Harmonica players - What's the best way to practice bow?
Did you just play scales? What I do is hit a key on the piano and then try to work that show the exact harmonica. Then I go to the next note. Can you give me any advice on how to get my bow down to where it is effortless. I've been playing 11 years and I I still struggle to bend for some reason. Is this weird? I need to get past this hurdle. Any advice?
First, you should always practice turns. It is easier to to do as you say, play a few gigs a week. If you're like most people, the majority of your playtime is "pracitice" time. You're probably pretty busy with "the rest of your life" to practice as much as you want. I play lots of gigs, but I still find it hard to juggle practice, work, marriage, gym time, etc. So, my first point of advice is to realize that good turns are not so easy to develop or maintain w / o any effort. The piano will indeed help with intonation. If that gets boring, play "tunes" is a great way to work in corners. If you know a melody, and the notes you need are bent notes, you will "Knows" if you're hitting the right notes or not. Finding what harp tab and try to play some songs you know. This will make you more interesting, and help focus your bow. When I first learned, to this day, I do bending exercises. Choose a hole and just all turns on. Start natural, bend it down, then a backup. Then start at the lowest curve and hit the turn or bend a backup natural pitch. Do it over and over and over and over again. Without hearing you play, I can not say for sure what your problem is. For most people, the problem lies with their single note technique. If you get sloppy several notes, the bow will be challenging. Spend some time on YouTube. There's some good videos diffraction technique. I even made one. I am "12gagedan. Adam Gussow and Ronnie Shellist do a better job teaching harp. Good luck, DG