Breathing: Gary's Blues, middle of 2nd chorus, after flutter
How do you manage the breathing after the shake in the 2nd chorus of Gary's Blues? I sometimes run out of air and there's not enough time to get more to continue.
Thanks, sometimes it just goes through with no problem.
I'm assuming you're speaking of the 3rd Chorus (there is no shake in the 2nd), the V Chord lick (measure 9). That is a challenging passage...
1) Make sure to exhale big time before you start the lick
2) Make sure your nose is closed while you play the shake
3) Keep in mind that the lick is followed by 3+'s... so just hang in there knowing that you'll be able to exhale at the end of the phrase.
4) Finally, I write passages like this to challenge your breathing. Like Hank said, your body will be able to do it within time, and this will make you a better player to attack other songs with long draw passages.
Keep with it, you'll get it!
Another thing I do is to 'mark up a song' - I highlight dip bends to make sure I pay attention to them when I practise the piece and in a different colour, highlight any 'breathing opportunity' like rests or the very end of a 1/2 or whole note if it comes before a long (for me) mostly draw note passage. I'm also learning to exhale forcefully and quickly in those spots. What surprises me is that this is not as intuitive as I thought it would be!!
Good luck!!
Great comment Hank.
Another good idea is to play softer. You use less wind and lung space and leave room for dynamics. Plus your harps last longer.
I often run into the same problem but what I am beginning to notice is that the more I go over a song (I'm talking many times a day for many days) and the more comfortable I get with it, the less breath I seem to use and the easier it is to get through the passage without running out of breath. Then I hit the next lesson and start the problem all over again. Don't know if this is the norm but for what it's worth, hang in there and really get familiar with the section.