Frank
4118 posts
Apr 04, 2014
6:21 PM
|
I answered this, but it was eaten and I forget what I wrote - so hopefully it will reappear eventually ")
|
CarlA
478 posts
Apr 04, 2014
7:06 PM
|
Whatever works best for you!
|
DukeBerryman
318 posts
Apr 04, 2014
8:45 PM
|
I'd pick out 5-6 songs to play along to, plus a few more just to listen to and think about how I would play along. A mix of songs I'm used to, plus whatever new song I'm trying to crack.
|
harpletunnel
64 posts
Apr 04, 2014
11:50 PM
|
5 min. on metronome with a scale - 10 min. on metronome with new 12 bar riff (stolen from someone famous of course) 15 min. working on new technic (overblows, bending, tongue switching etc.) 10 min. working on that song you never finished. 20 min. play to some jam tracks. For me it is sometimes all at once but most of the time it is in pieces through out the day. Some times the one hour is spent only on one thing. I played 3 hours today so no guilt spending time here :-D
----------
keep it in your mouth
|
Mirco
152 posts
Apr 05, 2014
5:18 PM
|
Frank is right. It depends on the player's current development, but I think the question is about our individual best hour.
For me:
5 minutes scales
5 minutes technique practice (currently pulls)
5 minutes vibrato practice (Adam's exercise from the Tone clinic)
30 minutes song study (currently "Gary's Blues" from David Barrett's bluesharmonica.com)
15 minutes accompaniment
Last Edited by Mirco on Apr 05, 2014 5:19 PM
|
XHarp
550 posts
Apr 05, 2014
6:10 PM
|
Practice routine - 1 hour
Start with scale warm up, 10 minutes
Play a few tunes I know to get confident 10 minutes
Learn a new tune, 20 minutes
Play a few tunes I know 10 minutes.
Noodle and have fun, for as long as it takes.
I guess that doesn't lock in an hour but it sure is fun ;-)
----------
"Keep it in your mouth" - XHarp
Last Edited by XHarp on Apr 05, 2014 6:11 PM
|
Frank
4127 posts
Apr 06, 2014
3:51 AM
|
Focused intensity and understanding of concepts is more important then concerning ones self with a time limit - "even if there is one"... Thorough concentration on the matter at hand is the key to lasting improvement. Repetition is needed - but done mindlessly with out comprehending what, why,or how your doing something- will manifest mostly superficial results. So, try to think more about the quality of your practice then the amount of time spent doing it. :)
|
rockmonkeyguitars
51 posts
Apr 06, 2014
4:13 AM
|
"5 minutes scales
5 minutes technique practice...
5 minutes vibrato practice (Adam's exercise from the Tone clinic)
30 minutes song study...
15 minutes accompaniment"
That pretty much what I do too except I don't currently practice vibrato and that extra 5 minutes goes to modes.
|
boris_plotnikov
950 posts
Apr 06, 2014
10:02 AM
|
I think it's not enough, but if it's so limited I'd offer the same order
- 5 min chugging chord excercises. Work on complex thythms and special grooves!
- 5 min linear patterns - playing logical blow-draw patterns not related to scales
- 5 min bend and overbend practice, practicing goin from any note to any other, keeping pitch control using piano keyboard, e.g. alter 2 halftone bend with all notes on hole 3: F# - B - F# - Bb - F# - A - F# - Ab - F# - G and back.
- 10 min playing scales, up down, broken intervals, all 12 keys.
- 5 min repeating tunes you've forget or not completely ready yet
- 30 minutes - learning something new:
a) new technique if you get some idea
b) new tunes
c) new ways of improvising
d) new scales
----------
Excuse my bad English.
My videos.
Last Edited by boris_plotnikov on Apr 06, 2014 10:18 AM
|
TheoBurke
617 posts
Apr 06, 2014
10:14 AM
|
An hour of practice for me has no set routine, but I do try to practice my scales in all the registers of a particular harp, make some time to play and get comfortable in keys I don't normally use, and to find practice tracks that have musical formats that have chord progressions and melodic structures different than blues progressions. And yes, I do practice playing fast, desiring for accuracy.
