Re: [Harp-L] I'm stuck! Where to go from here?

[G <gigs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Jim,
  Yeah its a pain being in that space.   Something I have found extremely
helpful is picking 5 or 6 blues songs with good solos, and include a couple
of tracks of harmonica instrumentals as well.  Then each day listen to
them, and learn how to play them - and keep at it.  It will show you what
you can and can't do, so if you discover that you need to work on a certain
technique, you now have a reason to work on various aspects of your
playing, so you can get nearer to learning to play that track.  A tip -
when learning something new, practice slow until you get it just right,
then speed it up, if you trip, then take it back a notch and practice doing
it right, and so forth.

If its all too much, start with one track, and break it down into phrases,
and focus on getting the phrase right until you can whip it off in time
with the track.  Then move to the next phrase, and repeat.  And you may
find you have to practice knitting the two phrases together after learning
them in isolation.

I also make a lot of use of a CD slow down program.  Its especially useful
for fast and tricky phrases, and in some cases I'll tab it out, then
practice it very slowly until I find I don't have to think about it as
much, then take it up a notch, and so forth.   

Also recording phrases, or choruses slowed down and looped means you can
practice over it again and again and again, until you're able to play it
smoothly.   

As I get most of the track under my belt, I found it useful to record the
entire track slowed down, and again loop it, and play over it repeatedly.

After 12 months of doing this, I had more techniques under my belt, my
tongue block articulation and bends had improved a great deal, and my
timing and phrasing progressed.   

However I got to a point where I had all these new tools, but when
improvising it was a struggle to thread them into musical ideas.  One thing
to hear it, another to do it - so its worth spending time jamming over
tracks, and find some decent backing tracks you can practice over as well,
leaving plenty of room to work out ideas, and keep at them until it comes
out the way you want to hear it.

All that said, while it is important to practice aspects of your playing if
you want to improve, but its not healthy to bang away at a technique, or
phrase endlessly when all it does is fustrate you.   So mix it up, if
something's not happening keep practicing, but move on to something else
before you get really fustrated.  Also if its all getting too much, don't
force it, have some fun or just take a break for a day or two.  If you keep
pushing yourself hard you'll end up resenting it, and won't want to play
the damn thing.

Lots and lots of listening, practicing and playing are the way forward.
Time to put in the hard yards.

All of this assumes you'll keep at it for a matter of months, years even.
Don't expect miracles within a week.

I realise people learn differently, but this is what I've found works for
me.  

All the best,
-- G.

Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2005 07:22:24 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jim McBride <jpmcbride@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] I'm stuck!  Where to go from here?
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx

>I'm an intermediate level harp player and am looking for advice from
>the more advanced players here on Harp-l. I'm at a place in my
>playing where I feel stuck and am not sure what to do to progress. As
>I said, I'm an intermediate player. I'm comfortable playing in 1st,
>2nd, and 3rd position. I have pretty good tone with a decent vibrato.
>I'm OK with my bends but still struggle with isolating the individual
>bends on the 3 draw. My blow bends are a not so clean. I play in a
>band (very much an amateur situation - local coffee shops and
>restaurants). I can play OK when I have time to develop and rehearse
>my part, but I'm not so comfortable improvising. I find myself
>playing the same riffs over and over again. Very boring.
> 
>So my question is how to approach practicing/learning/advancing at
>this point? I play a lot but its very unfocused if you know what I
>mean. For someone at my level of playing, what do you think is the
>best approach to getting going. Some ideas ....
>(1) Playing scales and exercises
>(2) Bending exercises
>(3) Practice jamming with jam tracks
>(4) Pick a favorite harp player (mine is SBW-2) and seriously study
>his playing.
> 
>I'm motivated to improve my playing but just don't feel like I'm
>getting anywhere. I've been playing 2.5 years now and I've made
>steady progress/improvement constantly until now. Any help in this
>would be greatly appreciated. I suppose this is something that all
>musicians go through. You reach a plateau in your ability and have to
>do something different to get to the next level. I'm hoping that some
>of you that have been here and moved past it can share your
>experience and lend some advice.
> 
>Thanks,
> 
>Jim McBride