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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Phrasing Exercises?
Phrasing Exercises?
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PM42
54 posts
Jun 25, 2018
7:59 PM
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Any favorite practice exercises for developing more interesting phrasing? I've been spending a good amount of time lately practicing scales, but am still having trouble putting the knowledge of scales into practice through interesting sounding licks. Any suggestions?
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One Palm John
21 posts
Jun 26, 2018
3:02 AM
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I think this is a good exercise, which I picked up from a YT tutorial from Jason Ricci; basically limit your available notes to emphasise your focus on rhythm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_6AOQQpX-s&t=461s
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The Iceman
3604 posts
Jun 26, 2018
4:27 AM
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Interesting phrasing is key to moving forward.
One exercise I used in teaching/seminars was to take 6 3X5 note cards and write one note of the blues scale on each one. (Blues scale = every note works in a blues progression - no "avoid" notes).
Then, shuffle the cards and deal them out left to right. This creates a new random phrase. Play it as it is, listen and see if it feels interesting and new. Vary the rhythm or duration of each note. Play it backwards.
It's like a "phrase creator".
If you like, remove one card, two cards and repeat to see what comes up.
Eventually, it might lead to better self created ideas, but at least one can explore different approaches in how to come up with more interesting phrasing.
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The Iceman
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cheese_maniac
3 posts
Jun 26, 2018
6:45 AM
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I made a website with this purpose:
http://harpexercises.obbitech.com/
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The Iceman
3607 posts
Jun 26, 2018
7:12 AM
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cheese: I checked out the site....was a little unclear...love the concept behind it, though. It looked like a generation (using blues scale/2n position) of short 4 note phrase patterns working up and down the scale.
Did I get this right, or am I not understanding?
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The Iceman
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cheese_maniac
4 posts
Jun 26, 2018
9:28 AM
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You got it right! Sometimes you have more notes, some you have less, is random.
And working with this generations, you can find new phrases to use on your everyday.
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outdoor joe
69 posts
Jun 26, 2018
10:41 AM
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@Iceman, really cool idea with the notecards! Thanks
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slaphappy
360 posts
Jun 26, 2018
12:11 PM
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PM42, see the chorus forms lessons on bluesharmonica.com, you can't go wrong with these.
Random note generators are certainly cool and I like "pattern breaking" strategies like this. The chorus form lessons show you how take a lick and turn it into blues phrasing using repetition, variation, call and response and fills. Good blues phrasing is so important, phrase like you singing the lyrics and playing conversationally is where's it's at for me, I think good phrasing is something you never really stop working on although I think it does just start to happen naturally once a player reaches a certain level
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4' 4+ 3' 2~~~
-Mike Ziemba
Harmonica is Life!
Last Edited by slaphappy on Jun 26, 2018 12:12 PM
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One Palm John
24 posts
Jun 26, 2018
2:02 PM
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@Cheese, great site! Super cool. Thank you for sharing.
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nowmon
176 posts
Jun 26, 2018
3:48 PM
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Call and response has been the name of blues/jazz improvisation.Like Dit-dit-hah,a ha-ha ditty...as a simple start.Scat singing too.
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Mirco
598 posts
Jun 27, 2018
2:17 PM
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The Harp Exercises website is excellent.
I will second slaphappy's recommendation for bluesharmonica.com. There's a bunch of lessons on improvising using the "Chorus Forms" method. More than that, for each study song, Barrett breaks the song down into licks and shows how to rearrange them with good phrasing, like puzzle pieces.
In addition, I'd recommend Dave Barrett's book Improvising Blues Harmonica, from Mel Bay. It's a lot of the same info as the site, but some people learn better from a book. It's more linear. Comes with a CD of examples.
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Marc Graci
YouTube Channel
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jpmcbride
194 posts
Jun 27, 2018
3:48 PM
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A horn player once told me I was starting all my licks on the root note. Suggested trying new ideas like starting on the b3 (3 draw single bend). This helped me.
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Jim McBride
Bottle 'O Blues microphones
www.bottleoblues.com
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RyanMortos
1692 posts
Jun 28, 2018
8:13 AM
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It would be cool to have a set of dice or something that have music notes and rhythms. I see some like that at the practice shop here . I suppose you could also make pieces of paper with different rhythms and notes and shuffle them into separate piles and draw a few from each to create an exercise.
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~Ryan
See My Profile for contact info, etc.
Last Edited by RyanMortos on Jun 28, 2018 8:14 AM
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The Iceman
3609 posts
Jun 28, 2018
9:21 AM
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Jim McBride gives GREAT advice above.
