Tip of the Day

Here's a general practice plan to follow...

Daily
1 Hour Practice
10m - Technique Practice (this can be a technique like bending, tongue blocking, a scale, etc.)
30m - Study Song(s)
20m - Apply the lick(s) you worked on that day to a jam track (Chorus Forms)

Weekly continue reading...

One of the great attributes of the harmonica is that it can be practiced anywhere. Some repetitive practice can be done anywhere, but for song study you'll need a place where you can set things up. In this practice place you need...

1) Music Stand

2) All of your keys of harps

3) CD player that can slow down and loop music or the same in program form (like the Amazing Slow Downer) on a computer.

4) CD with the song you're studying and jam track CDs (or the equivalent on your computer). continue reading...

Consistency is the key when it comes to practice. It's better to practice a half hour each day than one hour every other day. This way you're never reviewing, you're always moving forward. If you're in your woodshed years and practice more than an hour each day you may find it more effective to break your practice into different parts of the day. A good example would be one session in the morning and one in the evening.

One hour daily practice time is the standard for someone learning an instrument... you'll see good growth with this.

Half hour a day is not bad, but you'll grow much slower.

10 minutes a day will sustain what you've learned as long as you review past material regularly.

If you're serious about your studies... ALL great players had their "woodshed" years... of which is commonly three hours or more a day for four years.

A wonderful aspect of playing the harmonica is that it's portable... you can literally practice anywhere.

Some technique practice, such as bending, works just fine practicing in small chunks of time throughout the day... 5 minutes at a time for example. In the case of bending, you're developing muscle memory, so it's preferred to practice in this way.

Areas of focus, such as working on a study song or improvising, requires longer practice time. continue reading...

Making your own harp case is one of the fun things to do as a harp player. Try some of the containers below...

- Lunch Box
- Doctor's Bag - no foam for this one... just drop them in and go. This is not the most organized way to go of course.
- Tackle Box - The dividers are a good size for harps
- Tool box - The small boxes for specialty hand tool can be re-purposed really nicely.
- Makeup Box - Old and new, these are the best. They're a great size (not too big), light-weight (usually made out of aluminum) and cheep (throw the cheep makeup away). continue reading...

When practicing with headphones, choose headphones that don't fully close off your hearing (this would be the large headphones that fully enclose your ears)... this way you can hear what you're playing well. Standard earbud headphones work well. If you do use the larger headphones slide one side off.

When I was a young harp player I would get so nervous when sitting in that I would get dry mouth big time for the first couple of songs. I searched for the perfect drink that would help keep my mouth moist... something that would help me salivate, but not too much (we all know how bad too much spit is). When I opened for Cotton (I was 18) for the first time believe it or not I had a slice of lemon sitting on my amp... I wasn't going to get dry mouth opening for Cotton! ;-) continue reading...

Interested in learning more about music? "Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory, Complete" is a great book/CD set.

Ever thought about singing? Check out "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Singing."