[Harp-L] Playing scales

[Jim McBride <jpmcbride@xxxxxxxxx>]

The recent thread on scales on the harmonica has been very interesting and educational - keep it coming - its good stuff!
   
  I thought I'd give my perspective as an intermediate player. It wasn't that long ago that I was a total beginner and the challenges are still fresh in my mind. 
   
  Personally I like playing scales for a couple reasons.
   
  (1) As a beginner, when first learning a position on the harp, playing a scale associated with that position helps me to train my ear to hear the notes. As a player who started out with very little in the way of an ear, playing the blues scale up and down the harp in 2nd position for example, trained my ear on what those tones sound like. 
   
  (2) Another positive result of playing scales is that they helped me to learn to move comfortably up and down the harp.
   
  One way I find to reduce the boredom of scales is to play them at different speeds, long or short or unequal length tones, and sometimes playing them "musically".
   
  A while back I posted on harp-L asking about exercises to get faster on the harp. Jason Ricci suggested exercises based on patterns from the blues scale. I started playing his "2 up 1 back" blues scale exercise starting on 3 draw and its been a big help. Not so much in getting faster, but in moving me around on the harp in ways I haven't done before. After playing that scale exercise hundreds of times, I started hearing parts of it in my playing when I was jamming. Thanks Jason! Got any more like that?
   
  Jim McBride
   
   
   
   

 
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