Re: Jerry Adler's bendings

[Slim Heilpern <slim@xxxxxxxxxx>]

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Hi Fernando -

Yes, it's very usual to bend notes on chromatic and it's not very 
difficult. I think the question isn't why you need to do it, rather why 
you wouldn't take advantage of it.  It's simply another way to express 
yourself and develop a unique style. Just like on the guitar (which is 
also chromatic), bending can be used as a tool to help the instrument 
sing. It's the foundation for a class of vibrato as well as a mechanism 
for giving the instrument some character -- something that sets a 
chromatic harp apart from a melodica ;-).

Jerry is indeed a wonderful player. Other great chromatic benders you 
can learn from:

Toots Thielemans
Stevie Wonder
Larry Adler
Gregoire Maret
William Gallison
and many more.....

Hope this helps....

- - Slim.

Fernando Javier Toral wrote:

>Just to post some harp-related message (aside from PBS series complains
>and Clapton's eternal puzzle)...
>
>Yesterday I purchased "The Harmonica Magic or Jerry Adler", a live concert
>recorded at Abilene Civic Center, Texas, in 1992. I shall not write about
>Jerry's superb playing, but I would like to learn a little about chromatic
>harp: he uses some bendings (or so it seems to me) on "Perfidia" and other
>tunes, so the question is:
>
>is it usual to bend notes on a chromatic, as when playing with a diatonic?
>I read somewhere that bending is not needed (or used or convenient) in
>chromatic harps, and would like to know why.
>
>Thanks, and forgive me to bring a harp question
>
>Fernando Toral
>Argentina
>
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