Tuckster
144 posts
Mar 25, 2009
8:38 AM
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Ok I'm taking a poll. I think Buddha sometimes aims too high for our group. So,based on Adam's criteria,what level are you? Me--intermediate to advanced intermediate. (I have some gaps in my education.)
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RyanMortos
114 posts
Mar 25, 2009
8:57 AM
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I notice a difference between Buddha's tone of post on MBH & messages on Harp-L. Maybe it's a difference of instructional versus informational. Maybe its the difference in audience. I dunno.
Im somewhere's between advanced beginner & intermediate, I believe. I can play single notes, all the bends better or worse, can read tab, etc. Havent bothered attempting an overblow yet. Still working on improvisational free jamming with 12 bar blues. Havent touched an amp or mic yet.
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~Ryan
PA
Ryan's Tube - Containing [0] uploads and counting...
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GermanHarpist
201 posts
Mar 25, 2009
9:04 AM
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Probably advanced intermediate, but Adams description doesn't fit at all. I have some gabs in my education, too - but as Buddha sais: I know I'm a ******* badass player so I act like a ******* badass player! lol. *just kidding*
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germanharpist, harpfriends on Youtube
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mickil
128 posts
Mar 25, 2009
9:07 AM
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I suppose I'm around the same stage as Ryan, but I used to play at a lot of jams, so I'm used to being on stage. As for Chris, I don't care how challenges my opinoins or judges my playing, should he ever hear it. When I taught piano, I insisted on the same standards from all my students, from little-uns upwards; it was the only way to make them play better. And I think that most of us want to play better.
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'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchen; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty' - Frank Zappa
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GermanHarpist
202 posts
Mar 25, 2009
9:08 AM
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RyanMortos: Is Harp-L also a forum?
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germanharpist, harpfriends on Youtube
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RyanMortos
116 posts
Mar 25, 2009
9:20 AM
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Harp-l.com is weird (to me). You can sign up and you are added to a mailing list. People on the mailing list can Email the mailing list Email address messages which goes to anyone on the mailing list.
So in a way it's a forum but the posts go to people's Email box. You can go to the website and search the archival history of Emails (even if you arent on the mailing list). Its actually a really cool information source.
If anyone can explain this better please feel free :) .
Hope this helps.
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~Ryan
PA
Ryan's Tube - Containing [0] uploads and counting...
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GermanHarpist
203 posts
Mar 25, 2009
9:24 AM
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no, its ok. I understand. Thanks.
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germanharpist, harpfriends on Youtube
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Blackbird
55 posts
Mar 25, 2009
9:43 AM
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I'm in that fuzzy grey area between advanced beginner and intermediate. A few concepts in either category are still fuzzy, while others are easy. I think if I could create or locate a genuine woodshed, solid intermediate or beyond would be easy to attain.
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Peter757
38 posts
Mar 25, 2009
1:42 PM
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Advanced beginner....As much as I would like to, I just haven't found enough woodshed time to cross the threshold to the next level!
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scstrickland
30 posts
Mar 25, 2009
1:47 PM
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Hey wow! I just checked Adams "what level are you?' and found out I am an intermediate player.
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mr_so&so
64 posts
Mar 25, 2009
2:00 PM
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OK, confession time. I'm somewhere between advanced Beginner and advanced Intermediate. A couple of years ago, when I started really working at this, I decided to get to know the instrument first. So in terms of ability to play bends, other techniques, positions, and theory, I'm adv. intermediate perhaps. I can do most techniques except overbends, and have learned a few of Adam's MBH pieces up to advanced intermediate level. But since I don't jam much yet or play with live musicians, I'm back at the advanced beginner level on that end -- which is of course my next thing to work on.
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Aussiesucker
207 posts
Mar 25, 2009
3:10 PM
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This is a difficult question to answer. I find in some areas I am advanced but in others I am a complete beginner. Putting it all together probably puts me in the middle ie intermediate.
