I talk with on Skype 1v1. I figure he knows better then any random video lesson on the internet where I'm at, where I want to be, and how I can best get there. Though, when I do have more then an hour I do go back to Adam's youtube videos or some of Jason's more easily consumable stuff, or some of the so-so harmonica books filled with tab I got at one point or another. I would hope an hour a day of stuff from a 1v1 lessons with a great teacher would get me where I wanna go faster then no teacher and a few minutes a day. If things do start to develop who knows maybe I would switch to part-time work and practice more hours a day.
Interesting stuff here. One or two people above have mentioned walking. I do 99% of my woodshedding while walking to and from my work, about a half hour each way. I highly recommend it. It builds in the fundamentals of breathing and rhythm, and is much less hazardous than playing while driving. If you can build a half hour walk into your routine every day, that alone is good for you. Add some harp practice to that ... heaven. For me it even makes a walk in the rain enjoyable. ----------
Driving while under the influence of playing blues harp. My first vid.post here ... 5 am this morning on the roads ... behind the wheel and too early to do anything useful, but playing some classics.
Is this practise? No, not for me ... this is just playing because it's fun to play, to kill some time instead of listening to the radio/CD. It's also about not beeing able to keep my hands of the damn harp. Still, I gain muscle mileage, helping my mind detach from my plying and letting in some soul. Practising on the other hand for me is all about detecting and working my weak spots, ... determined ... swearing ... sweat ... 100% ... focus ... discipline, repeating, repeating ...over and over ... BUT I only practise for short periods ... like 20 - 30 minutes, max. Why? Because I found it most effective. Longer periods just don't do the job for me. Also, I find it more important to Play ... with joy, keeping my playing in context, harmony, in the groove from start to stop, keeping it all glued together, to fill playing with some heart and soul, to ride on a talking tone ... and to enjoy. Practising is not fun, it's work and discipline. Playing is joyous and just keeps going ... and flowin'
mr so&so, I like to play harp when I'm walking too. I noticed a while ago that when I took walks I'd get swelling in my hands. At first I was worried. I Googled it and talked to my doctor. Apparently it's not all that uncommon or that serious. It's the pendulum motion of swinging your arms. It pushes the blood out into your hands faster than it comes back up and you get a little swelling. It usually takes a while, but it gets better once you stop (it seems to be worse in the cold- I wonder if maybe that has something to do with the blood vessels near your skin shutting down to keep you warm). Anyway, they advice people to walk or run with there arms in an elevated position if they get this problem. It suddenly occurred to me that I'd seen a fair number of people doing this, but they all looked really silly doing it.
Enter the harmonica! I can play the harmonica and that keeps my hands in an elevated position so I don't get the problem, and I can still look cool (or at least as cool as any big fat guy sweating while he walks.) I need to get in better shape. I can play harmonica fine on the flat and downhill parts, but I get kind of out of breath going up a hill.
