Re: [Harp-L] Improv revisited

["Mark Wilson" <markwilson53@xxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Hines" <billhines4@xxxxxxxxxxx>


> Maybe some of you wizards out there can help to define milestones of
> learning harp, particularly in the blues genre, once one has learned the
> basics (clear single notes with good tone, all bends nailed
> consistently, etc), to get from intermediate to advanced level.


I think there's a massive gap between intermediate and advanced, much 
more so than the gap between beginner and intermediate.  In the early 
days, good things always seem to be happening.  Not so as you start 
getting decent, big, big plateaus happen .That's one of the reasons you
see so many guys that are Just OK after 5 + years. People don't push
through the plateaus because  it's hard and frustrating. To go beyond 
decent, you have to keep pressing, and you have to enjoy the practice
side of it all as well.

I remember a discussion on this list back in 2002 talking about the
hours needed on the instrument to become an advanced player.  I 
charted the numbers and decided I'd do it in half the the time. I was 
practicing 5 and 6 hours a day.  It didn't work. I got better, but I 
definitely wasn't an advanced player at the end of it all. Last year
I read a quote from Johnny Winter on the subject....

" The general attitude is, I want it and I want it now. But it takes 
years if you're going to do it right, and a lot of people just don't 
take the time. It doesn't make any difference how technically good 
you are or how fast you are, or how many notes you know; you 
just can't do it in two years".

So true.

I think the epitome of an advanced player is someone who can 
settle in with any group of musicians and make quality music. I was 
in restaurant/bar 2 years ago with Dennis Cooper.  There was a trio 
playing a Latin jazz kind of thing.  Dennis somehow wound up on 
stage with these guys and just played away on material that went way 
beyond the typical I IV V blues stuff I was used to. After that night I
new what I needed to shoot for.A while later I read a post here about 
an American harp-l guy traveling in Spain. He went into a bar and 
ran into Damien Masterson jamming away with a group of Spanish 
musicians.  I remember thinking, damn, that's where I want to be. 

I think advanced toungue blocking,  speed, overblows, etc.. could 
all be considered milestones, but I know harp players who are fast,
who tongue block, and who can play overblows, that I would not 
consider advanced players.

To me it all boils down to,...... Can You Play The Music.

Mark