Wow, that "D" harp is DIFFERENT
I started on the "Strut" lesson in the intermediate section. That "D" harp makes me feel like I'm starting to learn from the beginning all over again.
Where'd my superior bending (in my own mind) power go?
...touchy...touchy
Between your book/CD collection and this incredible website I am now building up quite a vocabulary of licks and full length instrumentals, which leads to a question only a person with years of experience can answer.
Early on I got in the habit of "rehearsing" music I already knew on a daily basis. Basically before attempting to learn something new, I would rehearse EVERYTHING I had already learned then move on to the new stuff. Now I easily find myself playing for and hour and a half before I even start on the new stuff. Worse yet, I don't even come close to finishing the old stuff.
Now if I only play a quarter of the things I have learned from you I have used up all my available practice time.
What do professionals like yourself, based on keeping the "chops" up, decide which ones should be done daily, weekly, monthly, and etc? Clearly you know far too much to practice everything everyday.
Assuming someone has already finished the advanced level of second position, which songs or exercises do you recommend daily and so on?
If you're playing in a band, then you're practicing your old material on a regular basis and you can focus on the new material in your practice time. If you don't play in a band, then you need to simulate it by playing a "set" of your material once a week... put your jam tracks on and play. The rest of the time focus on new material.
I recommend you always have three things in your practice...
1) New Technique (say 10 minutes)
2) New Song (say 30 minutes)
3) Apply what you're learning into the context of music (Chorus Forms)
At your stage it sounds like time to dig into 3rd Position, assuming you've finished all of the Tongue Blocking & Bending Study Songs.
Yup... touchy... focus on a smaller embouchure... tongue further forward... keep everything smaller. A bonus... this will help you get ready for blow bending down the road (even smaller embouchure). Good luck!