Re: [Harp-L] The Top Three Holes

[Larry Marks <larry.marks@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yes. The entire airway is an acoustic chamber under your control. It is 
really important in the top register to get a good tone, but even more 
important is playing gingerly. You can get great sounding bends and good 
control over them if you play very gently. If you have to play hard to 
get your bends in the upper register, you are not using your tongue 
correctly. Think of the doctor and his tongue depresser. Also, don't try 
to play loud or you will sound shrill. Remember what your amp is for!

One of the problems with the upper register in blues is that a number of 
notes that you can play in the lower registers are unavailable in the 
upper register, most notably the minor third and flatted fifth. This can 
be overcome by playing Overdraw (OD) to get the missing notes, or using 
a (half) valved instrument.

In reading this thread, I have an idea and am curious if anyone has 
tried it. I play mostly valved instruments but I also play OB/OD, but I 
am not very happy with my OD in the upper register after having worked 
on it for a long time but I really like OB in the lower registers.

My idea is valving 7 - 10 on an OB instrument. Has anyone tried that? 
Any reason why it wouldn't it work? Can anyone share his experience with 
me playing OD and sounding good in the upper registers?


 -LM