Re: [Harp-L] Memphis Blues

[Mojo Red <harplicks@xxxxxxxxx>]

Wow Richard,

I really like your advice regarding solos. Learning
others' solos is a great place to start, but I
especially relate to the idea of the solo as a sort
of story.

I often tell my students to conceptualize the solo
as a story. Every story has a beginning, a middle
and an ending. If you approach it that way the solo
will have direction, structure, and depending on
your skill, emotional power.

Musically, I think a good place to start, is to
relate your solo to some aspect of the song itself
- the song's hook, a repeated theme or a
distinctive bass line. That can be your beginning
as a soloist, your initial musical statement. The
rest is up to you.

Good luck!
Harpin' in Colorado,
--Ken M.

--- Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

> 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
> 
> 
>  
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
> Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
> http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l
> 


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com