Re: [Harp-L] Building solos

[Pierre <plavio@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I feel like I am at a sticking point, though.  I try
> to spend a lot of time imporvising, but I feel I play
> repetitively.

I think the trick is to learn to make the notes you play cool and/or 
interesting. I know I'm stating the obvious, but in the early stages a 
harmonica player has a hard time making anything sound really cool.

I'm not Little Walter yet, but lately I have been doing much better. I think 
a lot of the improvement came from improving (dirtying) my tone and some of 
it came from new skills like playing loud notes between softer ones. I would 
say tone was the biggest component though. I can finally improvise around 
bits of phrases and make it sound cool, now that is a milestone.

Try this: Pick any 3, 4 or 5 notes of a scale and do something interesting 
with them and keep it going for a minute or two. To keep it going change 
tempo, introduce rests (space) to create tension, play some notes loudly, 
others softly. Add swing. Change the attack on the notes, introduce bends, 
cuts and dips, slurs, vibrato, trills, play clean, play dirty, open close, 
add contrast, change the emotion, get mad, get happy, melancholic, intense, 
relaxed. Add chords or partial chords, grace notes. Add dissonance for 
example by playing a bit of 5 draw along with 4 draw.

Rather than picking a few notes from a scale, take any riff you know and 
play it differently so it becomes a new phrase. Then keep it going. I've 
seen artist do this, they draw a doodle and then they draw the rest of the 
picture around the doodle.

Find some inspiration, I often start by thinking or singing a rhythm, 
although you probably do that already.

Avoid ruts, I sometimes have to consiously avoid falling into stupid phrases 
I've picked up when fooling around like the US Marine's marching song 
(no!!!).

When you listen to music, forget the notes and figure out the magic behind 
the music. For example, Toots can play a melody line and melt you heart, how 
does he do that? When I play it, it sounds like notes, when he plays it, its 
art. Another good example is Norton Buffalo, he can say so much with a 
single note.

By the way, Winslow once explained that you have to learn all the paths 
around the forest. Eventually you know every way to get to where you are 
going and all the routes to avoid. I think this is an essential component to 
mastery and to diversity. I mountain bike 5 minutes from my home and after 3 
years of cycling these woods I often still don't recognize certain paths 
when I take them. The forest is full of trees, they all look the same, in 
many places there are no visual references. But if I were to always take the 
same path every day and then added one change a week, I would eventually 
learn where each path ends up and know the forest inside out. Winslow is 
very wise.

Pierre.














----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Fugazzi" <mfugazzi67@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2005 1:32 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] Building solos


> I've been working really hard lately at learning
> overblows, how to follow chord changes, and scale
> patterns on top of listening to a wide range of blue
> harp players at every chance I get.
>
> I feel like I am at a sticking point, though.  I try
> to spend a lot of time imporvising, but I feel I play
> repetitively.  I understand people work toward their
> own sound, but I'd like to be able to play extended
> solos and not have all the songs sound alike.
>
> Any advice on phrasing and how to take your vocabulary
> and use it throughout the night?  I listen to a lot of
> music and really am into Jason Ricci and Kim Wilson
> right now.  How do you know if you are playing the
> same thing too much?
>
> I really want to get into the jamming aspect of
> playing harp and not always planning my solos and not
> always using riffs or solos from other players.
>
> Mike Fugazzi
> Harmonica/Vocals
> http://www.niterail.com
>
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