Re: [Harp-L] re; godd or bad haprs?

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

It's you. No way a Special 20 should go bad that fast.

The fact that a note blanks out and later works indicates that you're
hitting it too hard and it's refusing to respond. That same excess
energy will wear out reeds faster than normal. Later, perhaps offstage,
you start the note with elss forces and it works.

Onstage the adrenaline of performing and being in front of an audience
may be making you channel your energy into excessive force in attacking
the harmonica, which adds fuel to the fire but is its own phenomenon.

Here's the first thing I'd recommend. 

Just breathe. 

Don't blow. Don't suck.

Breathe gently and naturally when you play. That's all that you need to
get a full, rich sound out of the harmonica.

Practice playing a four-hole chord (like holes 1,2,3,4 all together)
exhaling for four seconds, then inhaling for four seconds, repeating
and listening to the sound you're making. 

Again, don't blow, don't suck. Initiate each breath firmly but gently. 

Hold the same level of air movements and sound volume for the entire
breath, keeping a steady level of sound at all times.

Do this in all registers of the harp, spending about two minutes (15
in-breaths, 15 out-breaths) on each location.

Now do the same thing with all the single notes on the harp.

Now do it with bends. Play them as gently as possible, including
getting the bent note started.

Then play slow melodic lines.

Then play faster and faster lines, always gently and always with a
maximum of relaxation and a minimum of energy used.

Work this process from warm-up exercises to practicing licks, scales,
and other musical materials, to rehearsing with a band, to taking it
onstage.

Winslow


--- Mark Kegel <mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I find myself going thru allot of harps lately.
> Those Special 20's aren't cheap either.
> Maybe its not my harps,  but me.
> Sometimes notes just plain disappear in the middle of a solo.
> Sometimes I'll pick up that same harp later on and find it works just
> fine.
> Is it me just blowing too hard on 'em. Should new harps last more
> than
> just a few songs?
> I need tips here folks.
> Maybe I'll start buying the cheaper harps and pitch them after each
> night.
>                                                                      
>       
>        
>                                                             Harpo
> Mark from Rockford
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