Re: [Harp-L] Pattern players

[BiscuitBoy714@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 2/6/2007 2:05:42 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
icemanle@xxxxxxx writes:
 
       I've been watching this thread for a  few days now and hesitated to 
say anything but I just have to now. I'm not  really sure if what I have learned 
in the many hours I have put into practice  are patterns or not. I don't 
really do any scales or am I repetitive about  anything when I'm playing out, but 
I do have a few what you might call patented  licks that I use, well more than 
a few. The exception being those songs that  have a definite lead that 
carries the song or pattern that you have to do to  make it recognizable. At all 
other times I never know what I'm gonna play until  I do it, especially at jams. 
There are some guitar players that hire me that I  have worked up some double 
kind of stuff but none of that is written in stone. I  guess what I'm getting 
at and the question that prompted to post on this is  this: what constitutes a 
pattern? I'm limited in knowledge compared to a lot of  yall about the 
nomenclature used to describe a lot of the techniques used to  play the harp, but 
I've come to realize that I do most of what yall are talking  about most of the 
time. The harmonica being as limited as it is (for me anyway)  in note choices 
makes me do things with offbeat timing or maybe do a lick  backwards that I 
just did in answer to it. Doing mostly blues songs for instance  almost forces 
you to repeat yourself for the turn around. I was told by a very  schooled 
musician that all blues ends being pentatonic in the end, I don't agree  with 
that since I've come to understand (I think) what he meant by playing  pentatonic 
notes and scales. Does this mean it's a pattern?
         You all have taught  me so much that I didn't expect to learn and 
have made me want to be a more  schooled harp player, so thank you for that. I 
won't quit playing by the seat of  my pants by any means, but I think these 
things I'm learning will help me be  more deliberate when I record and maybe add 
to my style some. God knows we can  all add to our style till we give up the 
ghost. I don't want to lose the  spontaneity that has gotten me by all this 
time though. Harp yin and yang  is what I'm striving for now. Please help me.
         Randy

Miles  Davis was a supreme "pattern buster" in his personal and leadership 
approach  to his music. If you were a member of his band (from his 2nd Great 
Quintet  onwards) and he heard you playing licks/patterns on the bandstand 
(memorized  and repeated), you were fired. He was into creativity in the moment, not 
 something that actually anyone could do if given enough practice time - 
Miles  wanted a deeper commitment to the Muse of inspiration and creativity, not 
the  Charles Atlas pump you up with reps approach