[Harp-L] Re: Overblows in the blues (and anywhere else for that matter)

[Richard Hammersley <rhhammersley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

People have been getting tetchy again about whether overblows are good  
or not so good. "Good" seems to mean sufficiently stable in tone,  
pitch, volume and timbre to be usable musically. As Buddha points out,  
some players clearly can do this, at least to my ears. However,  
mastering overblows takes a lot of practice, including some of the  
less pleasant kind of practice where you make annoying noises rather  
than anything even vaguely musical. Also, it requires a tweaked, or  
even customised harp. I am learning overblows out of interest, but I  
prefer the other route to being able to play chromatically on a  
diatonic, which is to use valved harps. Please do not reply telling me  
how expensive they are, because they are buttons compared to, say, a  
custom tube amp. I use XB-40s and Suzuki MR350 valved. When I started  
trying them I preferred the Suzuki's but I now prefer the XB-40s. They  
take a bit more practice to get used to the larger size and to hitting  
the bends properly. I think these are the way forwards for the less  
patient or dedicated intermediate player. Of course in the lips of  
beginners they could be aural torment as everything can be bent even  
when it should not be.

Richard


Richard Hammersley
Grantshouse, Scottish Borders
http://www.last.fm/music/Richard+Hammersley
http://www.myspace.com/rhammersley
http://www.myspace.com/magpiesittingdown