Hello and welcome to this week’s harmonica lesson which is a little different from normal. I am going to be showing you an awesome improvisation exercise I use with all level of my students to help them be more creative. Furthermore, this exercise will improve your rhythm massively!
You will need a harmonica in the key of C to play along with me but please feel free to try this exercise out on all other keys.
Recurring theme
Having a recurring theme like the I’m a man riff serves two purposes. The first is that it keeps you anchored rhythmically because you need to come back to the same riff every single bar. Secondly, it doesn’t give you too much space to fill so you don’t have too much pressure on yourself.
Make it as easy or hard as you want
To start with, I suggest you limit yourself to improvising using just two notes – the 2 draw and the 3 draw. However, once you become really comfortable with this you can start to increase the complication by using more notes and intricate phrases. This is why this exercise is suitable for all levels of player.
Using other riffs
Once you are bored with the I’m a man riff, you can start using other similar riffs of your choosing.
Here is a lesson I created on variations of the I’m a man riff to give you a little bit more inspiration – Iām a Man, Mannish Boy, Hoochie Coochie Man, Bad to the Bone riffs
Harmonica trance
You are aiming to get to a stage that I call the “harmonica trance”. This is where everything is feeling good and you are playing perfectly in time. Music seems to flow from the instrument and you lose awareness of time! Definitely a good place to be…
I would really recommend doing this exercise every day for a month and pushing yourself harder and harder. If you find that you start to lose the rhythm, pull back a little bit. Most importantly; keep testing yourself!
Thank you
Thank you for taking part in this week’s harmonica lesson. I hope you enjoyed it. Now, you can do something for me and share this lesson with your friends on Facebook and/or Twitter.
Do you want to get better at improvising?
If improvisation is still a bit of a mystery to you, I recommend you check out my Introduction to Improvisation eCourse. In this premium course I will give you everything you need to get started improvising over a 12 bar blues.
Click here to find out more about my Introdution to Improvisation eCourse
Interesting! Thanks again, Tomlin!
Knut
Hi Tomlin, I am thoroughly enjoying the lessons so far although I still struggle to bend notes. Just recently bought a Hohner Special 20 which has helped. Sometimes I can bend a note to a lower pitch but other times it sounds like the pitch is getting higher. Am I doing something wrong or is it my imagination that the pitch is sometimes getting higher.
Thanks again for the lessons you have sent me so far
Hi, Can you please help. I am playing my harp and sometimes (not often) I blow and nothing comes out yet I seem to be doing exactly the same as when I play it without a problem.
I cannot press “like” because when I do it wants me to sign up for a wordpress account for my business. I don’t have a business and don’t want to sign up for a domain name.
Great lesson Tomlin – hours of fun to come!
Dear Tomlin, everything you are suggesting is excellent. I’m learning so
much! I always want to write more but then I would have to fill pages.
You make me work more than I have time.
One last thing: I can’t log in on your website. It always says “wrong address or password” although I haven’t changed anything. Thanks again so much. Eike.
P.S. Will Scotland remain European?
As always…I enjoy your lessons…thank you !!
I look forward to giving this a good go , thank again Tomlin
Thanks!
Very very helpful.
Thanks a lot.
I enjoyed and waiting for next lesson
Hi Steve, I think it is probably your imagination that the bends are going up in tone unless you are accidentally overblowing (very unlikely to do by accident). I would keep chipping away at the bending and don’t rush it. It takes some time but you will get there š
If nothing comes out it usually means that you are playing too hard. Check out this lesson on breathing – http://www.tomlinharmonicalessons.com/how-to-breathe-properly-on-harmonica/
Good luck!
Hi Larry – no worries, you don’t need to hit ‘like’. It is only helpful if you already have your own WordPress blog. Cheers, Tomlin
Hi Eike, did you manage to log in to the site in the end? Cheers, T
Nice one. Thanks, Tomlin!