See it's not as simple as grabbing a harmonica in the key of "A" when the rest of the band is playing a song in the key of "A". Oh no! It's not that simple. Till now!
If it's me you want to jive,
You take my harp - and go up five.
If it's you gonna play some more,
I'll take you key - and go up four.
This diddy (a.k.a. algorythmn) is perfect to memorize to quickly translate back and forth between a harmonica player and another instrument. And that is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL if you're tring to play with others or your own guitar when you are mostly a "cross-harp" or blues harmonica player.
Two meta-points I want to make first before I explain this diddy/algorythmn (diddlygorythmn? algordiddy? well, Al Gore diddy or didn't he? ... sorry)
1. Memory - Like how Dostoevsky's clerk from "underground" figured his liver was bad but wasn't sure, that's how I feel about my memory. I can't remember sh*t. But part of the problem is, I really don't want to either. Everything I've ever committed to memory I had to forget later - because it was wrong! So why waste mental space for trivia that can be disputed, is probably wrong, and science, teachers, culture, and kids will later change?
(This is a post-modern problem if that means anything to you.)
Plus, I'm getting older. I don't go to college classes and learn stuff for tests, I hardly ever talk intelligently with humans (sure we debate work problems from cubicle to cubicle now and then - but mostly its more of a human political balancing act), I drink more, the LSD and drugs of my youth are probably catching up with my brain cells, and damnit - I just don't hardly give a shit about information I probably won't use!
All knowledge, meaning, information seems meaningless! I mean, you can "guess or google" ANYTHING in a matter of minutes! Why should I memorize it?!
Oh well... anyway... it was from embarassment of having about 10 harps on me and fiddling through each one of them to find the key to a song (by then it's half over), that I got tired of "playing it by ear" and I made up this diddygorythmn.
2. Driving Time - (I'll make this point quicker) Use your driving time! Use it to create and do something. Don't use it to consume, smoke cigarettes, listen to music, drink your coffee and space out - or chatter chatter your little mind away.) Use it to CREATE something! DO something that you can do with your time AND while driving.
I made up the above "diddygorythmn" to solve an ongoing legitimate problem that I've never faced up to or thought through that has driven me embarrassingly crazy over the years and made me look like an amateur moron many a time.
I taught myself how to play this harmonica - completely while driving to work. I taught myself. I only used the time I would normally just be driving to work. Wasted time converted into a talent.
Time may be your only truly limited resource.
You drive to work. It takes 30, 40, 50+ minutes a day. Possibley twice that going back and forth to work. You have 24 hours in a day. You live maybe 75 years. That's it. It costs you a lot more than gasoline and insurance coverage to drive to work. It costs you your life.
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