[Harp-L] temporay lost mojo mormal

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Abner Galdos" wrote:
<As I was on stage playing one of the guys that was playing the guitar 
<with me took my mic from me..
<I'm new to this whole thing so I found it odd but dropped it...

That guy is pretty damn rude, but the whole jam, as one list member put it, sounds like it was a clash of egos.

Abner, a few words of advice:
1)  In any musical situation, including a jam session, the role of every musician involved is to make the whole thing sound better.  So the first thing you have to ask yourself, at every moment, is: am I making this band sound better?  If not, stop playing until you spot an opportunity to add something to the sound that will make it better.
2)  The thing that upsets musicians most in a jam is when someone else is "stepping on them"--playing loud over their solo, playing loud while the singer is singing, playing notes that clash tremendously with the chords or the feel of the song.  You can avoid this by listening very, very carefully, and making sure not to play over the singer or the soloist.
3)  Finally, if you're not sure what to play, simple (meaning less) is best.  I recommend that you listen to Howlin' Wolf or to Magic Dick's work on the first couple of J. Geils Band records to hear how incredibly effective a very few notes played with a big sound on the harp can be.  Space tells a story, and there's nothing wrong with using plenty of space, especially when you're just starting out.
4) Making a strong contribution to a jam session is 90% about listening, and 10% about playing.  For inexperienced players especially, it's often tough to listen and play at the same time--novices tend to concentrate very hard on their own playing, and forget what everyone around them is doing.  So make yourself listen, all the time you're on stage. 

As the saying goes, good judgment is the result of experience, and experience is the result of bad judgment.  Don't beat yourself up over every mistake.  We have all--ALL--had humiliating experiences playing with other people.  Just make sure you learn something every time you play with someone else, and you'll get better and better over time.

By the way, if you don't have an inexpensive recorder to record your playing, get one.  Radio Shack sells a handheld cassette recorder with a built-in microphone for about $30 (last time I looked) that's perfectly good for recording practice sessions, or you can get one of the newer digital devices, or you can get a cheap MP3 player that records to its internal memory.  You don't need a high-quality, expensive device for this purpose.  Even at lower fidelity, hearing yourself on tape is a COMPLETELY different experience from hearing yourself while you play.  You will learn a lot from it.

Good luck and regards, Richard Hunter
latest m3s and harmonica blog at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
more mp3s at http://taxi.com/rhunter