Re: [Harp-L] playing in a band setting/jamming

[Jp Pagan <jpl_pagan@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Peter Wright"

<peterw@xxxx> wrote:

>> rainbow jimmy wrote:
> >"It's hard to find good instruction on playing in a
band setting."
>
 
> I'm really with Jimmy on this.  I'll be coming up on
3 years soon...  I
> worked hard to get through about 3 of David
Barrett's books, and I worked
> hard on learning the rudiments; vibrato, bending,
octaves, tongue slap, etc.
> And in the end, using the tab and backing tracks
from one of David's books,
> I could play a decent version of "I'm Ready", 

man, it sounds like you're not doing so bad to me.

> So I decided, now, I need to work on
improvising/jamming.  I kind of skipped
> over that in the effort to learn to play a "real"
Blues harp song.  So now
> I'm working with some jam tracks and trying to put
some decent sounding
> licks with them.  Man, it's like getting sent back
to kindergarten.  I don't
> know anything about jamming.

you might know more than you think. do you listen to
blues music? anything besides harp music? do you enjoy
it? music, like all art, is something people have a
knack for naturally. not some people, but just about
all. sure, you have to learn to wield a brush or strum
a guitar in order to create "real" music, but the
impulse, the creativity, is already in you. try
whistling along to the music you listen to. try
scatting or humming if you can't whistle. at first,
mimic what you hear - then improvise. you probably
already do this without thinking much about it.

>Cool, what's a shuffle.  Well I got some help, and
> now I understand that, but the variations you can
put on a shuffle beat are
> sort of endless.  I've done some research on how you
can create the beat
> with a drum set, combining the ride cymbal, with the
snare, and the bass.
> So that took some work and I'm starting to hear the
separate parts when I
> listen to Blues songs, but then I get a jam track
that has just a bass
> guitar and guitar.  Well, they get the same shuffle
beat, but it sounds very
> different coming from just the guitars.
> 
> And that's just one rhythm pattern, there's swing,
and slow Blues, and
> others, and all of them can be generated with
different combinations of
> instruments.  And as a harp player, you're supposed
to be familiar with all
> this.  Oh, and don't forget, you have to have a
whole library of licks
> imbedded in your head and know which to play, and
how to combine them to
> create something worth listening to.

it sounds to me like you're trying to take on too much
at once. try this: pick out 5 songs you really dig,
and try playing along to them. like with the
whistling, just mimic at first. then try throwing in
something new. if the song doesn't have harp, pick the
horns or the guitar or even the singer to emulate.
don't be afraid to play over the music either, just
don't go drowning it out all the time. you have to be
able to listen. do this every day or so for a couple
of weeks at least. go back to your jam tracks and see
if you can't do more than you could before this little
exercise.

> I'm thinking it may be another 3 years before I'm
ready for my first jam.  I
> think "improvisation" is a complete misnomer.

well sure, improv isn't just doing whatever you feel
like whenever you feel like it. there's structures and
chords and all that, but you can't expect to know
everything before you hit a stage. i know we spend
alot of time lamenting bad harp players who go public
too soon, but the opposite is no good either. don't
lock yourself in a room til you're the next Little
Walter. it may sound good to us, but you'll be
depriving yourself of years worth of thrills. 
i hadn't been playing too long when i was approached
by someone who was putting together a band as part of
a music class (by the way, if you can find an
"ensemble" type class at a local school - take it.).
the idea was to take a guitarist, drummer, etc... put
them all together, pick some songs, and rehearse. at
the end of the semester we played our set in an
auditorium. i was convinced when i was approached for
this that i wasn't good enough. but once i got in
there and played a song or two - even though it wasn't
perfect - i knew i was doing the right thing. in the
weeks of class i had, i learned a ton. it took a long
time before i felt i was really ready to hit as stage,
but i got there faster by playing with others, by
making my mistakes and learning from them.

listen, it sounds like you have a handle on the
basics. you have the mechanical parts down. if you
know a few licks, and if you play around with the
blues scale on your own, you'll come up with stuff.
stressing on knowing every iteration of a shuffle, or
having a bag of tricks that's 1000 licks long is just
delaying your own progress unecessarily. if you're
good enough not to suck, you can probably handle
sitting in with others. if you can't handle it, you'll
find out the first time you try ;) of course, i
recommend doing this, if possible, with other
musicians in a "private" setting. you don't want the
first time you play with other musicians to be in a
bar on a packed friday night, even if you have been
'shedding for 6 years. 

all that said, i admire your attitude to get it right.
don't lose that. just don't let perfect be the enemy
of good, know what i mean?

  cheers, and good luck,
 
         --Jp


		
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