RE: [Harp-L] Basic overblowing question



very good advice and thanks to George "no nickname" Brooks for filling in the holes in my hastily composed reply. I like the advice of contolling both bends in 10 blow. A very good benchmark to reach! Try it all on a harp between G and C though.

George himself is an incredible talent-thanks.

Michael Peloquin
http://www.globerecords.com/cgi-bin/db/search.cgi?specific=itemno&phrase=GLO-025




From: George Brooks <gbrooks1@xxxxxxxxx>
Michael Peloquin wrote:

>6 OB gives you the minor 3rd note of the scale-
>BLUE NOTE #1! this is the same note as
>(1 octave below) 3 draw bent down 1/2 step
>(1stbend)

MP can really play, and he knows a lot more theory than I do (he's a great tenor sax player as well; almost all of the harmonica players that know a lot of music theory play another instrument, but that's a discussion for a different time). I would simply add, for those with little or no theory, that the 6OB gives you the minor 3rd *in crossharp*, also called second position. This is the most commonly used position for the blues. In other positions, the 6OB fulfills different roles.

Let's take a C harp as an example. The root notes *in crossharp* are the 2 draw/3 blow, 6 blow, and 9 blow (all "G"). The G major scale is G A B C D E F# G. The third note (or third degree of the scale) is B. The *minor* third is the third degree flatted by one semitone (a half step): Bb. On a C harp, this is hole 3 draw bent down a semitone, hole 6 OB, and hole 10 blow bent down a whole tone (two half steps).

There are two blow bends available in hole 10, a half step bend (B on a C harp) and a whole step bend (Bb on a C harp). The technique for overblowing is similar to that used to play the high blow bends. One piece of advice I have heard is that you should be able to hit and control both of the hole 10 blow bends before tackling overblowing. I do not want to discourage anyone from exploring overblows, heaven knows, but I think it is good advice.

George

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