Re: [Harp-L] tongue-blocking and overblows

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

First, work on your tongue-blocked blow bends in Holes 7 thru 10. Doing this on 
a low-pitched harmonica will make it a bit easier.

Once you have a good command of tongue-blocked blow bends, use that as a point 
of departure for working on overblows, starting with Hole 6, possibly on a 
higher-pitched harp.

Another, complimentary, approach, is to focus on bending Draw 6, then applying 
the same technique to Blow 6. At first you may get a slight drop in pitch, or 
just rushing air, or some ungodly squeal. With a bit more prodding and focus, 
you'll find the overblow.

You sometimes hear people saying you have to bend from the throat with a tongue 
block. Without commenting specifically on this advice, I'd ask you to bear in 
mind that the higher-pitched the bend, the smaller the resonant chamber. So for 
higher notes you have to concentrate on making the resonant chamber smaller 
either by reducing its vertical volume or by placing it farther forward in the 
mouth, or both. On any given harp, the overblows will be lower in pitch than the 
blow bends, so you need to make the resonant chamber slightly larger for those 
slightly lower notes.


Winslow
Winslow Yerxa
Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
Harmonica instructor, The Jazzschool for Music Study and Performance
Resident expert, bluesharmonica.com
Columnist, harmonicasessions.com




________________________________
From: Richard Pole <richard.pole@xxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sat, December 25, 2010 10:49:47 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] tongue-blocking and overblows

Can anybody explain how to play overblows with tongue-blocking-technique?

Thanks,
Richard
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