|
Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Worst practice session EVER.
Worst practice session EVER.
Page:
1
Elwood
191 posts
Nov 02, 2009
3:23 PM
|
Just took a walk in park with a harp, hoping to get some practice in. Good thing the park was deserted because I sucked. I've heard better music come out from under the tail of a sleeping dog.
I hate when my playing reaches a plateau. It takes so much effort to break out of stagnation... Bleech...
is anyone else in a rut right now?
|
tookatooka
736 posts
Nov 02, 2009
3:32 PM
|
Frequently in that rut. It's just a stepping stone to better things though. You can't force it you have to go with the flow.
----------
|
nacoran
314 posts
Nov 02, 2009
9:05 PM
|
I've been playing occasionally at an open mic. My friend and I played a couple of tunes that we should have been able to do in our sleep but we sounded horrible. Then we just improvised a third tune and it sounded much better. I think being free to just play any notes I wanted made me more willing to take some chances. So, based on that, my suggestion would be to just try to jam something new, not something you know, sort of the musical version of free writing. When I get stuck (or if I have the flu and can't breathe) I set the harp down and read up on how to customize harps or look pictures of old Art Deco harps or listen to different music.
I have a couple of friends who are part way through school studying to be teachers (and my mother works for the NYS Ed. dept) so I often hear about teaching/learning techniques. Sometimes taking a couple of days off can actually help you learn. When you aren't practicing, think about what you want to fix about your harp playing. Think about how you shape your mouth for a tongue block or look at a note chart. I've been in a rut with my song writing for a while. I'll get one or two good lines and then nothing else fits.
|
wallyns10
69 posts
Nov 03, 2009
1:35 AM
|
Yea I'm in a rut right now too. It's really frustrating because I just got 2 new harps (just plain MB's, nothing to get excited over I guess.) I had a set of 6 and they ALL flatted out on the 5 or 6 hole so I couldn't play the way I wanted, I'd always have to work around those flat holes. I suppose that did me some good by forcing me to look at things differently. I kept telling myself "just wait till you get a WORKING harmonica, then your gonna be exploding with music." Since I got my new harps I haven't got to practice too much, I mean I still have been putting a fair amount of time in but not like I think I should. Thats a big part of the problem for me I think. I have had brief flashes of good, but they are fleeting to say the least. I think the problem with us is that were are thinking too much and not just letting it happen, you know man? If I sit there and go "I'm stuck in a rut, I suck" blah blah blah and then play, its like setting myself up for failure. We just gotta play and let ourselves have fun, thats the key I think.
|
jbone
180 posts
Nov 03, 2009
4:39 AM
|
wally, don't blame the harp. look at your habit of drawing too hard on the 5 or 6, that's where the issue really lies. if you can modify your breathing to a softer level you will not blow out the same reed on a lot of harps. i say this from my own experience, hope you don't think i'm being forward or pushy. my intent is to help you improve your playing and save a harp or 3.
as for a rut, i regularly fall into a rut with lyric writing, and there's not much i know to do about it except find other ways to be creative. a long time ago i realized i'd made good progress on my harp style and chops and i most usually can get by on most any stage with dang near any players.
there are/were times that my wife's guitar playing would seem to be stagnating. this would cause me to try different harp positions or styles of playing to spice things up in a given song. i'm happy to say though, she has made such great strides that this is not an issue much at all any more. in fact we just got a demo cd from a friend, he recorded us last summer, and it was truly amazing to hear ourselves on it. wife actually broke down and cried at how great one of her originals sounded!
many times i used to just put the harps down for a while. just let my subconcious mind catch up. it works. when you aren't paying attention, doing anything but working on harp, your mind is sorting and rearranging things. when you come back in a fresh state of mind and body- a-HA- something is there that wasn't before.
remember this too guys, we are definitely our own worst critics. many a time i've thought i flat sucked, and had someone who heard me come up and want to know how i did that, how good it sounded, etc etc. sometimes we must just be gracious and accept what our audience and our peers have to give us.
