Ian
113 posts
Oct 18, 2015
11:23 AM
|
I just thought I would bring this up as a great way to pad out your practice.
As part of my practice routine I pick a well known tune, not always blues, and sit down to tab it.
This has been invaluable to me as a learning tool and not something that's always brought up by all that many of the online learning resources.
Its taught me so much about the harp that it would be hard to list all of the benefits.
Lots of fun, id recommend it.
Last Edited by Ian on Oct 18, 2015 2:32 PM
|
MindTheGap
716 posts
Oct 18, 2015
11:09 PM
|
I totally agree with you Ian. To delve a bit into that list I'd say...
- Tabbing helps you get familiar with the strange layout of the harp.
- Frees you from relying on just other people's teaching materials.
- Highlights standard, recurring patterns (riffs, phrases and moves around the harp). In blues particularly there are plenty of those even in the most creative solos.
- Helps you make the instrument 'your own' by building your own library of moves, without just having to rely on memory.
- When you start to build your own solos, helps break away from the default hacking up and down the blues scale.
Question is, how do you do your tabs? The difficulty I found was capturing the rhythm - unless I could remember 'how it goes' I come back to the tabs and forget how to play it.
Adam has a solution for this with his system for his paid-for tabs. I started using a hybrid where I'd write the rhythm in standard notation, but with the tab numbers below the notes rather than writing them on stave.
More lately I've started writing minimal tabs e.g. just the notes involved in a phrase, and then recording the phrase and keeping those together.
|
SuperBee
2886 posts
Oct 19, 2015
2:04 AM
|
I've seen various solutions for tabbing time...of course, standard notation does it pretty well
I confess I've rarely done it...I've relied on internalising the tune and memorising the phrases as I decipher them...taking notes as I go, but not really ending up with something to share...and because I've learned the song by the time I've finished my notes, I've not been motivated to formalise them.
Two which I have done and am rather pleased with...Charlie McCoy's 'lovesick blues' (2nd pos, Bb harp) and Madcat's 'nobody knows you when you're down and out' (12th pos, D harp....rather easier on a G harp)
Oh, and Sonny Boy Williamson's intro to 'sloppy drunk' (2nd, F harp)
And the Pogues 'sick bed of cuchullain'...accordion break...2nd, F harp
|
Ian
114 posts
Oct 19, 2015
2:31 AM
|
I use a similar layout to adam's tabs for the notes but then add a second line with a very basic standard music notation (just focusing on timing rather than the note).
I tend to tab well known tunes so that I can worry less about the rhythm. I havnt yet tabbed any of my own tunes, maybe that's the next step!
|
MindTheGap
717 posts
Oct 19, 2015
3:16 AM
|
Ian - yes that's it. Like a separate rhythm track. I've never tried to read conventional music to the diatonic, as the hole-tab method seems so much appropriate.
Some of those classy blues phrases rely on very specific rhythms, like starting on one beat of a bar then shifting to another when repeated. Or playing on the beat then off the beat. So capturing that seems like an important thing.
I'd like to rely on my memory but some of them take a while to stick.
The other thing I used to find was that I'd practice and remember something fine at home, then lose it when playing with the band. A common experience I think - down to the different environment and all sorts. Having a snippet of tab + rhythm is a help sometimes.
Tunes and hooks are easier to remember I think, well they are intended to be memorable.
Ah the Pogues. I wonder if they had harmonica on their songs. I'll have to go and listen. I think it would have suited them along side the tin whistle and all. I keep finding harmonica on all kinds of songs in my old collections - from my pre-harp-playing times when it was just another instrument...
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Oct 19, 2015 3:18 AM
|
Ian
115 posts
Oct 19, 2015
6:30 AM
|
One thing I have used to start tabbing songs when I can't access the harp is a harmonica app on the phone.
Its one of those ones where you 'play' the harp by tapping on the holes.
As basic and soulless as it is, it is actually pretty handy to tab with. You can't bend anything but it's a pretty efficient way of getting a 'first pass' on tabbing a song.
Plus I can do it with my headphones in when playing wouldn't be appropriate!
|
Rontana
202 posts
Oct 19, 2015
10:21 AM
|
@ian
I can't say I tab out songs (on paper) per se. That may be because I know zip about music. I just think of songs I like, and then mess around with them till I get the basic melody lines in second position. After that's locked in my head (and sometimes I record snippets just in case I forget) I try changing it around to use a more bluesy rhythm.
It's really as much a practice/development tool as anything, for many of the tunes aren't really blues songs, however they can be played in a bluesy manner.
Gospel stuff almost always works, as do many folk tunes. But, my favorite when doing this is with stuff by CCR. It seems like just about everything Credence did lends itself well to cross harp.
