groove form key blues soloing instrumentals solos harp harmonica

What do you do when you get lost in the music... i.e., can't feel the beat or know where you are in the form?

1) Use More Space - Longer rests between phrases gives you an opportunity to listen intently and focus on reestablishing your meter and where you are in the 12 Bar Blues form.

2) Use Longer Holds - This has the same affect as using space. Whether you hold a note (takes no brain power) or rest (takes no brain power), you can listen while doing any of these actions (or non-actions ;-) continue reading...

From your list of memorized instrumentals and solos, you wrote down what the grooves were. Within each groove, licks are contained that have a light feel, a dark feel and combinations, depending on what the band is playing to create that groove. Lighter notes tend to be chosen for Swings and Rhumbas (E's and B's), where Box Shuffles and Slow Blues will tend to use more bluesy notes (F's and B-flat's). continue reading...