Re: 2000 hours - YIKES

["Chris Hammond" <dawgawntired@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have been playing a long time and am still learning.  I would also venture 
a guess that Howard Levy, Rod Piazza, Kim Wilson, and Luciano Pavarotti 
would all say about the same.  In my opinion, one can learn single notes, 
crude bends, 1st, second, and third position in pretty short order.  There 
are a few things that I think differentiate these sorts of players from the 
good/accomplished players

- - TONE
- - FLUENCY
- - TIMING

I am sure there are others, but to put a time limit on becoming accomplished 
just doesn't make much sense to me.

Just a thought....






>From: Mike Due <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Reply-To: Mike Due <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>To: Harp-L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: 2000 hours - YIKES
>Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2003 07:29:05 -0800 (PST)
>
>
>I picked up diatonic a couple of years ago, and am coming out of a period
>of inactivity while recording a CD as a bass and guitarist. In revisting
>Mike Will's wonderful site (http://www.angelfire.com/tx/myquill/) I
>noticed in his introduction a statement that follows:
>
>"How long does it take to learn the diatonic harp and to play the blues?
>Of course that depends on you, your musical background, your natural
>aptitude, and your goals.  I've seen the number 2000 hours cited as how
>much time is required to be reasonably proficient at blues harp playing,
>and that seems to me to be as good a number as any."
>
>Holy Hoener's Batman! That's a lot of lip-locking on the old brass blower!
>Not trying to toot my own horn (or harp in this case), but that seems
>outrageous to me. I learned how to visualize the note layout, bend notes,
>shakes, growls, etc. in about 3 months of limited effort, somewhere around
>80 hours. I even played the Doobie Brothers' "Long Train Runnin'" and
>several other rock kinds of tunes on stage after about 6 months. I have
>been a bass player for over 20 years, I'm sure that helped, but I really
>didn't think this was that difficult. So this 2000 hour thing really blows
>my mind, except if we're talkin' about someone who's never been a musician
>before,,,,there's a general learning curve to cover there too.
>
>So I'm curious, and have a quicky 2 question survey:
>
>1) How long had you folks played the diatonic before you played in front
>of an audience (or were moderately proficient enough to do so)?
>
>2) For you master harpers, how long did it take you to get to the point
>where you could play in third position or higher, play overbends, use
>tongue-blocking, etc.?
>
>Despite my (relatively) quick start, I'm starting to sober to the notion
>that the skills referenced in question #2 will take considerably more
>dedication.
>
>-Mike Due (formerly posted as Herrdue)
>
>--
>Harp-l is sponsored by SPAH.
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