Re: [Harp-L] Harp practice

["Blake Taylor" <taylorb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I hear you...I hear you....

One of the things that has really helped me to "freshen up" my chops is
to  listen to genres other than Blues and my old standby cds, and then
play along.  I don't know if it was Mr. Gruenling or Mr. Michalek who
said this in a recent post, but I'll quote whoever it was :"STOP
LISTENING TO HARP PLAYERS!" Ahem. For example, sometimes I challenge
myself to play along with whatever comes on the radio as I drive (my car
is my woodshed), regardless of genre and key.  This can be especially
tricky as I only have an a,c, and d in the car. I find myself really
stretching myself with bends / overblows / positions at times. Sometimes
something will come up that works well in cross on the A harp. This is
often a relief, but I still try to do different things with the harp,
even when it's "easy."  I find that this has really helped my 3rd and
1st position work, and I'm sure that I venture in to many other
positions, but I'm not versed in them well enough to be able to identify
them.

However, if you're a gigging player, once you begin to "break out" of
the old chops, it might do to warn the other players in your band. I've
been playing most of the same songs with my band for about 4 years now,
and with that came "predictable" solos in certain songs.  However, as
I'm breaking out myself more and more, I'll see my guitarist shoot me
looks as I start playing a "different" solo. Luckily, most of the time,
those looks turn in to smiles before the solo is over.

So try to wipe the slate clean a bit - play along with tunes /
structures / genres that you're less familiar with. Listen to what the
other instruments are doing. You might not always want to brag about
what you contribute to the song, but, believe it or not, you're really
advancing your playing, and stretching your idea of what the harp can
do.

I just got back from the store. For what it's worth, the second solo in
"Comfortably Numb" is a LOT of fun to play along with in 3rd position.

Now I'll let the real teachers chime in...

 - Blake

>>> Paul Routledge <kingley@xxxxxxxxxx> 07/28/05 4:29 PM >>>
I have been thinking lately about how I practice and never seem to 
really to advance any further than I already am.
I always think to myself that I will start to concentrate on practising 
more and more complex horn lines on the harp and tone shaping and make 
an effort to learn whole songs by the people I like, (Piazza, Smith, 
Horton, Gruenling etc, etc).
Yet I always end up doing the same thing and  just start jammin' on my 
harp (especially chromatic 3rd position stuff) and therefore never 
really make any headway into where I want to go with it.
I mean I always end up playing the same riffs and runs, use basically 
the same phrasing and so on.
I find tone practice the hardest thing to do, it seems no matter how 
hard I try it just don't seem to change.
Through the passage of time I have learned quite a few tunes by Piazza, 
Smith, Horton, Gruenling etc. But it's more by osmosis (hearing them 
over and over again) rather than a concerted effort on my part to learn 
them.

I was wondering how everybody else structures their practice?

Paul

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