Be honest…Really how long does it take to master Whammer Jammer?
I have been stuck just mastering beginning seemingly forever! Other harp tunes come easy - apparently not Whammer Jammer!
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Hi @Dk360
I’ll be honest: this question can be compared with questions such as:
“How long must I workout & train until I can compete in the decathalon at the Olympic games?”
or:
“How long must I write novels until one of them is included on the short list for the Pulitzer Prize?”
Skills (or potentials) are not evenly handed out at birth and some people get large allotments of specific skills, while others are short changed for the same skill.
Regards,
– Slim 
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Hey @Dk360 - LOL. It’s time well spent, my friend. Nothing is wasted. Every moment you put into it will pay off in your overall playnig.
What are you working on? The 10" bend? Can I help with any questions you may have about it?
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Its that 9 &10 bend -
I can play them, but hitting them fast is hard. The bends in the upper octaves are definitely different than low octave draw bends.
Any tips on this besides a lot of practice?
My ‘A’ harp is a Lee Oscar, and definitely plays a little different than my Seydel Session Steels.
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What an impressive goal you have. Please let us hear it. When you get there. Don’t give up.
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Whammer Jammer, J Geils band, oh yeah. Big hit at parties in the 70’s about three of us would try to do his licks. How’d we do? depends on that half keg for $15, I mentioned in tone is question.
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The key is don’t try to hard, don’t over push or pull, like Buddy Guy, “I go by feel.”
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Good luck. I have been working on that song forever too. If I can get parts of it I’ll be happy…especially that 10- blow bend.
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When i first started learning i went from start to finish and just wrote it all down in notation. Play stop rewind and so forth. There is only a couple of bars i cant get as you can only get it Tb. Magic Dick Tb the whole song apart from high end bends. The first bit 9 down to bend back up then 10blow down to bend hold then back up then 9 blow down to bend. Is that something that your doing
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Great method of learning. Please post for us to hear you play.
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I tell you what i will do that as soon as i can work out how to do it me i am not tech savy at all. I would be happy to meet up with you and you can show me and i may be of some assistance regarding anything you need to know about whammer jammer
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So how do i record me playing
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Two ways I know of. YouTube. I find that a bit daunting because its easy to slip up and let the whole world see you. You’re probably a great player and not afraid of that. Otherwise DROP BOX is great. Open a free account. Record yourself. Save it then SHARE. You copy and paste the link here. Only people here or othe people you give the link to can see it.
You don’t have to have the video you can just record sound with a blank screen. It’s really easy. I am very tech savy. Its a hobby and was once part of my job. If you get stuck I’ll try to step it out.
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Thanks for the drop box idea miss @toogdog, I’m a Techno Dinasaur but I’ve managed to open a free account. I recorded myself on my IPhone voice memos, playing a couple of tunes with the idea of maybe uploading and copying and pasting the links as you suggested.
Oh boy! has that brought me down to earth when I play them back! voice memos is probably not ideal but even so, I’m disappointed. My ‘Dirty old town’ intro sounds OK but ‘long may you run’ intro sounds not so good and I left it at that. I had received a few compliments from my neighbours but I’m starting to think they were just being polite. So, I won’t be sharing just yet.
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It’s a great way to share holiday photos too.
Get a backing track and play along. It sounds better
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Hi @PapaCurly
Now you know why it is so important to record yourself playing and then listening to that recording! 
When we play, we tend to unconsciously “correct” timing and bent note inaccuracies, thereby “fooling” ourselves about how good we have just played. Listening to the recording permits less subjective analysis and helps us to “zero in” on the technical deficiencies in our playing.
With this objective knowledge we can then work on improving these weaknesses, recording the results again, etc. If you do not have an expert teacher listening and pointing out weaknesses, then using your recordings is probably the best alternative path to improving your harp skills 
Your neighbors may indeed find your playing to be worthy of praise, but are they qualified to identify inaccuracies and to suggest improvements? Most likely the answer is negative, and you are better qualified to do these things when listening to yourself playing in your recordings.
Regards,
– Slim
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Thank You @Slim, you always provide candid, helpful advice. Right now, it feels like a set-back, but I suppose it’s just part of the journey. Neil Young can rest easy, knowing that I’m not going to usurp him just yet.
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