Sonny Terry/Overblows



Tony Morielli asks about Sonny Terry and overblows.

Yes, that is Woody Guthrie. I have those same cuts on a different
compilation. They used to gig together a lot, sometimes with
Leadbelly, in the late '40s.

You're confusing high blow bends - which you already know how to
do - with overblowing. This is not unusual.

High blow bends, by the way, are a good preparation for learning
to overblow.

In Blow 6, an overblow will cthe blow note to suddenly pop upward
in pitch. The technique is almost the same as bending, but it
produces the opposite result, and is more difficult to get right.
Here is Hole 6 of a C harp:

         ======
         |    |
OVERBLOW | Bb | <----
         |====|     |
         |    |     |
DRAW NOTE| A  | |   |
         |====| |   |
         |    | |   |
DRAW BEND| Ab | V   |
         |====|     |
         |    |     |
BLOW NOTE| G  |------
         ======

The higher note - draw A in this case, bends down to a semitone
above the lower note. The lower note - Blow G in this case,
overblows to a semitone above the higher note.

It doesn't matter which note is blow or draw, it matters which
note is higher in pitch.

In hole 1-6, the draw notes are higher in pitch, and can be bend.
In Holes 7-12, the blow notes are the ones that bend because the
tuning shifts in Hole 7 and the blow notes are higher in pitch.

Likewise, the lower notes in any hole can be overblown. This
means the blow notes in Holes 1-6, and the overDRAWS in Holes
7-12.

This is, and a lot of other overblow info, is explained in great
detail in HIP No. 4, coming out next month.






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