Re: [Harp-L] Memphis Blues

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Pic2318834@xxxxxxx wrote:
"...I never know what to play when playing lead,  I know 
most riffs playing alone with songs and doing background to it, but when its an 
improve jam my brain goes numb and I forget most things I can play.  Any help 
out there as to how you decide what to play when you get up there?"

Several people on this list have responded that you should practice riffs, scales, arpeggios, etc. -- all the basic building blocks of music.  This is good advice, of course, but it's not the first thing.  Before that, I recommend that you ask yourself which harmonica solos you love the most, and learn to play those solos to the best of your ability.

A good solo is more than a collection of riffs.  It's something with a shape that tells a story.  Knowing a bunch of riffs or scales doesn't tell you how to combine them into a story, any more than knowing how to put a sentence together tells you how to structure a novel.

The best way to learn how to tell a story is to go to the solos you already know and love and study them.  Learn to play them and hear them in your head.  Take them apart and see how the soloist put the whole thing together -- what he or she did to start it off, how they built excitement or feeling, where and how they climaxed it, how they finished it off and set up the next thing in the song.

When you study a solo you love, you find out something about yourself, too.  There's a reason why you respond to a particular solo and soloist. Studying a solo helps you figure out what you really love and why.

When you have some great solos in your head, you've got a starting point for further development of who and what you really are.   And you'll have a nice selection of stuff to call on when you get on stage and wonder "what do I play now?"  I can't count the number of times I've started a solo with the first 3 or 4 notes of someone else's solo.  Hey, it worked for them.

Regards, Richard Hunter
hunterharp.com