counting songs in tempo band practice rehearsal

Our second most common culprit for driving the band faster and faster... and one that most musicians won't notice, even when listening to themselves on recording... is the rushing of pickups. Let's use a tune everyone's familiar with... "Juke" by Little Walter. The first lick is 2 3 4 5+ 6+ 6+. The downbeat (beat 1... the beginning of the twelve bar blues form in this case) is the first 6+... the 2 3 4 5+ leads into this 6+ target note, and is known as a pickup. This lick is played eight times. Imagine if each time you play that pickup... the notes leading to the 6+... fast every time. continue reading...

Yesterday was the rehearsal for my students of School of the Blues for their winter concert. There are always comments... and there was yesterday... that the band played faster than they wanted (from the start) or that they rushed. I audio record the rehearsals and in most cases when we review the recording, the band gave them the exact tempo they counted.

So, where does it commonly go wrong?... continue reading...

A student on the forum of BluesHarmonica.com is having some challenges playing their study song in time to the provided jam track. Here's my response to him, slightly changed to fit this general audience... maybe you'll find this useful.

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Playing in time on your own, with the jam track, is no doubt a challenge.

Try this...

1) Play to the original (non-jam track) at 30% slow, first chorus, until you feel you have it.
2) Adjust the volume of the music softer than normal and play to the same track while recording yourself.
3) Listen back and critique your playing. continue reading...

I'm at Steve Baker's Harmonica Masters Workshop on lunch break preparing for my concert tonight. The last thing I do is check tempos. The #1 mistake made by performers is to count the song in too fast or slow. If you count it in too fast then you're playing catch-up the entire song... causing more mistakes to happen if it's a technically challenging song to play. If you count too slowly, then the song lacks drive... it drags.

So, the answer... continue reading...