Need direction in my practice
Hi david
Ive been with you for over 5 years now. My technique is improving, bends pretty good, beginning to have a mind for improvise although my entire musical life has been "playing charts" so this is not natural for me. While I have fun with the Harp as a hobby Im beginning to feel like Im treading water or running in a circle.
I would love to play in a band again I dont see a pathway for that as I dont have any contacts doing that and I am still not ready for solo work.
My goal has been to do creative fills and build my technique up to a level where I have accomplished something and feel like a musician again.
Generally my practice sessions consist of a few minutes on Scales, some on more advanced movement exercises and licks which could be made into fills. I use your material as well as that of Steve Cohen.
It seems like where most players go is either to find a band to play with or to jam on available backing tracks. That seems like a great idea but I feel a long way from that.
Im with you on the Lick vocab and focus notes. You mention writing them down. Ive tried copy and paste from a scan but the technology is clunky. I tried writing down the Tabs but then when I come back I loose the rhythem. So it seems that the growth program in this area is to continue to play these licks until they are internalized.
The other thing I am seeing as good as listening to more blues music (harp or not) and tryiing to internalize those fill rhythems.
Absent private lessons (which I know I would benefit from), am I working on the right stuff? I love the sound and playing, but I dont feel like Im making progress despite playing 4-6 hours a week.
Gary
You might consider a blues association of some sort or a meet-up through the meet-up app or even facebook. I don't know where you live, but there's really precious little blues in Miami where I live, as the music here tends to lean heavily toward Latin and Urban. Just one or two counties north, however, there's actually quite a bit and most is either organized or chronicalled in advance by an organization called the Blues Society of SoFla. Perhaps you can find a club or society like that one.
Anyway, just my $0.02.
Hey Gary. It sounds like you're doing the right stuff. Keep in mind that the most important thing you can be doing is learning new songs (study songs, or songs on your own from ear). Nothing can take the place of just digging in and doing it. This provides you with vocabulary and tons of different ways to move on the harp.
Definitely playing your new licks over and over is important, but I would up it to say to use the Chorus Form process I outline. Take each lick you learn and play it as AAA, Af Af At, AAB, Af Af B, A B/A C (all three variations), move the lick up an octave (if you can), move it down, change the texture (use shakes, octaves, flutters, etc.). The goal is use that lick in the phrasing that we know to be good phrasing in the blues. This is key.
Writing licks down can be helpful. A simple hack to remembering the rhythm is to use your phone (or computer) to record each lick for future reference.
I recommend you spend...
10m - Warmup (like you're doing, but add any techniques that are HARD... something new that kicks your butt)
30m - Study Song
20m - Applying a lick from your study song that you're learning into the Chorus Form process
Any time over and above, work on other stuff that's fun for you.
P.S., building contacts comes from going to jams and local gigs.
P.P.S., most new musicians don't go and just "jam," they play the songs they know. If you go to a jam, play one of your study songs. This provides your highest probability of success. If you do just jam, MAKE SURE to tell them what you're comfortable with... "I'm comfortable with standard 12-bar blues in major... shuffles, slow blues, maybe a swing, but not too fast." Otherwise, they'll throw out a minor song in a non 12-bar form.. it happens a lot, and you'll be stuck up there sounding pretty bad. Check out the Performance Training lessons, I cover all this.