feelin' the blues
okay. earnestly working on level 3 study song and the dip has taken days of practice and still it's not there yet. closer though.
I backed up and found the segment on recording software as well, and have been applying the tips to Audacity. still got much to learn there as well recording and playback best way to improve. in the first choruses of "feelin' for the blues" my bends sound more like hens'a layin' in the hen house than the smooth bends.
invariably, when time for the opening dip, something's not quite right with harp in mouth and starts with either blocked draw hole and airy note or not at all. once playing, I can hit the bent note for the most part.
and I've noticed that I spend way too much time having to think about what the tongue is going to do before execution and then is nigh too lat
I go through the bending exercise and still do. seems okay, not great but okay, till it comes time to play the song and everything like the benced basketball player chokes in the song. and I've been practicing bend/unbend often.
after several days the first couple choruses are sounding better at the 30% slow but a long way to go.
the question: leanring curve is all this normal and expected? or am I doing something wrong?
Monty
There's really no such thing as a timeline with any of this. I would counter by saying there's more of a determination line. This is where you feel determined to get where you need to get, regardless of how long -- or sometimes frustrating -- it takes.
Skilled bending is one of the longer pursuits in my mind. I hit bends right off the bat, but my problem was I went right from top to the basement. No finesse. It took a year or so before I had some control of where my bend was, and several years before I could hit the note I wanted at will. I still have trouble at the top end of the harp, and overblows are a challenge I haven't really set upon yet. It's a strange thing, though. If you stay determined to accomplish your goal, it's almost anticlimactic. You'll just notice one day that you're doing it right, but you'll not be able to pinpoint exactly when you crossed that threshold.
Music is a lifelong pursuit. Don't put a timeline on it, or a curve. Just enjoy the ride and stay determined.