Re: [Harp-L] Harp on Cheek : a cheat for it

["hazcon" <hazcon@xxxxxxxxxx>]

For some reason even though i have fairly large hands i could never get that 
cheek seal thing going,my fingers just don't seem flexible enough.
Anyway i cheated by putting a strip of tape along the back of the spanning 
the distance between the 10 to the six or seven holes,thus effectively 
sealing off the back of the harp to any back pressure leakage. My normal cup 
technique took care of the rest of the holes.
           Now to my ears anyway, this made no real perceptible difference 
to the tone of the high notes,in fact if anything it slightly improved it by 
taking a smidge of shrillness of them.And,this is the bonus, somehow the 
tape creates a bit of back pressure and makes those high bends easier to get 
and sustain.
    Anyway for the price of a piece of tape what have you got to lose if 
you want to give it a try.
The above is all in the past tense because i don't really do the heavy 
cupping style these days.Still love the sound of it done well though

As always ymmv
Rick in NZ

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jon Vaughan" <jon-harpl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 00:17
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Harp on Cheek (was sealing front)


> I agree with what Steve, Greg and others have written about this - the
> seal at the front of the harp does make a big difference to amplified
> sound.
>
> It is also possible to seal against the left cheek (with right thumb
> wrapped around the front of the harp to seal the right side).  I find
> this much more comfortable and easier to move around although I would
> probably get used to sealing against the right cheek eventually.
>
> I don't seem to be alone in this: At least Kim Wilson and Walter
> Horton appear to do it this way:
>
> Walter Horton: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv-S6Aza2p8
> Kim Wilson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1nELTY6I5s
>
> Jon
>
> On Tue, Apr 7, 2009 at 11:02 AM, Steve Baker <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > I suspect that most accomplished blues style tongue blockers on the 
> > 10-hole
> > lay the upper channel openings against the cheek on the opposite side of 
> > the
> > face to the one they block on when playing the lower holes. There is some
> > great film material from the 1960s American Folk Blues Festivals showing
> > Walter Horton, Rice Miller and other players, all of whom appear to do 
> > this.
> > When playing this style I block left and seal off the front of the harp
> > against the right cheek, as I'm playing out of the right hand side of my
> > mouth. The right thumb works like a stopper that closes the chamber when 
> > you
> > hook it around the front right hand end of the harp where it comes away 
> > from
> > your cheek.
> >
> > Total enclosure allows the player to create much more powerful hand 
> > effects.
> > It can't easily be done with a pucker, because the harp is then in the
> > middle of your mouth instead of at one side. This means you'd have to 
> > seal
> > off both sides, which is much more difficult. As mentioned by other
> > respondents on this theme, the technique also works brilliantly when 
> > playing
> > with a bullet mic and allows the player to drive the mic element to 
> > produce
> > a more dynamic distortion than can be achieved by turning up the gain on 
> > the
> > amp. It's the reason why most of the great electric blues players use
> > relatively clean amp settings and build the distortion through how they
> > hold, as this gives you much more control over tonal variation than a
> > distorted amp sound can do,
> >
> > Steve
> >
> > www.stevebaker.de
> > www.bluesculture.com
> > _______________________________________________
> > Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
> > Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
> > http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l
> _______________________________________________
> Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
> Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
> http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l