Single Notes

Don’t tell anyone, but YES, I do sometimes take my harp into the shower with me, particularly when a wanna give it a quick rinse and dry… :speak_no_evil:

The acoustics really are great in the bathroom in general, regardless of what we are doing: shaving, showering or… SHINING like a rock star while playing the harmonica and dancing naked in front of the mirror… :see_no_evil: Not that I’ve actually ever done that, I’m just saying… :joy:

If I could just find a way to play while I am eating and sleeping, it would be great!

I LOVE your steps idea and it makes a lot of sense. I’ve started doing scales again as you and @AstridHandbikebee63 have both suggested. As I do so, the steps make it easier for me to understand the changes in pitch from one note to the next. Too bad there isn’t some kind of a tab format showing the steps progression, though maybe there is one? :thinking: :thought_balloon:

I believe I finally figured out what my problem is with number tabs for songs. My mind confuses the “-” sign before draws with going up or down in pitch, which works out on the upper part of the harp but not on the lower.

I wrote out the tabs for a song I’ve been learning now and replaced all the “minus” signs with a circle around draw numbers. My mind seems to grasp this a bit better.

The steps seem to be a more natural way of visualizing the changes in pitch up and down the scale. Now comes the practice of isolating them.

In particular, I’m also enjoying an exercise I do going up and down the entire harp from 1 blow all the way up to 10 blow. The scales aren’t perfect and you get a double G down with the “Low Dough” (I was listening to Jason Mraz song The Dynamo of Volition this morning - I love that song :joy:) on the 2 draw and 3 blow but it gives me a chance to try and get a nice clean note with blows and draws on every hole and also practice the six to seven change over in the middle.

I sometimes practice this at very low volumes as I walk and am puffing up a hill and don’t have much breath. I really like the sound of a nice, slow, easy blow and draw; rather than a fast, loud, aggressive one. Kind of like many other things of life I can think of, though I suppose there’s a time for each. :wink:

@Luke, are there any advantages to playing at higher and/or lower volumes when practicing? Other than perhaps annoying your family and neighbors? :thinking: :thought_balloon:

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Blockquote Schade, dass es kein Tab-Format gibt, das den Fortschritt der Schritte anzeigt, obwohl es vielleicht eines gibt?:Denken:
Hallo @HarpinBobbyMcB,
leider habe ich nicht ganz verstanden, was du aussagen willst. "Tab - Format =Fortschritt der Schritte :thinking:
Vielleicht kannst du es nochmal mit anderen Worten beschreiben und der Translater übersetzt es für mehr Verständnis? Ich vermute den Sinn, aber nicht sicher.

Ja, das Spielen im Bad macht einen guten Klang, Hohlkörper Raum :joy:. Schau mal, was viele im Bad bei allem mit ihrem Handy machen… :grin:

Die Tab Vorzeichen schnell lesen und umsetzen zu können, sind nicht unwichtig. Ich dachte zu Beginn, dass ich mit Pfeilen (hoch blasen, runter ziehen) am besten funktioniert. Zur Zeit ist es bei mir wirklich + und -. Mir ist aber gestern bei einer Lektion aufgefallen, dass bei mir die Zeile wichtig ist. Hier waren vier Zeilen im Video von Luke, die vierte mit schnellem Spiel und Wechsel der Tabs. Ich bekam es nicht hin. Da ich mir aber alle Songs der Lektionen separat notiere und dabei langsam parallel spiele, habe ich die 4. Zeile direkt im Fluss an die 3. Zeile geschrieben. Kein Problem mehr mit der Harp. Das Problem war die Umsetzung vom Auge zum Gehirn!

Du fragst @Luke wegen der Lautstärke. Ich finde, angepasst zum Song zu spielen. Ich spiele nicht mehr wirklich laut, sondern pendel zwischen etwas leise bis Mitte, selten laut und viel Gefühl. Ich denke, die Lautstärke kommt von allein angepasst DURCH das Gefühl.
Durch den Ton - 2 (G) habe ich es gemerkt. Bei schwachem Zug kommt da ein schöner Ton heraus. Bei starkem Zug die arme Katze :smile_cat::joy:
Viele Grüße von Astrid

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HAHAHAH!!! LOVE THIS!!! :rofl:

Yeah John Mayall was the one I first heard say that the best way to practice is whisper quiet. It does have the added side benefit of not annoying neighbors, but it also puts a bigger demand on technique as it requires more breath control to sustain a long note at a quiet volume than it does a loud one.

ANYONE can play loud. My 2 year old son plays SUPER LOUD!!! But to play quietly requires more control, and so will develop your technique.

Also DYNAMICS (altering playing loud vs. soft within a song) is one of the keys to making music that is impactful to the listener, and most harmonica players, and musicians in general, don’t use enough dynamic contrast in their playing. Practicing playing soft at least give you the CAPAPBILITY of having dynamic contrast in your playing.

All that to say: KEEP PRACTICING QUIETLY. I played WAY TO LOUD for the first 25 years I played and that’s part of why I went through harmonicas so quickly, lol. Now that I’ve lightened my approach things sound better, feel better, and my harmonicas last longer too!

Your exercise playing through holes 1-10 slowly is also a FANTASTIC one, one that I call LONG TONES, and I’m actually planning on writing a post about that soon, so your timing is very interesting on this!

Finally, I also want to commend you for practicing on walks. I love practicing my harmonica walking the dogs or pushing the baby in the stroller. It adds in another layer of difficulty in breath control when you’re walking up a hill while playing - especially if you’re using a 30+ lb toddler in a stroller and the hill is steep! :rofl:

You’re on the path, Bobby! Keep up the great work. Thanks for your posts.

