David's Tip of the Day: Performance Issues - Tunnel Vision, Part 4

If Ryan did hear something was wrong, how could he of figure out where they were in the form? How should he have fixed this situation?

This is where the tunnel vision comes in... Ryan learned the song from beginning to end, and most likely worked on individual pieces, but when playing his song he was so focused on remembering all of his parts and what he was doing, he wasn't tracking with the band.

There's not much he could have done for the first chorus, since all of the members of the band were not confident that they were together. After that first chorus, the band stayed pretty consistent on where they were in the form... four bars ahead of Ryan.

The big signal for the harmonica player is the turnaround. If you hear the turnaround and you're not in the last bar of the form... you have a quick second to jump to the next chorus or start that one over. This is the simple fix.

There is no turnaround in the original form of the song (recording), but the band in this case is playing elements of a turnaround (buildups).

The next level of listening is to track each chord change. When Ryan played 4 4' 4+, with the 4+ being the root note of the IV Chord in the opening chorus, bar 5... no other note should matched better than that root note, and it didn't match... that was another warning signal.

Memorizing a song from beginning to end provides the newer performer the highest probability of success. The challenge... you're bringing a non-dynamic element (a memorized solo) to a dynamic situation. Make sure that you're feeling and hearing the band so that you can track where you are in relation to them. In some cases what the band is laying down isn't working with you're playing (I know, a 12 Bar Blues should be a 12 Bar Blues, but the voicins they use can mess with your note choices) and in some cases you have to abandon ship and improvise.

Ryan will be in for a lesson on Friday... it will be a good conversation...