When asked how do you craft such interesting phrases, Miles Davis responded "I think of a note and DON'T play it".
In other words, he starts on a different note than the one in his mind - in essence, beginning an idea from not a conscious choice per se and seeing where it leads him.
Granted that this may be a more advanced concept and works GREAT for those that understand that in actual live improv, as long as you have the ability to listen while you play, one note seems to suggest the one after it - no preconceived memorized "lick/pattern playing" here. Just fresh ideas born of the moment.
btw, Ryan, your suggestion seems to echo the one I posted above regarding 3X5 note cards. Nothing wrong with great minds thinking alike...
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The Iceman
Last Edited by The Iceman on Jun 28, 2018 9:23 AM
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RyanMortos
1693 posts
Jun 28, 2018
10:15 AM
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Iceman, yeah actually it was your exercise that inspired me to think/post that. Was a good idea!
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~Ryan
See My Profile for contact info, etc.
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nacoran
9887 posts
Jun 28, 2018
2:16 PM
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I thought we weren't doing phrasing anymore...
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Nate
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First Post- May 8, 2009
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Lipz
5 posts
Jun 28, 2018
2:17 PM
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Hello!
This will be a long post!
I've been playing the harp for less then 3 weeks, but I'll try to help you as a guitar player. Since you're asking advice for phrasing, I think both instruments are very alike regarding ideas for melodies.
I don't know how much you are familiar with what you're playing, not only from the practice standpoint, but also HOW your scales work.
Every harp has a scale for which it has been made. We go to a store and ask for a diatonic harp in the key of C, D, A, etc. This is what people have been calling first position, and our harp has all the notes of said scale. Diatonic scales are formed by 8 notes, which are all relative to the first one:
The Tonic/Root/First is the note that gives name to the key. Than, we have the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and the root one octave higher. In the Key of C (called C Major), it's like this:
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C
You can say "Hey, Lipz, but why do we play blues in G on the diatonic harp, and not in C?"
The Major Scales in which we have our standard harps have all major and perfect intervals. Blues usually use flat/minor 7th. So, you can use your harp to play the Blues in C, if you're able to get a Bb sound out of it.
In G, it's much easier. The 5th note of the harp key has a key of its own, which has the same notes of the harp key, but with a flat/minor 7th. In the harp of C, it's the key of G7, and it has these notes, from the G:
G - A - B - C - D - E - F - G
The key of G (G Major) would have an F# instead of an F. The G7 has the flattened 7th to an F. So you don't have to adapt when playing a melody in G7 (which is what people call second position).
Thank you if you've read this far. Now to phrasing:
If you use any note on your harp in second position to play over a 12 bar blues in the key of your harp's second position, it will sound OK. Some better, some not that good.
What you want to do is to select the best notes.
Notice how most of the beginners licks you'll find on the web start and end either on 2 Draw or 4 Draw. It's not a coincidence.
On a C harp, 2 Draw is a G (root of the G7 key) and 4 Draw is a D (5th on the G7 key). These are good notes to start or to rest/finish something.
The bluesy feel comes from an "out of scale" note, which we call "blue note". on a Major Scale, it is the flattened 3rd. On a G7 scale, the 3rd is B, so you can use the Bb to achieve the "blue note" (1/2 step bend on the 3 Draw - this is also called minor third). Use of the flattened 5th is also a good idea (bend on the 4 Draw)
Up to now, we know we can use
G - A - Bb - B - C - Db - D - E - F - G
Wow! This is a lot, right?
My tips: Start small and simple. Actually, you can use ANY note you want, in or out of the scale, but all notes will sound different in each key.
The first lick I learned was taken from Harmonica Lessons website. It's like this:
2D 3D 4B 4D 4B 3D 2D
It's an up and down lick. Very simple and only 4 notes are used: G, B, C and D. Root, 3rd, 4th and 5th.
I upgraded it to use the 7th (5 Draw) and a couple of bends on the 4 and 5 Draws. Start small, and then build up from what you have. It can be 1 or 2 notes that you like...
On the first videos I saw about playing the harmonica, people said that the bends would give that "wah" sound.
To my understanding, more than a flourish, they are passage notes. These are notes that you may not want to rest or stop at, but they give texture and flavour to what you're playing.
Remember when we talked about the flat 3rd and flat 5th with bends on 3D and 4D? Take them as passage notes, and not notes to rest/stop.