For this very reason I signed up with the Harmonica Academy which is a very structured course. The first thing I looked at was the Graduation Exam & it gave me a perspective of how far back I needed to go in order to be able to complete the course. I did find that some of the advanced tunes were for me not that difficult to play ie I could pick them up by ear whereas some of the junior scale exercises and arpeggios are a real challenge. The course has 2 streams that both have to be covered ie Blues and Irish/Folk/Bluegrass fiddle tunes. Some very fast stuff at the top end of D harps which I find a challenge.
Personally I want to be good at Country however my biggest challenge is getting all hole 3 bends. I am able to get the required bends on all holes including blow bends but on hole 3 I can get the first bend ie Bb on a C harp but A & Ab seems out of reach. In order to even perfect a Country scale I need to be able to consistently get A. As a result of a childhood bike accident I wear a top denture & I find this a bit restrictive ie I can get better bent notes without my denture but its not a pretty sight. Have not ventured into OB's yet.
Have downloaded Adams version of St Louis Blues and currently am working on that & trying to find a way around the OBs, plus forcing myself into some scale exercises which I hate so they must be doing me good.
Last Edited by on Mar 25, 2009 8:56 PM
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Andrew
181 posts
Mar 25, 2009
3:27 PM
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I'm going to be modest and say Intermediate. But there are areas where I'm much better than that - I have no trouble with any 3-hole bend, and I can bend overblows. I can bend 7, 8, 9 and 10-blows, half step and full step on the 10, on all harps. Actually the 3-draw is tricky - on some of my harps 3 1/2 semitones are easy - it's the blue third that's hard. Maybe that's Adam's point. Or maybe it's just a quirk of some of my harps!
Basically, there are AI criteria which I more than satisfy, but there are other AI criteria where I'm ashamed of my lack of practice in them. I don't necessarily take the tongue-blocking requirement seriously (yet). Mainly I still need to do more jamming and tune-learning to qualify fully for AI, I think. Also I don't know anything about country and gospel progressions.
Last Edited by on Mar 25, 2009 3:39 PM
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DanP
55 posts
Mar 25, 2009
5:43 PM
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I consider myself an advanced intermediate. I've been playing for about 20 years and it took me about 10 years to get to this stage and I'm still an advanced intermediate. I'm a bit of a perfectionist. If I don't play my parts just right, it bothers me. I need to change my attitude and just relax and go with the flow and play from the gut, so to speak. Sometimes I'll practce for an hour working out a riff and I just can't get it right and I'll stop practicing in disgust. Then I will start practicing again the next day and get it right on the very first try. Does this ever happen to anybody else?
Last Edited by on Mar 25, 2009 11:02 PM
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SMaxwell
12 posts
Mar 25, 2009
8:48 PM
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With practice, I can get a lot of stuff. I am proficient at bending, blowbends, but still working on overblows, I can get some of them on some harps, but not consistently, so there I feel I am very weak. I am a proficient tounge blocker and am trying to move more into tounge blocking ,more stuff. I am working on bent notes while TB. One big weakness is improv, I just have not spent the time on it, afraid to go there. I mostly try to learn things I hear others play. So all in all, I'd say Im somewhere in the middle.
Last Edited by on Mar 25, 2009 8:49 PM
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Miles Dewar
261 posts
Mar 25, 2009
9:44 PM
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I'm about 3/4ths way in between intermediate and advanced intermediate.
DanP- I think it's called "Latent Learning" Your subconcious sorts through information while you are not playing. So even when you are not woodshedding you are still somewhat learning. Gussow talked about this awhile ago.
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---Go Bears!!! (Richard Dent for Hall of Fame)---
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Andrew
183 posts
Mar 25, 2009
11:24 PM
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Yesterday I spent an hour and a half reading Thucydides in the original on the train and gave up on a difficult sentence. Then in the evening I picked it up again and couldn't see the difficulty. As well as latent learning, you also just get fatigue at the end of a long session.
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DaDoom
52 posts
Mar 26, 2009
2:44 AM
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I have tried to place myself in Adams's level scheme. Quite a task I must say.
Here are the results of my self-assessment:
I have no trouble with bending. I can bend on any hole, and even get the quarter tones on 5D and 7B. The only bend that is not 100% clear is 10B: I can do a full bend there but the half-step bend still requires a few tries.
