RE: [Harp-L] A bit of an introduction

["Eugene Ryan" <ryan.eugene@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hey JJ,

> > As I told you I´m coming back to serious practising after a long pause.

Good to hear that...

> > However, the very first harp-book I got was"How to Play the Pocket
> > Harmonica" by Peter Pickow and Jason A. Shulman

It sounds like you've taken almost the exact same path as I did!   My
first book was that book by Pickow and Shulman and it got me
interested enough to try bending notes etc.  I then collected and used
the other great books you mentioned, each of them was an eye opener
for me too.

> > 2. On the other hand I have been trying to play everything, no matter what it
> > is, on a Bb harmonica which is the harp I like the best and is generally the
> > best keyed harp for playing jazz.

Agreed - best keyed *blues harp/diatonic* for playing standards.  This
is what I was doing, for the most part, for jazz - using a Bb diatonic
and then changing harp for a different song if the key got too
difficult (read "didn't sound good") for me and the Bb harp.  Having
invested a not inconsiderable amount of time playing in multiple keys
on the one diatonic, I decided to switch to a chromatic harmonica for
most jazz.

> > playing chromatically tongue-blocked or otherwise mixing the two
techniques? It
> > seems to me that it´s impossible to play for example an overblow with a tongue
> > slap.

I mix the two techniques, as in, play TB for some things and then
switch to pucker for overblows and other things.  I've heard that
overblowing can be done with TB embouchure, but I could be wrong there
as I haven't spent much time experimenting with that.

> > If I go all the way and buy a Filisko Method harp from James Gordon
my >>question is this: As I´ve mostly used Golden Melodys when playing
jazz (but >>also like very much the tone of the Marine band), I´d like
to ask if Gordon´s >> >>Overblow Setup Marine Band with composite comb
has the same playing ease >>and overblowing respond as the best G.M.
he or others customize. It´s >>considerably more

I recommend Jimmy Gordon's work highly.  I've bought both GMs and MBs
from him.  I tend to prefer the GMs over the MBs, but that is also
true of stock factory harps - I prefer the standard GM to the standard
MB.  Jimmy's MB is almost nothing like a standard Marine Band IMO -
the comb is replaced, the plates worked on, wider covers (wider in the
mouth too).  BTW I don't mean to speak for Jimmy - I think he is on
this list and he is much better able to talk about the work he does
than I am.  Both his MBs and GMs overblow with equal ease.  The only
thing I would say is that if you are going to play a lot of overblows
and particularly overdraws, that you may want to get his "overblow
setup" harp rather than his "Blues Setup".  The gapping is certainly
narrower on the "overblow" harp, something you would want to take into
consideration.

I have a Bb GM with overblow setup from Jimmy, and it is the best
set-up diatonic I have ever played.  It may not suit a blues player
that plays hard and doesn't use overblows, though.  I tend to set up
my own harps for blues playing and the gapping is different than on
the GM I mentioned, but I love his overblow GM.

> > Where were you when first bent a note, I was in the bath tube.

Dunno! Athy, Co. Kildare, Ireland, I think.

> > What was the first song you figured out, mine was the wedding march (!) or a
> > part of it and I´m still unmarried.

Part of the Beatles "Love Me Do", although I think I learned
"Clementine" with a gobful of chords from the Pickow/Shulman book as
soon as I bought the book.

> > Best regards and happy harping to all of you,

All the best to you too,
Eugene (Ireland)
http://www.eugeneryan.com