After some significant delays, my chromatic harmonicas were finally deliverd. I figured I would record my first impressions here.

So, I know I’m in danger with this current line of thinking, because changing course just as you start learning something can lead to a lot of errant twists without making any progress. I’ve only just started to learn bending on the harmonica at all, let alone learn to do it well.

… But I can’t get the idea out of my mind that I might want to switch to chromatic harp instead. And while I shouldn’t quit before I get a good sense of something, I similarly shouldn’t ignore my own feedback and preferences when other viable alternatives exist.

Sure, The grass is always greener on the other side, but there are a few reasons that I’m taking this seriously enough to try a switch.

Though I have attempted to learn harmonica a handful of times in my life, I’ve always given up when it was time to learn bending. I can now proudly say, I have finally produced an absolutely terrible, but absolutely undeniable, bend on the harmonica.

Boy, there was some great wrap-up in there, and some disappointment for me as well.

One of the things I like about Stoicism is that it encourages thinking up new, shorter, pithier phrases for key ideas. More wisdom per word is the name of the game. For example (not all from Stoic writers):

• What we desire makes us vulnerable
• Ego is the enemy
• What if I had no opinion about this?
• You are the sum of your actions. Choose wisely.

There’s one I picked up from a non-Stoic text I’d like to share today: You Are Here.

As I’ve been learning harmonica, one of the fun things that I’ve tried my hand at a few times is transposing music I like into harmonica tabs. Going the traditional music theory route was fun for a few rounds, but then the tedium started to set in, and I wanted to find other ways of doing it.

Enter, MuseScore.