I'm looking for a little bit of guidance with regards to moving onto the next step:
Around 2 1/2 years of less-diligent-than-it-should-have-been practice have resulted in me knowing my way fairly well around the harp in second position. I'm happy with my chords, single notes, pretty much all the draw bends, some of the blow bends & the blues scale. I've got my head around the idea of call and response and I can find my way through a 12 bar progression.
Now what?
I feel like I've got the flat-pack kit home for IKEA, only to open it and find I have all the bits and no instructions. How do I start to put the things I've learnt together to produce a coherent whole?
My thoughts are that I've devoted so much time to learning I've forgotten to actually do something with it. I think my next step is to actually start playing pieces of music rather than isolated riffs, lick and scales that have improved my technique; but left me wondering where to go next.
Try playing real music with other musicians. IMHO, if a player is not playing music with other musicians, that player is just doing the equivalent of masturbation. Isn't that what it's called when you just play with yourself?
At your stage of development, you'll probably learn more in 20 minutes of playing with others than you'll learn in a month of practicing by yourself.
thats something I hadn't really considered in that way hvyj. I had assumed playing with others was something you did when you already knew what to do (if that makes sense?!)
If you're telling me it's that important to learning than it's something I will definitely have to look into.
lol...no wonder I hate playing at open mics by myself.
Nothing quite like jammin with a band. I do every chance I get now. It forces you to perform instead of noodle
After I felt good about 2nd, I jumped on learning blow bend blues in 1st on the top 4 holes. I've been listening to Mitch Kashmar lately. Very cool first position blues.
It is great training if you can pick out songs by finding it on the harp.
Last Edited by on Dec 07, 2010 1:42 PM
@Andy Ditto here too. I've got all the bits for the kit but not the blueprint to assemble it. I have used backing tracks which you may find useful, there are lots of free ones available but Adam has some good ones, but once you've done that, what next? I'm a leisure player and don't really intend playing with a band so I'm looking for stuff that I can play solo and it seems that there is not much out there in the blues genre, so looking at other genres. Not had much luck yet but still looking. ----------
Definitely find some people to jam with. It doesn't have to be up on stage at first; it can be out in the garage or down in the basement. Learn a few songs. Learn to free form jam. Try to write a harmonica part for a song that doesn't usually have a harmonica part (it can be something you write or a cover, it just has to be something where you have to practice inventing what to play.)
if the chances of playing with others is slim, due to nerves or opportunities, i would then work on doing songs where you play AND sing. watermelon slim has a song he does solo- jimmy bell another example is this classic-
We have plaers of all levels at our weekly jams Andy, and al are encouraged to play along with the blues vibe. This is your next step, no doubt, find the place and the people (do not be afraid) and ..
"I had assumed playing with others was something you did when you already knew what to do (if that makes sense?!)"
No, that doesn't make sense at all. Once you have reached a fundamental level of basic competence you only learn how to put it all together by playing in a performance context with others--either live, on stage in public or live in a private jam setting in your basement living room or garage. It's the give and take--the yin and yang--of playing with others that makes you grow and shows you what to play, where to play, and when to shut up and lay out in order to let the music breath (most harp players tend to overplay, btw).
For example, i see these YouTube vids of some self proclaimed harmonica virtuoso playing all sorts of technically intricate (or not so intricate) harmonica sounds and effects solo with ohhs and ahhs in the comments talking about how great it sounds while I'm sitting there wondering WTF the rest of the band would be doing while this show off was playing like that if he was playing live, on stage, with other musicians. It wouldn't work.
Harmonica is a limited instrument that makes the best music in the company of other instruments and a harmonica player can learn A LOT about how to play by playing with others. Try it. You'll be surprised what it does for your approach and your musical development. Among other things it will teach you how to phrase.
Figuring out what to play will teach you to express yourself on your instrument. The purpose of learning scales is to be able to know where the notes are so you can find them when you need them. You want to get so you are able to reproduce what you hear in your head by making it come out of the harp. Making up a harmonica part to a tune that has no harp on it as you play with others is a great way to develop this ability. Too many harp players just try to force feed blues licks they've learned over every tune instead of opening their ears and playing notes that fit the music that the other musicians are playing. Your harp playing shouldn't be self contained--what you play should vary as you interact with what the other musicians are playing. As you struggle to keep up you will start learning to PLAY MUSIC instead of just jacking off on the harmonica.
If you want to work on something in between jam sessions learn to transpose your scales and the other stuff you've learned to other positions. This will improve your playing and your musical knowledge. If you are interested, you can get started by clicking on my user name and learning the pentatonic scales in different positions that i have tabbed out.
Btw, if you get to play with good musicians, ask them for feedback and listen to what they tell you. Ask them questions and listen to the answers. I developed a practical working knowledge of music theory doing just that and then looking at diagrams of the notes available on the 12 keys of Richter tuned diatonic harmonicas trying to apply what i was being told to the harmonica. I photocopied these diagrams from a Hohner pamphlet 25+ years go and laminated it. These days, you can find diagrams like this on the Suzuki World Class Harmonicas website--enter the site and click on "Notation Charts" on the top banner.
Also, good musicians usually will know what tunes will work with harp, and often those may be tunes you would not have thought about playing. That's how we learn and grow.
@Andy Ley Seems to be a club forming;-) And I'm in it too! I guess it's a Crossroads of sorts. Gotta make that jump from scales, bends, single draw etc. to *playing music* which is what it's all about. I'm ready to jump, I just can't find the place to jump.
---------- Go ahead and play the blues if it'll make you happy. -Dan Castellaneta
my voice is, imho, horrible. i dont let that stop me from doing it, though. and there are resources out there to help folks like us learn to sing. case in point:
Just do it Andy. Find a jam and sign up. You'll be nervous as hell and you might think you sounded like crap, but, go back and do it again. The first time you hit that groove with a band your hooked. Nothing else like it. Played for quite a while by and for myself before I got up the nerve to even play in front of anybody. That was 2 years ago and now I play in one working band and forming another where I'll be the front man. (Shite, never seen that in writing before! Hope I'm ready for that!) You can do it and you'll love it when you do.