With the right harp I overblow without problems on 4, 5 and 6 and overdraw on 7, 8 and 9. With my top notch harps I'm also able to bend the overblows.
I can play scales in different positions. I.e. the blues scale in 1st, 2nd and 3rd position plus major and minor scales. Glissando works fine, but I need to work on my warbles (at least I can bend them).
Vibrato is getting better but is still not one of my strengths. I can play octaves with tongue blocking.
I have adjusted a few harps by myself (and ruined a few in the process). I'm far from being good at it but my Golden Melody in D is a bomb - must have been luck or a temporary telepathic connection to the mind of Joe Spiers.
I know a few licks but I don't have a single song in my repertoire.
I'm a bit stuck there. All I do is keep on practicing the basic techniques. Interestingly enough I do not lose interest in the harp even if I don't actually have a song to play.
So if you ask me what level I am the answer is: I frankly don't know :)
All suggestions on how to move on are welcome!
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rustym
12 posts
Mar 26, 2009
3:24 AM
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I think I'm an Advanced Beginner, slightly moving to intermediate. I can hit all the bends except the 10 which puzzles me. I can play some bad ass blues riffs but can't put together a whole tune cleanly or at speed. But then again, I did Adam's Mojo and came up with a variation on it and can wail on it thru 2-3 12 bar progressions.
I have tried overblows and can not get them yet, I think I'm close but really want to get it. I think I may end up trying a custom Harp from Buddah at some point if it really makes such a difference.
I'm also at the point where I want to try a mic and amp. I've been looking at some mics, lost a couple of bids on ebay, and looked at an amp yesterday.
I do get to practice quite a bit, but I'm not real structured. I jam to some backing tracks and sometime sound ok but mostly sound like I'm just playing riffs and not flowing through the progression.
Thanks for bringing this up. It's good to do a self analysis and think where you really are at.
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DaDoom
54 posts
Mar 26, 2009
3:43 AM
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hey rustym: any place I can look up your bad ass blues riffs? Always eager to learn something that sounds cool :)
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rustym
15 posts
Mar 26, 2009
5:22 AM
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Hey DaDoom!
I listen to a LOT of Kim Wilson. A lot of his basic riffs are fairly easy if you can bend well. I can play the whole intro to "Low Down Woman", which opened up variations of the 1-2-3 hole fills, for me. Also "Boogie All Night" from the Tigerman album.
There is a wealth of licks from him that have really helped me. It's also forced me to learn TB'ing, which is giving me the ability to really learn "Blues with a Feeling" correctly (Thanks to Adam's Lesson).
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Preston
236 posts
Mar 26, 2009
5:52 AM
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This is kind of a cool thread. I haven't looked at the link to "What level are you" in a long time. I guess I am an advanced intermediate, but I have definetely worked all the overblows into my playing and my improv (except 1OB. I can do it, but not reliably enough to through it in an improvised solo). I can do all the overdraws, but I rarely use the 9 or 10. I don't hang out in theat upper octave too much, but I am starting to use the 7 overdraw more as I get better at it. So is that advanced intermediate with a few extra tricks?
"When soloing, you tend always to rely on the same two or three power-moves or comfort zones"--my god, the man is writing about me personally! How does he know me so well?
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DaDoom
55 posts
Mar 26, 2009
7:48 AM
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thx rustym. I just realized that I need more CDs from Kim Wilson who personally is one of my favorite players. I have the one he did with Big Jack Johnson which is truly amazing.
As for the 1-2-3 hole fills, do you mean the kind of stuff Adam did on one of lessons? That rhythm thingy he did for when the band has a breakdown (just using holes 1-3)? That's one of the coolest harp playing I've ever heard. It sounds simple at first but it's damn hard to do.
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rustym
17 posts
Mar 26, 2009
8:55 AM
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No, I really like the rhythm thing you're talking about, but I'm talking more of a 3d, 2d, 1d, 2b, 2d, 2d that you can play variations of. He does a lot of that all throughout his recordings.
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