Re: [Harp-L] temporay lost mojo mormal

["Abner Galdos" <cdgaldos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Richard I get what your saying, and you hit the nail on the head.
The guys know my lack of musical skills, I have played with them before.
I do what you said, stay back.  Especially on songs they just pop at me with out giving me any heads up.
so I still play but away from the mic.
The other problem I just realized is I hear myself play but I cant tell if I'm load or not.  Most of the crowd told me to step up to the mic because they cant hear me.... 
I asked my wife to listen in, she has become my adviser... and I asked her to write down all the songs they play input it into my iPod so that it can become second nature. But then they play something else and I'm lost again.....
That's why when they played "last dance with Mary Jane" I nailed it.
I practice my scales and have jam tracks, And on Sundays I have one of the players come over to the house and we practice, jam, record on the computer. Listen to the recording then we keep on going... the other player is allergic to my cats, so I offered to go to his house...
I just got feed back from Wendy the girl who runs open mic, she wants me back mojo or no mojo.

abner (Blueyes, I will get over this)
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Alberto Robles 
  To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Friday, April 24, 2009 10:20 AM
  Subject: Re: [Harp-L] temporay lost mojo mormal


  Everyone is new sometime. Jason Ricci recently put up a video of himself
  playing when he was in high school. He put it up just to show that he wasn't
  always a great player. He also had to learn the way many of us are doing
  now.
  A.



  On Fri, Apr 24, 2009 at 9:12 AM, Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

  > "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
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