Do you ever pick up the harp and just feel like you sound like shit?
Then maybe a couple hours later you pick it up again and all of sudden you're feeling loose and everything flows? Honestly sometimes in the morning or in the car I just feel like I suck and then later I play again and it sounds like something that could pass for decent blues harmonica.
Why is that? I'm no novice but also still in my first few years of serious playing.. Is it just me? Does this go away after you pass the 5 year mark or something?
I come from the guitar player world and I've found that so much of harp playing is presentation. If you don't feel it, man it really shows (at least with me). I think the vocal quality of the harp has a lot to do with this but I'm curious if others have this experience and if there's ideas to quickly get yourself to that place where you sound good or if it's best to just put it down and come back later??
Oh and bacon fat.
---------- 4' 4+ 3' 2~~~ -Mike Ziemba Harmonica is Life!
Last Edited by slaphappy on Mar 12, 2015 3:33 PM
@Slap... I'm in first few years as well, and, yeah, that happens to me a lot. I've also looked hopefully at 5 years as maybe a threshold. I hope your thread generates some good discussion. I need ideas too. And on recording my stuff and playing it back, that' s helped me in a couple of ways. When I'm lucky, I sound better than I thought I would and am encouraged. When not so lucky, like Destin I mess with it and make it a little better...and that's also encouraging. But still a long way to go. Thanks, fil
I think this is an issue that all musicians of all levels face at some point. I think with experience you can learn to get it under control more though.
I personally think that its a sign that you are really coming into yourself as a musician. It's now beyond just playing notes and riffs with your head, and is starting to become an expression of you and how you feel. Therefore your mood, or frame of mind can affect your playing. This is a good thing but starts to present new problems.
Here's a great video where jazz pianist Kenny Werner covers "consistency in playing". Really interesting stuff and some good ideas about how to get yourself into a good mind set – "The Groove is messed up in the mind".
Personally I've found that beer also works well :)
I've been playing for 40 years. If I don't touch my harps for a week--which happens more often than you might think--and then pick one up, I sometimes feel in the first five minutes as though I have no right to play the instrument. I don't have any feeling for it. My 3 draw bend sounds like an advanced beginner's. There's no magic in my tone. All the important things are slightly off.
This doesn't always happen, but it happens often enough, after a mini-layoff, that I've learned not to let it freak me out.
My first goal, every time I pick up a harp, is to cycle through a few basic things and make them sound good in a way that reconnects me to the instrument. So, for example, I'll play the basic blues scale up and down a few times, paying particularly close attention to the 3 draw bends. I'll play the 2 draw long and sweet and make sure my through is relaxed when I do a gentle vibrato. I'll play a shuffle blues rhythm. I'll play some high-note runs and make sure they feel smooth. I'll play the 34 draw bend and make it sound nasty.
After a few minutes, things start to come back into focus and I'm ready to move ahead.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Mar 13, 2015 7:28 AM
I do a lot of my practice sitting in front of my computer, so I can play along with a track or just because I've got my harps sitting in front of my on my desk. We all have days when we are in the zone and times when we aren't. Sometimes just little adjustments can make a big difference. If you are sitting, stand up. If you are standing, sit down or change your posture. Do warm-ups, or pick a melody you know backwards and forwards or try something new. Always tap your foot. Set the harp down for a half hour. Grab a different key.
Half of it is getting your brain out of a funk and half of it is just plugging away at it. You can wear lucky socks if that's what it takes. You're right, it's a lot about presentation and confidence. It's also about practice, and it's also about having fun (both because having fun will make you more likely to practice and because it will help you project that confidence you need.) There will still be times when you think you sound terrible, no matter how much you practice, because the more harp you learn the more nuance you will hear. It's the curse of rising expectations.
One last trick, is to time capsule your playing as you go. There is nothing that helps my confidence like listening to one of my recordings from five years ago and comparing it to where I am now.
