[Harp-L] Re: was genius now playing out of tune

[Michael Easton <diachrome@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I hear blues harp players playing out of tune a lot.  Not in  
recordings so much as in jam situations.   Poor use of chording and  
hitting draw notes/chords too hard causing some of the reeds to play  
flat.
It's like the person isn't sure if they should play the 4-5 or 6 draw  
so they hit a variation on the three bending notes in the process.   
While they think they are feeling the music I sit in the audience and  
cringe when reeds are attacked in that manner.

Constant  playing like that will put a harmonica out of tune and  
instill  poor technique unless the player changes his/her habits.

There is playing out of tune for technique and there is just poor  
technique from  playing out of tune.

 On Apr 24, 2010, at 1:19 AM, harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> Message: 4
> Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2010 14:22:46 -0400
> From: icemanle@xxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Chris Michalek... harmonica genius
> To: Chromboy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Message-ID: <8CCB1291B597EDD-1FA0-212B0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> To further explain, I wasn't referring to all blues players actually  
> playing out of tune. The statement was mostly directed towards  
> harmonica players. Blues harmonica bends reflect that moaning,  
> wailing sound that is between notes, expressing emotion rather than  
> pitch perfect notes. On just tuned harmonicas, a sustained 5 hole  
> inhale sounds out of tune (flat), but it works within the idiom...

Michael Easton
www.harmonicarepair.com