Eyeball_Kid
1 post
Nov 09, 2013
2:37 AM
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Hey, I'm Manuel from Germany and I have no idea what to do with this thing in my mouth!
So, here's the problem: I can do a pretty acceptable amount of playing-techniques. I can reach all the bending notes and they even sound good and I can overblow at least the 5th and 6th hole and sometimes, when i'm lucky even the 4th. I know it's pretty irrelevant for playing the blues but when I start doing something I want to do it well.
So, when I'm practicing there are always just a few licks I always get to play, if I want it or not, it just happens. And I always sound the same, no matter what I do. I also didn't find a band yet with which I could practice. And when I try to play over backing tracks it always sounds awful because I always play the wrong notes.
Now I tried to play some jazz-standarts like summertime or Georgia on my mind to improve my melodic feeling, but it's really not the thing I want to do, it kinda bores me, I already hated it when I started playing the Guitar, I never really practiced those songs.
I think playing the harp shouldn't be boring but I don't know what to do now to play fluently and not always get into playing these few licks I always play.
So... help?
What did you do, when you were on that level? How did you get good after you thought you were the worst?
Thanks for help!
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Frank
3210 posts
Nov 09, 2013
3:30 AM
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A great exercise is to spend as much time as it takes in order to be able to play an entire song on one hole of the harmonica,
Start with the 1 hole, play an entire song with the notes available on that hole only. Then move to the next hole and do the same thing...
By the time you get to th 10 th hole - you may still think you're the worst, but that's a whole other self-help book that I'm not prepared to address presently
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Eyeball_Kid
2 posts
Nov 09, 2013
4:44 AM
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I heared about this but I never actually tried it. Thanks, I will spend my time with this.
Another thing I always wonder is which notes shouldn't I play over which chord. There are always notes that don't sound right but in other contexts they do.
I know, the answer to all of this is just practicing a lot, but I don't really know how. I play the harmonica for about 3 years now (that's when I found out what "cross harp" is, so the first year doesn't count) and i practiced a lot but still i don't feel like i could participate in a real session.
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Frank
3214 posts
Nov 09, 2013
5:05 AM
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More unorthodoxy...Practice playing "only" the notes that clash or aren't supposed to sound right against the chord/s your playing - the results will be stunning :)
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Eyeball_Kid
6 posts
Nov 15, 2013
2:37 AM
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Hey, Thanks, I liked that one hole over a whole song thing. You learn how to get more out of the single holes. I thought this was just do practice bends but it kind of helps getting more confident with the harp. I'll do that more often from now on.
But there was another thing I never new that opened my eyes. It's such an obvious thing that I'm a bit ashamed I never thought of it: You can play in 3rd position over the V-chord in 2nd position: WHY DID NOONE TELL ME THAT??? I always got stuck on the 1 and 4 draw when it came to the dominant chord. Now i even play the 6 draw, I never had the courage to go that far up on the harmonica, I don't know why but it always sounded wrong. Now the more i get into 3rd position the more it helps me to play in 2nd position.
(Sorry if my english is a bit, how do you say, broken. I'm german and I don't know if i do everything correctly, so just please don't think I'm stupid ;) )
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SuperBee
1531 posts
Nov 15, 2013
3:24 AM
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Manuel, your English is great.
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JInx
637 posts
Nov 15, 2013
4:01 AM
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how do i delete a video? i got a bunghole on the eyeball's post by accident
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Frank
3280 posts
Nov 15, 2013
4:10 AM
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Give me your password, I'll do it for you and I will even fill your water glass too :)
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SuperBee
1532 posts
Nov 15, 2013
4:17 AM
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Should be a little box alongside your post. Tick it then it will ask if you wanna delete
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JInx
638 posts
Nov 15, 2013
4:18 AM
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you sure is up early
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Sun, sun, sun
Burn, burn, burn
Soon, soon, soon
Moon, moon, moon
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Eyeball_Kid
8 posts
Nov 15, 2013
4:29 AM
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And I was wondering what you wanted to tell me...
Here in Austria it's 1:30 PM now, not so early for me ;)
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MindTheGap
52 posts
Nov 15, 2013
8:18 AM
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EK - From one learner to another...
If you want to get in touch with what notes to play over what chords, I would recommend the David Barrett books 'Exploring 2nd Position' etc. as he goes over this in surgical detail. You can then decode those great-sounding riffs you hear.
If you are nervous about going into the top octave, try learning the pentatonic scale. It's the scale where you can't go wrong, and handy for transversing the instrument.
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