Harp Ninja Training With A Song In C
David, if I was there with you and I had the Harp Ninja running on my Ipad and I was playing a study song in the key of C, what areas of the Harp Ninja would you be telling me to watch as I play the tune?
You always use the C scale as a baseline, and I was going to find a song in C and go thru some drills with this great software.
Can you simulate what you would do with one of your students that would be using this tool while playing a song.
My bends are not that bad, but I need the background with scales, circle of fiths, keys etc.
Thank you David.
Will
I meant with the scales and circle of fifths etc. I know you want us to remember the C scale and then apply it to other scales.
If a student had his Harp Ninja up and running and was playing a study song in C, what would you point out as far as practicing scales with that study song. I am weak with Music Theory. I am going back into the studies and go thru it again and try to use the Harp Ninja.
Other thane the bend, which is huge to work on, what and how would you help a student with scales etc along with playing the study song that would be in the key of C for example.
Will
The three scales I have students commonly work on are the C Major, G Major Pentatonic and G Blues. C Major is more for learning to navigate the common notes on the harmonica, in ascending and descending order, but rarely reference it outside of that, unless a melody happens to use a long sequence of the scale. The Major Pentatonic and Blues Scales are for soloing, so that is usually brought up in that context.
I only use HN if their bends need dialing in, or if they tend to get lost and need to have that visual to show them they are off.
With the C Major Scale... we would just practice that one scale, not all 12, since the holes numbers are identical for each harmonica. So, the Circle of 5ths is not something we work on, it's just a reference for someone as they're learning to constructor scales for music theory purposes.
With the G Major Pentatonic... if the song is very light, then it's a great scale to use, so we would warm up with that scale before they do improvising.
With the G Blues Scale... if the song is very blues or minor, then it's a great scale to use, so we would warm up with that scale before they do improvising.
To sum up, HN provides visual feedback for "iffy" bends or movement. Scales are used to guarantee a particular "quality" (blues or light) and are used primarily as a improvising device.
Hello Will. Grab a highlighter and highlight all the bends in your study song. While playing the study song, when a bend comes up, say 2" F on your C Harmonica, hold it and look at HN to check that you're actually playing F. Commonly students hear a bend effect, but are not hitting the actual intended note. That's it, pretty straight forward.
By the way, since HN is visual in nature, the degrees of the bend are easy to see, so having it be on your C Harmonica is not really a necessity.