RE: [Harp-L] Staring a number "naked"

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jim Crutchfield:
<I suspect a lot of harpers (like a lot of guitarists) practice by 
<themselves too much.  Lord knows I do, when I practice at all.  That 
<tends to result in idiosyncratic playing and sloppy rhythm, which a band 
<finds hard to follow.  Nothing takes the place of playing together with 
<other people on a regular, frequent basis, if you want to develop tight 
<rhythm and intonation.  It's what makes the difference between a good, 
<technically accurate performance and a thrilling, wonderful performance.

I agree that playing with other people, especially people who can play, makes your performances more connected to the band and the audience, which is what makes it exciting.  Playing with a great rhythm section every night is certainly the most effective and enjoyable way to tighten your rhythm.  There are other ways too, and they're useful when you can't play with a great rhythm section.  

In the mid-1980s I tightened my rhythm up a lot by working with drum machines. I tended to drag when I played solo before that. These were some pretty stiff machines in terms of groove and sounds compared to what you can get now, but  playing to them made me very conscious of speeding up or slowing down. I also found it much more enjoyable to play to a drum machine than to a metronome, which was the only mechanical alternative in terms of keeping a steady beat.  

Playing to records is another way to learn to groove. Playing along with every part in a groove on a record is a good thing--a groove is different parts working together, so playing every part is the same as playing the groove from every angle.  

Finally, you can get something like band in a box, or prerecorded audio or MIDI backing tracks, or some other premade accompaniment, and play to that.  

These methods are not as much fun as playing with a great rhythm section, but they're much more effective than no accompaniment at all in tuning up a player's rhythm.

Regards, Richard Hunter     






author, "Jazz Harp" 
latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
more mp3s at http://taxi.com/rhunter
Vids at http://www.youtube.com/user/lightninrick
Twitter: lightninrick