Aloha,
Luke

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Great post and response Slim & Luke. Like HarpinBobby, I have mastered the ‘Duck’ -3’’ bend. I can hold this -3’’ right in the middle as shown with the Bend it Better tool, but the tonal quality is duck, or maybe candian geese-like :slight_smile: I have a decent Lee Oscar harp. Do these harps change with time? Should I have been cleaning every so often (never dipped in water). My DannyBoy sounds great until I have to hit the ‘A’ note. Unfortunately, there are 2 'A’s in this song. I am afraid to play this for my 4 year old granddaughter :frowning:

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Hi @RickJake,

Harps do change with time, but fortunately that is a rather long time (as the brass reeds age and oxidize, etc.).

Changes caused by not cleaning your harp can also happen, e.g. reeds that stick, shift in tone caused by accumulation of deposits on the reed(s), etc. These changes can occur (unfortunately) quickly, even soon after cleaning the harp, especially if you play without rinsing your mouth & throat after eating and/or drinking things (in particular: sticky things).

I have said elsewhere that I will post some photos of how I perform a typical cleaning, but I still have not managed to find the time do this :flushed: – I hope that in the next several days I can accomplish this and hopefully help those unsure about how to do it.

Regards,
– Slim

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@AstridHandbikebee63, maybe this diagram can help to explain better my idea about tabs using intervals. (I circle numbers to indicate draw notes rather than negative sign) :wink:

In the “Infinity Sign” on left, I indicate the key of the harp in top circle and the beginning note on the bottom.

@luke, this graphic shows the scales you indicate with a little flourish in the end and also the Blue’s Scale.

It seems to me more like sheet music and can easily take up fewer lines by showing odd numbers in middle of the line and even numbers in the line.

I love thinking about the notes in steps, as if they were steps leading up and down through the melody with “leaps” every now and then. Kind of like a Mario Bros Nintendo game :joy:

Has anyone ever seen harmonica tabs expressed this way? :thinking: :thought_balloon: :memo:

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Hallo @HarpinBobbyMcB,

interessant, interessant. Zuerst schaute ich auf dein Blatt und dachte:??? :thinking::thinking::thinking:
Und nein, so habe ich es noch nie gesehen.
Kurz intensiver geschaut und tatsächlich verstanden. Mir persönlich wäre es zu kompliziert, aber wer weiß, was in ein paar Wochen ist?
Letztendlich bin ich auch immer wieder am Verbessern mit kleinen Änderungen, wenn mich ein neuer Song neugierig macht.
Dankeschön für deine Mühe und Vorstellung!

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I’m looking forward to learning about LONG TONES and love the concept of DYNAMICS. I always remember in one of your videos where you were talking about people who don’t like to do covers, preferring to do more original songs.

As I recall, you said that playing music is a lot like language. Though we all use the same words, we each have a different way of saying them and putting them together though we can convey similar meanings.

With more DYNAMIC playing I think we can play about any song and make it sound interesting. A really soulful version of Row Row Your Boat could be more interesting than a very complicated song played without passion.

Seems to me it’s not so much “what” we play, but “how” we play it.

Great advice, thanks @Luke

:blush::+1:

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Blockquote

Yeah bro I think that’s a very enlightened way to look at it.

Also, the language analogy does serve a lot of useful purposes in pondering the nature of music. One harmonica teacher became very agitated and told me, “I hate it when people say music is a language. Music IS NOT a language.”

I’m like, “okkkkkaaaay. I’m not going to debate with you about whether it’s a language or not. The relevant question is what can we learn by using the analogy of learning a language as we contemplate the process of learning music.”

In my experience, we can learn quite a lot! Many cool concepts to consider, but here are 3 very important concepts in my opinion:

1.) Learn by immersion. Don’t expect to be fluent quickly. Immerse yourself and more and more will come together over time.

2.) Mimick what you hear.

3.) Put together phrases that everybody uses to express your own unique emotions in your own unique voice. (i.e. Don’t be afraid to do #2!)

Rock on,
Luke

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You’re right @Luke, it’s probably not worth debating about whether music is a language or not, but I too am convinced it is almost exactly the same, but different :joy:.

The proof to me is that two people can play or sing the exact same song, with the exact same notes, and yet each will infuse it with their own personality and style.

This proverb seems appropriate:

“Better to be an imperfect original of ourselves than a perfect copy of someone else.”

:notes: :nerd_face:

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Hallo @HarpinBobbyMcB, das ist so passend, dass ich es mir einrahmen könnte. :slightly_smiling_face:
Ich weiß nicht, wie es bei euch oder anderen ist. Sobald hier jemand hört, dass man Mundharmonika lernt oder spielt, wird gefragt, ob man schon “Once Upon a Time in the West” von Ennio Morricone gespielt hat.
Das wird ja eigentlich mit einer chromatischen Harp gespielt… :grin:
Gestern habe ich nun meine G Blues Harp im Austausch zurück bekommen. Leider war doch die 3. Stimmzunge (F#) defekt, wo ich die ersten Wochen dachte, es liegt an mir als Anfängerin. Nein, war unschuldig :joy:.
Nachmittag habe ich das tolle Lied gespielt und fast perfekt. Bei den letzten 4 Tönen und 20 mal durchspielen war dann die Luft und der Speichel weg.
Aber wieder einen kleinen Traum und Ziel erreicht. Das macht so viel Spaß, vor vier Wochen klang es nur wie eine :duck::frog: Mischung. :wink:
Dazu passt dein Zitat.
Schönes Wochenende und Halloween :bat:!
Beste Grüße Astrid

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