Tip of the Day: Tip of the Day: Effective Lick Practice (Lesson 2)

Here's more insight into yesterday's Tip of the Day...

1) Listen - No playing... no humming... just listen to what's being played.

2) Hum - This personalizes and internalizes the lick... learning the rhythm and contour of the lick before you pick up your machine (the harmonica) is imperative.

3) Practice - Stop the loop and practice on the harp. With the provided music work on the blows, draws, bends, movement... everything related to performing that lick on your machine. Do this until you can get close to the rhythm of the lick in your memory.

4) Listen Once, Play Once - You ARE practicing when you're listening and not playing ON the harp. Though I and others like to use the phrase "muscle memory," it's really your brain controlling and firing the proper nerve pathways that fire the muscles needed to perform this action on the harp. You WILL learn FASTER and more ACCURATELY by Listening Once and Playing Once. Once you feel that you have the lick, don't stop your Listening Once, Playing Once practice. Now you can focus on the often-missed dynamics, tremolo/vibrato, articulation, tone, etc.