Adam has a lesson on YT thats called "Learn Blues Harmonica 101: the essential lesson for beginners", in which he take a lick thats something like
4D 4D 4D 4D 4D 4D 4D 4B 3D 2D
Starts on the 5th, finishes on the root.
It's only 4 notes, but he plays with timing and bends to give it texture and the "blues feel". By the end of the lesson, he starts with a bend on every 4D, up to the 4D. He only passes thru the flat 5th. You can also add the flat/minor third with 3D bend as a passing note, up to 3D.
If you're starting, I'll tell you to try starting and finishing on the Root, 3rd, 4th and 5th. Use the other ones as passing notes, including bends.
Music is about tension and resolution. It's telling a story.
Start small... try phrases with 2, 3 or 4 notes. Make something you like, and than change it. For example:
Let's suppose you have a triplet of 4D, 5D, 6B, and you like it! Change it to 4D, 5D, 4B. How about now?
Let's add some repetition:
4D 5D 6B (3X)
4D 5D 4B
There you go! It's something. Not Little Walter awesomeness, but something to get started.
The other advice I give you is to try with timing. Let's take our triplets example again. A triplet means you play 3 notes per measure. What if you make a note longer? Or a note shorter? Then, it'll no more be a triplet, but you'll have something different, with only 3 or 4 notes.
What if you add bends? What if you add other notes?
The final tip, is something that works for me: know where you want to go. Know where you want your phrase to end. Then, you'll be able to decide if you want to start low and up, or start upper and go down, or to have repetition.
Repetition and certain notes create tension. Other notes, on which you can rest, create a resolution. Resolution is where you want to go. The way of doing it is only up to you.
I hope I helped a little.
All best!
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nacoran
9890 posts
Jun 29, 2018
12:18 PM
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No Archer fans? Lol.
Anyway, more on topic, remember that you have a lot of room in any rhythmic pattern for variation. Take a snippet of music that has a lyric. Most songwriters use a set number of beats per measure. Try singing a line, and then rewrite the line to have more syllables... then try singing the line again. The trick is you still have to make it fit the basic melody and rhythmic framework. You'll find yourself naturally adding quarter notes, eighth notes, triplets... all sorts of things to get the beat to fit. Now try playing the fancier pattern under the original lyric (don't worry purists, I'm not suggesting one way or the other about whether he should play behind the vocalist, just giving him a trick to come up with fancier rhythms.)
Lyric lines can be really useful even in instrumentals. Come up with some lyrics... they don't have to be good, just interesting structurally, and use them to help you come up with rhythm lines. Shave and a haircut, two bits. You may also notice that the natural inflections we use when we speak lend themselves to specific melodies. There is a whole school of songwriting that is based on using natural speech patterns (although I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head). By using words even in songs that don't have lyrics normally, I find it's much easier to remember the melody lines I come up with which makes it easier, in turn, to do more complex lines with more variation. Just be careful that, if you do add lyrics later 'for real' that you don't end up following the harp part too closely or you'll end up needing a new harp part. That happened a couple times with some of my songs. I'd write the harp part and as my bandmate to write a melody and he'd end up just stealing my harp part.
I agree with the above advice about limiting your note selection to focus on rhythm too. It's a good exercise and I do that a lot. Another exercise, start with a one note melody for 'call' and then add another note when you do the response. Keep working up the complexity and the number of variations. Deliberately jump to a 'wrong' note and see if you can figure out how to make it work. One of my favorite local singers was doing a show once. It was maybe the first or second song she was singing and her voice wasn't as warmed up as it could have been. She went up for a high note and couldn't quite get it out... but she didn't panic and she just slid off of it and did a little blues flourish. I only noticed it because I was really familiar with her music, and actually the variation she sang was a nice change.
Another random thought... sometimes, when you are doing variations you'll find a variation of what you are doing that sounds better than what you 'normally' do. It's a trap! Or rather, be careful when you find a variation that sounds more interesting that you don't forget the original. A lot of the time it will actually work better if you do the regular way a couple times through and then pull out the variation for the last time through. Singers use this a ton. It's how you build anticipation. Often it's done by not resolving a chord fully until the last time through, or by doing an octave jump or by switching keys, or on harp by busting out a wailing bend on harp, or just breaking the pattern and going into a different melody.
And, if none of that works, just flip the harmonica upside down and try playing a few notes. Figure out what interval you ended up playing and figure out how to play it right side up and then try any of the above tricks from there.
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Nate
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First Post- May 8, 2009
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