we are all on individual tracks music-wise. there are many guys out there who can do things i just don't get even after several decades of messing with these things. but some time ago i let go of trying to be the best unless it's my personal best. a lot of hours on stages, in living rooms, on the street, at campfires, etc etc, have given me a broad base to work from. playing with people is one of the best things i ever started doing. practice of course is another. listening to my heroes over and over is another. but also, listening to horn lines, keys, guitar licks, all these have contributed to my style and chops.
keep the faith, keep your mind open, and give yourself a break here and there. take a long view. it's a helluva ride......
|
barbequebob
25 posts
Nov 03, 2009
6:08 AM
|
Jbone is 100% right about drawing too hard, and this is something I constantly mention about harp playing and breath force is too often widely misunderstood as well as highly ignored and way too many players tend to blame the harp and forget about where the REAL problem lies, and that's their playing technique and bad playing technique ruins harps far more quickly than any manufacturing defect, real or percieved, by an easy 100 to 1 margin.
Are there manufacturing defects? Absolutely, but nowhere near as much as the average player percieves because the one thing the average player will never consider as part of the problem is their playing technique.
Am I an endorsee, work for a retail harp store, customizer, etc.? No, not at all, but what I'm telling you here is 100% the truth, much of it learned from experience and tinkering with the instrument. Blaming the instrument is the wasy way out, but owing up to your own technique is a lot tougher. I"m not bashing anyone here, but this is something you need to think long and hard about and do some more concentrated woodshedding on.
Everyone gets into pleateaus, and sometimes staying away from something and coming back with a fresh mindset does wonders.
----------
Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Last Edited by on Nov 03, 2009 6:09 AM
|
wallyns10
72 posts
Nov 03, 2009
2:47 PM
|
No guys I know its me. I never said I didn't or that it wasn't. I asked about that right when I joined up here and thats the answer I got from a bunch of people. What I was saying was that because the holes were flat I couldn't play that hole which led to a lot of my riffs being thrown out the window and the focus of my playing (in terms of melody and soloing) to shift. When I said a working harmonica I simply meant a harp with all 10 holes functioning, not a harp that wasn't factory deficient. My bad, I should have been more clear.
|
jbone
181 posts
Nov 03, 2009
9:35 PM
|
yeah wally, once a reed flats out you need either a fresh harp or a fresh reed and retune. i personally am a lazy person. i don't want to spend the time past keeping a harp clean and some minimal gapping, i want to play the things! there are some great customizers out there if you have the dough to use them. i ran across a few marine bands recently with flatted reeds and i am considering sending them off for repair/rebuild/sprucing up. when i can afford to. one of the pluses is, if you do flat a reed you can send that harp off for repair/retune and it's not so expensive. the initial expense is what holds a lot of people back and i'm generally one of them.
i'm very takne lately with suzuki harps, esp. the manji, which i have one of and hope to get some more as time goes on and bugs get worked out of them at the factory. what i like a lot about the manji is, it has a resin/wood comb which has good resonance but won't swell up with moisture. it is also the loudest production harp i've ever seen. the price tag is half again what a usual store bought diatonic costs but this is also a model with revolutionary new manufacturing processes in the reeds and plates. strong, durable, long lived, and nice sounding. it's worth the $45 tag. i have not tried a hohner mb deluxe or a crossover as yet. they may well compete.
so just one other thing to address here. overdoing that draw 5 or 6. i know it's a hard habit to break, it's nearly unconscious! it took me a while to finally get past it. bob's repetitive mention of "too much breath force" and a suggestion to begin working on true dynamics via breath control is what made the difference for me. i am not a 100% resonant player as yet but i have my moments, and it's coming. resonance is where you find your air column and learn to use it well. it results in better tone and playing, and longer life of your instruments.
to put it simply, work on playing like the baby in the next room is asleep. when you've got some real dynamics working, look at mic and amp setups, or go through the p.a. let the gear give volume to your better playing.
this is all just stuff i've learned thanks to trial and error and guys like bob and others who freely pass on the good stuff so we can all progress!
|
Post a Message
|