Last Edited by Rontana on Oct 19, 2015 10:22 AM
|
ME.HarpDoc
16 posts
Oct 19, 2015
12:33 PM
|
I learned harmonica from David Harp (yes, that's his name) who had an interesting tab method. It's easier to understand if you see it and examples can be found in several of his publications which can be found on Amazon or his website, bluesharp.com. But basically, the rhythm of the song is tabbed by placing a dot over the note/hole# for each beat in a bar, no dot if the note comes between beats and notations like a half dot for a quick extension or shortening of a note. After looking at these tabs, which he talks about more as breathing patterns, you get a pretty good sense of the timing and rythm. It might be worth checking out.
|
MindTheGap
719 posts
Oct 20, 2015
3:26 AM
|
HarpDoc - that sounds interesting. I looked for some examples but couldn't find any on his website - do you have anything to share?
I did find this quote on the site though...
"Having to learn to read Standard Musical Notation in order to play harmonica is like having to learn to read Chinese in order to make stir-fried vegetables..." — David Harp
I think there's a lot in this. I can read standard notation to some other instruments, but it doesn't seem very useful for (blues) harp. Firstly, most blues harp parts aren't available in standard notation (sure, some, in the teaching materials) and secondly because there's a lot of information about how to play which is difficult to convey in writing. While that's true of a lot of music, I think it's especially the case with blues harp.
Also, I think that the diatonic nature of the harp makes the tab more appropriate. It seems to me so vital how the notes of a phrase lay out on the instrument, that it's useful to see that a particular note sits e.g. it's on the 6D so you can bend it, dip it, vibrato it etc. Or it's on a 6B so you can't. More important than knowing it's a Db or whatever.
I have the Paul Butterfield teaching book/CD and his playing has been diligently written out in standard notation. Every little ghost note, dip, gliss etc. It's very busy to read and practically not much use to me as the task isn't to recreate his improvising note for note is it? Whereas listening to the actual recordings is useful.
BTW I'm not giving advice here, just saying what I found useful. If I got into the chromatic, I'd definitely learn to read standard notation to it.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Oct 20, 2015 4:55 AM
|
ME.HarpDoc
18 posts
Oct 20, 2015
5:03 PM
|
@MTG
I don't want to infringe on any copyrights (and I don't have the fonts here to duplicate David's style anyway), so here's a hybridized tabbing using the dot's for rhythm. I'll use Amazing Grace as an example so you'll have a feel for a common song. b=blow, d= draw (don't have arrows in my font either). So the style I've laid out is
Lyrics
over dots .
over hole #s
over blow (b) or draw (d)
A maz ing grace
. .. . ..
3 4 5 5
b b b b
How sweet the sound
. .. . ..
4 4 3 3
d b d b
To save a wretch
. .. . ..
3 4 5 5
Like Me
. ... ..
4 6 breathe
Sorry, when I save it, all the characters move together without spaces. Try to picture two dots over the second and fourth notes in the first three verses, then one dote over first note and three dots over second note in last verse with two dots over the last breath for a total of 24 beats (two bars). Trust me it's there
It may be easier just to buy one of his books on Amazon.
Last Edited by ME.HarpDoc on Oct 20, 2015 5:22 PM
|
MindTheGap
721 posts
Oct 20, 2015
10:36 PM
|
Thanks, I've added some html to display that in a monospace font, let's see if that works...ok, does that look like it? Hmm doesn't look quite right from the description.
Lyrics
over dots .
over hole #s
over blow (b) or draw (d)
A maz ing grace
. .. . ..
3 4 5 5
b b b b
How sweet the sound
. .. . ..
4 4 3 3
d b d b
To save a wretch
. .. . ..
3 4 5 5
Like Me
. ... ..
4 6 breathe
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Oct 20, 2015 10:39 PM
|
ME.HarpDoc
19 posts
Oct 21, 2015
6:47 PM
|
Looks close. You can imagine the sequence of dots over the holes because you know the tune.
|
Ian
122 posts
Oct 22, 2015
3:32 AM
|
I can see how that works. Might try it on something.
|
Glass Harp Full
58 posts
Oct 23, 2015
12:47 AM
|
I have David Harp's Country & Western Harmonica book. The tab he uses there has numbers in outline font for blow and number in bold filled in font for draw. The idea is that you breathe out when you see an outlined number and breathe in when you see a filled in number.
I find his use of dots for rhythm a bit confusing, especially for notes that last less than a whole beat, but I'm not very far into the book yet so it might just be a mater of getting used to it.
The easiest to understand system I've seen was in the book 10 Easy Lessons Learn to Play Harmonica. It uses numbers with either an e for exhale or i for inhale underneath and slashes to indicate the number of beat to hold a note above the numbers.
For example:
/ / / ////
4 5 5 6
e e i e
Last Edited by Glass Harp Full on Oct 23, 2015 12:53 AM
|
