LoA Level 3 Question for people that fairly recently passed it.

Hello kvladdan,

I don´t think there is any need to master that song before moving forward in your studies although I found it a vey cool song to learn on your path. 

It is a nice introduction to slow blues and pairs very well with the Dynamics Study which is kind of something that is indeed diffcult to put it all together but that is really essential. So I would say the earliest we start to practice those, the best :)

Furtherall it brings some good bending practice and vocabulary that will be always usefull. You´ll find this song revisited in Accompaniement Study 5 (and maybe some others ?) for a more bluesy version.

The LOA3 test accompaniment (at this page) states:

"Use a jam track of your choosing and play one chorus per hole of the harmonica, for the first six holes. Make sure that the note you play is a chord tone of the chord you’re playing over. Use Accompaniment Playing Study 3, Example 2.3, as reference. Present each note in whichever rhythm you feels matches the track you’re playing to best."

So you just need to play 6 choruses to a jamming track, according to those instructions. No need to learn the accompaniment as David plays and notated it for taking the test. In fact, if you played the song as he does, it wouldn't do what you asked. Dave is playing the "big blues break" repetitively plus fills (4-5 shake, flutters, etc.)  and turnaround licks (and yes, a solo in between), which is not what example 2.3 is about.

When I took the LOA3 test I didn't learn the song, and I recall it seemed overwhelming to me too. But now I have a different perspective.

How difficult it would be for you to learn that song and whether you should, independently of the LOA test: I'd give it a try. 2 or 3 months spent on that song are time well spent. If it doesn't work, it'll at least let you know which of the basic techniques you should be working on.

But I'm sure you can learn it quickly. You could say the way he accompanies is the bread and butter of slow blues, how a pro would accompany at a technical level you will soon be able to reach. Make no mistake, playing like that is not easy, it requires good tone, timing and effective usage of tongue blocking, but most harder to master techniques are omitted, I'm sure on purpose: there are no wide hole leaps, the tempo is very approachable, the rhythms used are not super complicated (swinged eighths for the most part, some 16th notes, some triplets, that's all), there are no long runs or passages which require fine breath control (no running out of breath), no complicated bends (no acrobatic repeated 3" staccato or 3" + 3' combinations which require fine intonation), no blow bends, no splits,  etc. This is a textbook example that accompaniment which sounds great doesn't need complicated stuff, just great tone and timing.

 Good luck!