RE: [Harp-L] Harp practice

["Robert Gaustad" <robertgaustad@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm afraid I won't be much help with structure since I'm basically a lazy
person.  My music theory knowledge is greatly lacking so as regards to
structure  I won't be able to help you. I learned by playing along with
Sonny Boy Williamson and Paul Butterfield records for 100's of hours.  So my
blues chops were pretty good after a few years.  But then I picked up the
first Lee Oskar solo album and started playing a whole different kind of
harp.  I think it helped my overall harp playing tremendously.

I don't know how you practice now so I can't give any suggestions there.
But if you play along with great harp players on CDs, you might just try a
whole new genre or new players.  Trite advice I know, but it can help.  Neil
Young, Bob Dylan, Lee Oskar, Clint Black, etc. all play different music than
I do but playing along with them always helps my playing.

And then of course, jamming with great musicians live never hurts.  I find
that when I'm playing with a good band (all too rare where I live) I learn a
lot just by interplay with the other musicians.

Robert Gaustad

-----Original Message-----
From: harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Paul Routledge
Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2005 10:50 PM
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Harp practice

Yes this can work.

But as I have stated in previous post I have tried having breaks of up to 6
MONTHS, I play another instrument, I spend a lot of my time listening to non
harp / non blues music, I have other creative activities and yet I still
feel in a rut.

Now what I want to know is how does everybody STRUCTURE their practice on
HARMONICA so as to progress as they become more advanced in their playing.
You see I already do all the suggested things so I am looking for the
different approaches used by people towards HARMONICA  practice.