Re: [Harp-L] Critical Harmonica Mistakes

[Robert Rowe <robertrowe2@xxxxxxx>]

Find a great teacher, and he or she will unlearn all of your bad habits and put you on the right path in no time.  I got lucky and found a world class teacher (The Iceman) less than an hour from my home.  Check the teacher list on Modern Blues Harmonica and see if there is someone nearby.  If not, I know some instructors teach over Skype.

Kelly

On Jun 4, 2012, at 2:46 PM, Chuck Linville wrote:

> Cool responses so far... The reason I asked is because I am just recently delving into overblows, and I found myself getting "cramped lips" LOL...  That used to happen to me when I first started trying to get single notes. A friend pointed out that I looked really tense, and he was right. So since then I have been trying to relax and breath properly, trying to do more sound with less air, and trying to develop a tone. So far not bad. I've made some progress. But there I was a couple days ago, back to doing those old mistakes because I was trying so hard to get those overblows. ...Made me wonder what else I might be doing and not even be aware of. -chuck
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Mike Rogers <bullfrog9@xxxxxxx>
> To: Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Chuck Linville <linvillec@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: harp-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Mon, 04 Jun 2012 13:04:05 -0400 (EDT)
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Critical Harmonica Mistakes
> 
> Amen to that.
> 
> Bullfrog
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Joseph Leone" <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "Chuck Linville" <linvillec@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: "harp-l" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Monday, June 04, 2012 12:53 PM
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Critical Harmonica Mistakes
> 
> 
>> 
>> On Jun 4, 2012, at 9:28 AM, Chuck Linville wrote:
>> 
>>> Hi All, Someone posted recently about the futility of practicing if you 
>>> are doing the wrong things.
>> 
>> Right, I saw that.
>> 
>>> So I thought I would throw out the question; what are some critical 
>>> mistakes that people are prone to make on the harmonica when 
>>> practicing? -chuck
>> 
>> It would probably be a chore to sit down and try to compile a definitive 
>> list of mistakes. Probably the best solution would be to listen to and 
>> watch someone
>> play, and catch the mistakes as they happen. Mistakes can be very subtle 
>> and cloaked. And that, in a nut shell, is why they occur. People aren't 
>> aware of them.
>> 
>> The two things that pop to my mind are: 1... It might be advantageous to 
>> get a teacher. 2 ... Failing that. it would be nice to have a real 
>> comprehensive lesson
>> plan, done by real people who really know what they're talking about. Just 
>> as Rubank, Belwyn, and others have done for 'established' instruments, and 
>> go from
>> book #1, to book #2, and 3, and so forth, the same should be done for 
>> harmonica. And though we do have plans, they are disorganized and no 2 
>> seem to be the
>> same.
>> 
>> With real plans, you don't immediately open the book and find a picture of 
>> someone, there is no mention of any names. They're just all meat. As Eli 
>> Wallach says
>> in the movie 'The good, the bad, and the ugly', "If you have to shoot, 
>> shoot, don't talk". Lesson plans should leave out all the BS and 
>> concentrate on the subject
>> at hand. This is what I see with plans from the major publishers.
>> 
>> smo-joe
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
>