David's Tip of the Day: I'm Getting Lost - What Next?

What do you do when you get lost in the music... i.e., can't feel the beat or know where you are in the form?

1) Use More Space - Longer rests between phrases gives you an opportunity to listen intently and focus on reestablishing your meter and where you are in the 12 Bar Blues form.

2) Use Longer Holds - This has the same affect as using space. Whether you hold a note (takes no brain power) or rest (takes no brain power), you can listen while doing any of these actions (or non-actions ;-)

3) Use More Repetition - Let your phrasing help you keep track of where you are in the form. In Lesson #20 with Intermediate Student Ryan Walker (I'm editing it right now) you'll see/hear him have trouble keeping track of where he is in the form while we were trying a dynamic concept. I suggest that he use two-bar phrases and let the phrases keep track of the form for him... this did the trick.