I’ve been doing this course for about three months now, playing about an hour a day and finished the single note module last week. I’ve moved onto the bending module and, predictably, i’m finding progress to be much slower. However, I take heart in the fact that last week I could only bend the -1 but can now achieve bends on -1, -2, -3 and -4, albeit not consistently and rarely in tune. Because im a stickler for getting things right I was determined to get the -4 bend better before moving onto the next lessons for spoonful and smoke on the water but it’s getting slightly frustrating because all im doing currently is making horrible sounds for an hour each morning and i miss playing songs and learning new techniques. As i see it I have four options besides just sticking with the current lesson in the bending module:
Accept that it’s going to take time to get perfect bends and just continue through the next lessons in the bending module even though I dont sound great.
Restart the single notes module for a second pass and split time with that and bending. That would be good for reinforcing what i’ve learnt but not present new techniques.
Skip ahead to the octaves module and split time between that and the bending module. This would keep my interest alive by learning new techniques but i dont know whether the ability to bend is necessary to take this module
Sign up to J P Allens Blues course and work through that whilst continuing to perfect bends with on the B2B course. Im a massive fan of blues (its the only style i really want to play) so i’m intrigued by this course but i’m unsure whether the different teaching styles might conflict.
I’d really appreciate thoughts from anyone who has reached a similar stage in their harp journey and hear what paths you took
I took a break at difficult points and simply continued learning in other places. After a while I came back to the problematic lessons. Often a miracle happened or it was much better.
Do you know why? Your brain and the multitude of small muscles in your face and neck continue to learn. You’ve probably heard of the subconscious? I don’t expect an answer to that.
Such breaks don’t necessarily have to be filled with practice. Taking the time to learn the theory also makes sense.
There’s not much point in torturing the harp and yourself for too long every day. As a beginner you produce a lot of saliva and the notes become bad. You start to tense up and you’re in a vicious circle.
Do the new thing in the morning and repeat and scales in the afternoon, 15 - 30 minutes each.
Give your body and mind the chance to be a sponge!
Often less is more in the end. Take the pressure off yourself.
You don’t run a marathon straight away, you start slowly. Learning the harp is a marathon!
Personally I still after 2 years move around on the course. I guess you are using the bend it better tool to measure your attempts at the bends.
I would definitely stick with it. All your options are good. Just do what gives you the most satisfaction and joy. This is not like military service, we don’t have to stick to any rules here.
Try everything. Whatever moves your playing forward is whats going to help.
I personally didn’t get bends perfect before moving on. My bending improved slowly by playing a couple of tunes with only very few bends in. I practiced them a lot. Sometimes I still don’t get them.
I also found just jamming where I wanted to make my own sounds led me to bend better. Probably because I was more relaxed.
Scales with a few bends in help.
Lastly for some reason, most likely to do with the reads I can bend best on one particular harmonica.
I believe slow and steady wins the race here.
And for another quote. It takes a village to raise a child. I think it takes many different influences to inspire the best harmonica players. Read some of their stories. They rarely include any references to the lessons they took. They just played until they got it right.
Hey Chris - I can relate so much to how you’re feeling because I’m going through some similar kind of places in my journey with over-blows and over-draws right now.
Sometimes we keep moving the goalposts forward without every celebrating how far we’ve come from. I was working on OB’s/OD’s yesterday morning at 6:30am in the car in the driveway (because I’m traveling and I didn’t wanna wake the fam) and I was getting down on myself for not being able to do this and that. And then I stopped and thought, at this time last year I wasn’t even trying to do any of this at all!!! It’s important to stop and celebrate our victories.
Next, I know I said in the course that -4’ is most commonly the first bend that people get, but in the feedback I’ve gotten over the last 4 years, I’m rethinking that. LOTS of people get other bends first, and the -4’ comes last! As with everything in life, it turns out to be very personal, individual, unique experience for everyone.
I wouldn’t obsess excessively about getting the -4’ before moving on. All 4 of your options are excellent, and @AstridHandbikebee63 and @toogdog have nailed it: the answer is whichever option inspires you the MOST. BOOM! That’s it. Done. Mic drop.
OMG, I could have written this exact same post!!! I’ve decided to keep moving on even though I’m struggling with the -4 bend as well. I also took photos of many of the single note lessons so I can go into my “harmonica” photo album and practice those tunes, which can always improve! I’m going on faith that the -4 bend will come as long as I keep practicing. I get it sometimes but not always. I can’t say I practice an hour a day, and have been less consistent lately with travel and a busy schedule but I try my best to keep it up. Good luck!
