Re: [Harp-L] Embossing and Overblows

[Mike Fugazzi <mikefugazzi@xxxxxxxxx>]

Yes!

Gapping is probably first and foremost to getting the overblows to work.
Overdraws can be hit or miss without doing more than just gapping.
Embossing is important, but even light embossing can make a difference.  I
am not sure embossing is as important as it is made out to be...if one is
simply trying to set up a harp to overbend.  However, if one is trying to
make a harp play the overbends to the best of one's ability, they are more
crucial.

I would say your order of gap, arc, and emboss is the right order in regards
to priority.  Overblow.com has some great examples of how to tell if a harp
is gapped well for obs.  Like I said, gapping is usually enough to find the
ob, but to get the best tone relative to the rest of the harp, you need to
do at least all three of those.

The 6ob is easiest, and then the 5, and finally the 4 (although more exist,
but these are the most "useful" in blues).  In regards to overdraws, setting
up for the 8 is easiest, but least useful.  7 is very doable, but almost
always has the worst tone to start.  The 9 is inbetween.  the actual playing
technique for the od is different than for an ob.  That goes beyond which
the direction the air is moving.

Maybe this isn't the best way to think of it, but gapping is what gives you
the ability to make a harp overbend.  Arcing helps to stabalize the bend
(and make it easier to play), and embossing helps control the airflow to
make playing the bend more efficient (which also makes it easier to play).
I am over simplifying it.

Overall, other mods like turbo tape/good combs, reed dampening, and
practice, practice, practice are things that take overbending from a cool
trick to real music.

Mike

--- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Elizabeth Hess <TinLizzie2010@...>
> wrote:
>
> So... can you overblow and overdraw without embossing or not?
>
> I can get some overblows on some chambers of some of my harps, and
> (very rarely) an overdraw.  Not consistently or readily, though.  I
> have watched Rupert Oysler's DVD, and I own Richard Sleigh's tool kit
> and book.  I think I get it about  *how*  to gap and arc and emboss
> (not that I'm very good at it -- I'm a klutz), but I'm not sure  *when*
>  to do which, or how to tell.
>
> Is this just one of those, "You'll understand when you're older," sort
> of things, or are there symptoms and signs that indicate which to do?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Elizabeth
>
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