----------
Ted Burke
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheoBurke?feature=mhee
http://ted-burke.com
tburke4@san.rr.coM
|
KentuckyBlues
89 posts
Apr 06, 2014
11:00 PM
|
I apparently practice wrong.
I just slap YouTube or a Paul Butterfield album on and jam/noodle new licks and that's honestly about it.
maybe I should re prioritize..
I don't think I've really done scales for harp, though I have a pretty decent background in music via bass and various brass and other strings, as well a decent theory background (enough to noodle the way I do)
----------
my youtube
|
nacoran
7679 posts
Apr 07, 2014
3:22 PM
|
I'd never practice for an hour straight unless I was at a band practice. I'd break it up into chunks. That doesn't mean I might not play an hour straight, but I think you are asking more about deliberate practice.
I frequently run through songs I know. That's more about specific song mastery than general harmonica mastery, although it does help keep me sharp. I do like to do imaginative practice. There are studies that show that thinking about how to do things mixed in with actual practice can give you better results than if you practiced straight through. I read things that will teach me, watch YouTube videos, listen to sounds I want to make... when I first started playing I couldn't, for the life of me, get bends to work. I came to playing harmonica kind of backwards. Wrist problems wouldn't let me play the instruments I wanted to play, so I 'settled' for one I didn't really know much about. I didn't have the sound of a bend in my head until I heard Salty Holmes talking harmonica. Hearing it, suddenly I could bend. After I heard Jason's playing I learned I wanted to play harmonica and that playing with this knob or that knob could change my sound. Same after listening to Cotton's Slow Blues.
I also restructured my practices from the formal practice I did as a kid to more freeform practice, because I hated formal practice and always skipped it. Skipped practice isn't practice. I could certainly get more hours of practice in if I scheduled (and kept to a schedule) of practice, but I wouldn't, so I play lots, and 'practice' when the mood strikes. Then it's trying to get control of overblows, or learning a fast new riff.
I think the most important skill I've learned is to learn that what works for one person may not work for another.
----------
Nate
Facebook
Thread Organizer (A list of all sorts of useful threads)
|
CapnKen
54 posts
Apr 07, 2014
8:37 PM
|
i think it may depend on how you learned to play. If you learned to play doing scales and stuff then keep it up. I learned to play while I was driving. Yeah I know that that might sound dangerous but I've been doing it for over 10 years without incident. My job requires that i drive alot so i would pick out a few songs that have some licks I want to learn and go through them over and over again until i get it down then try to play the song completly through. whats important is try to play every day, even if its for 10 min. thats better than not playing.
----------
LINK
"Blues with a vigor and determination hitherto unknown to the people of this area." Mudflap Nichols
|
isaacullah
2703 posts
Apr 08, 2014
4:31 AM
|
I basically do and feel exactly as nacoran does on this matter.
----------
YouTube! Soundcloud!
|
J_Bark
2 posts
Apr 08, 2014
7:20 AM
|
I am going to hijack this thread just a bit:
I am a new player and I have been working on Adam Gussow's Beginner and Advanced Beginner lessons. I can play the beginner stuff at 95%, the adv beginner stuff I am still working through, some I can play ~30% some I have not tried yet, or I have not found a toe hold.
So, that said what kind of practice routine might some of you suggest for a beginner like me? I am prone to playing when I have a few spare minutes throughout the day. typically 15-30 minutes at a time. I also seem to stay late at work on Thursday occasionally and play until I need to go home to bed. Since I am the last to leave the building on Thursday I can play without bothering anyone else.
I also have a "harmonica Method" book that I picked up because it has a lot of "drills" that focus on rhythmic or single note patterns. I practice some of these and have found it helpful.
Thanks
Jerry
|
STME58
740 posts
Apr 08, 2014
10:39 AM
|
Jerry,
Record yourself and listen to it critically. Don't be discouraged if it sounds a lot worse than you thought it did. Not only will listening to recordings of yourself help you progress faster, it will give you a record of your progress.
|
