Re: [Harp-L] Pattern players and how to avoid being one

[BiscuitBoy714@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 2/7/2007 8:03:45 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
icemanle@xxxxxxx writes:
 
        This is pretty much what I  figured. I guess I should say that 
sometimes when I post something I put it a  way that I hope others can relate to. I 
do that on a recovery based list that  I'm on and help a good friend kind of 
moderate. Didn't start out that way, but  it has become that, for which I'm 
grateful. Having said that I would like to  expand this discussion a little 
further (if yall don't mind) by bringing up the  point that maybe playing patterns 
is how we start being creative at first. Take  a pattern that you learned from 
a book or from trying to play along with a  player you admire and use those 
patterns (licks) in another song, maybe even  with a completely different 
rhythm or in a different key without any harp at all  in it and do a lead with 
those patterns (licks) along with chords that pertain.  Do your blues licks in a 
funk song for instance. By doing that you find what  works for you in more 
genre's. As you do this you naturally start to expand your  horizons musically 
with the harmonica. I know for me when I do this I start  picking up patterns 
(licks) from the sax player, guitar player......and so on.  Pretty soon you play 
a lick you learned off of Slippin' Through The Darkness in  Little Red Rooster 
for instance, or some other song that maybe has an  established harmonica 
part. Now your changing the song to suit what you think  sounds cool. I haven't 
played Stoop Down 39 since 1974 I think it was, but I do  a lot of those licks 
in Blues With a Feeling. The notes have all been  established, it's the 
choices you make when you play that makes you a  pattern player or not. I know that 
the pro's on here know this, I'm reaching out  to the people on here that are 
just starting out or maybe need a new idea to get  out of a musical rut. It's 
not the only way to learn, but it's how I  learned to play what I know how to 
play anyway. Now add to that the teachings of  a real instructor (which I'm 
not) and I don't think you can go wrong. When I do  teach though, I teach people 
how to teach themselves.
              Randy

A  pattern is a sequence of notes. If you learn and play the pattern, after 
the  first note, the rest become a forgone conclusion, one note always 
predictably  leading to the next. So, when you start it, you already know in advance 
where  it leads and where it ends. Patterns are a useful tool in learning the 
logic  behind the language of music - how notes relate to chords and chord 
movements.  A big chordal movement (in jazz, especially) is the ii-V-I. There are 
a  mountain of books written full of patterns to play over these changes. In  
blues, I've seen a few books that outline patterns to play over the turnaround 
 (V-IV-I chords). This is a great solution to "uh, what notes do I play at 
this  point in the song". Many will memorize a bunch of patterns and pull them 
out  when they apply to the harmonic movement beneath. 

Pattern players are  easy to recognize. You will hear familiar repetitive 
ideas that pop up  frequently throughout the night in lots of different songs. 
You can also hear  the same ideas repeated night after night during the same 
songs if you listen  to this performer frequently. However, a lot of pattern 
players have worked  these sequences so many times that they can increase the 
speed and play them  lightening fast, making it a bit harder to recognize them 
until you develop  your listening speed to their level. Fast patterns sound 
impressive and a lot  of musicians like that "fastest gun in the west" approach to 
their artistry.