About 10 years ago I learned the magic of 5 minutes. In addition to harmonica, I’ve played guitar all my life, and about 10 yrs ago I realized that I couldn’t play arpeggios well.
In case you don’t know, an arpeggio is just playing the notes in a chord one at a time, instead of playing them simultaneously. I could play scales and chords, but some how I’d neglected to learn arpeggios.
Well somebody had recently told me the about the 5-minute miracle. Practice something for 5 minutes EVERY DAY. Set a timer. DON’T ALLOW yourself to practice any more than 5 minutes. Your frustration will teach your body to get into it even faster, to be more ready to get it the next day. That’s the general philosophy…
So, I tried it, and I was committed. Every morning I did it. I used the timer feature on my smartphone metronome app so the click would stop after 5 minutes. (Confession: sometimes I would re-start it once or twice.)
Part of the idea of this is tricking you into practicing. “IT’S ONLY 5 MINUTES! CERTAINLY I can spare FIVE MEASLY MINUTES!” LOL.
Anyways, starting yesterday, I’m committing myself to practice inhaling and doing the coughing technique in time on draw holes 1-6 in order to try and develop a vibrato for the first time in my life.
We shall see 2 things at the end of June:
1.) Am I able to do succeed at practicing for 5 minutes a day (I have my doubts)
2.) Did it create a miracle?
Either YES: I can play with a rich vibrato now!
Or NO: I STILL can’t fricken do a vibrato! LOL.
Wanna join me? Wanna try out the 5-minute miracle? LMK what you’re gonna commit to. Let’s hold each other accountable!
Ha! Well you probably can get a 6 pack exercising 5 minutes a day for a month… if you don’t eat anything for the entire 30 days!
Part of the idea here is your basically “tricking” yourself into practicing because who can’t spare 5 minutes out of their day? I mean…it’s FIVE FRICKEN MINUTES! LOL.
I’ll keep you posted. I’m 9 days in, and I’ve only missed one day. I’m shooting for 7 days/week, but I’ll consider 6 days/week to still be a success. As of today, I still can’t do a killer vibrato, BUT I have noticed an improvement in my playing.
I’ll check back in 3 weeks and let you know how it went…
Part of what you’re doing is called “time blocking” and is defined by blocking out a fairly short amount of time and doing something, and doing it only for that long. (5 minutes, 15 minutes are the most common amounts). This is also sometimes called the “Pomodoro technique” because it was popularized in recent(-ish) years with a tomato-shaped timer used. ("pomodoro’ is Italian for tomato).
It’s a great technique for doing something you’re not keen to do (including things like cleaning or getting to things you’ve been procrastinating).
Because you know it’s relatively short and it is 100% OK to stop after that time, you can do it. (Works pretty well with kids and chores, too.)
Great to see/hear it applied to practicing a new technique!
When training dogs, I really learned the importance of (1) stopping before you’re frustrated (the dog or you), and (2) trying to always end on something fun and positive.
Setting a time-limit is a great way to help with (1).
I guess ending with something fun and positive might be to play whatever you’ve most recently accomplished/gained confidence with. For you, Luke, I guess that’d be to end with whatever arpeggio you feel great about. For me, it’d currently be a simple train chugging (v e e e r y . s l o o o w l y ) One day it will be a consistent, solid sounding 2-draw.
I know the OP is old, but I’m reading through the forum (learning lots!) and thought I’d chime in.
Hey (Simian, is it?) - welcome to the forum! Wow so cool to hear about this. Thanks for sharing. And yeah I think the dog training principle apply well to practice routines as well!
Looking forward to seeing you around the forum more.
I had tried vibrato before my lessons with the “backwards coughing” technique that Tomlin Leckie showed me, but I quickly gave it up and thought I could make the “vibrato” with my tongue to get that sound I always wanted. But I couldn’t get that no matter what I tried and especially since it doesn’t sound like the Terry McMillan style throat vibrato that I liked. To me, the coughing method sounds way too shallow when I wanted a vibrato that sounded rich and full. So Todd was the one who taught me in his ways and really helped me shape my vibrato sound to how it sounds like today.
@KeroroRinChou you’ve piqued my curiosity. I just sent Todd a msg to try and schedule a lesson on vibrato. I always thought McMillan’s vibrato was throat vibrato! It’s so deep!
@Luke Even the teacher is taking lessons. I love it. Life long learning. That’s the spirit. @KeroroRinChou this is irrelevant for me at the moment but I am getting curious too. Todd who? If it is not a backward coughing vibrato, what technique is used? At least what is the name of it so I can check it later when needed?
My friend, Todd Parrott. I’m genuinely surprised that you don’t know him, but I don’t know how long you’ve been in the community so I won’t take that for granted. Todd is a country and gospel harmonica player from North Carolina who I think is nicest and funniest person you’ll ever meet. He’s also considered by many players to be the best harmonica teacher out there. I really like him as a teacher because he knew what it was like to be a beginner and he explains everything in lehman’s terms that anybody could understand what he’s saying. He also grew up on some of the same music I did, being 90s country and gospel music featuring Terry McMillan, another country player who had a very soulful playing style.
For the vibrato technique, it’s just called throat vibrato but I describe it more as a gulping vibrato. I would describe this technique as if you’re gulping down a drink from a water bottle, but you’re doing the “gulp” at a very fast rate. Todd has a different explanation for it, I’ll link the video for his description of it but the whole video is worth a watch. There’s a lot of very useful info for harmonica playing in it.
@KeroroRinChou I started @Luke “beginner to boss course” less than 2 months ago and have joined the community about 1 month 1/2 ago. I have everything to learn
Thank you for the explanation and sharing the link. I’ll save that preciously and get back to it in time. Right now I need to go back to work on my single notes
Sounds like a great system. Repetition drives me crazy. I could never do it but I’m sure it works. I really admire your rigid approach.
I hope you don’t forget to play a tune you love and have fun.
Holey Moley @Mugen, that’s some evolution of the 5-minute rule. I’m generally a very disciplined person and I don’t mind a bit of repetition, but I couldn’t do all that every day. I’m impressed that you can. Talk about fast tracking!
I agree with @toogdog though, remember to have some fun along the way.
But never say never.
or getting to things you’ve been procrastinating).
) One day it will be a consistent, solid sounding 2-draw.
Good lookin’ out! 
