Re: [Harp-L] Chromatic harmonica for smaller mouths?

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

If you can't play octaves, the next question is, why do you need them?

If you're playing blues chromatic, it's true that octaves have become standard practice, and the source of that seems to be George Smith and his many disciples.

However, listen to Little Walter playing chromatic. He almost never played octaves (I can think of only one instance, during his solo on Muddy Waters' recording of "I Just Want To Make Love to You.") And yet he was one of the very best at third-position blues chromatic.

Winslow
 
Winslow Yerxa
President, SPAH, the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica
Producer, the Spring 2014 Harmonica Collective
Author, Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
            Harmonica Basics For Dummies, ASIN B005KIYPFS
            Blues Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-1-1182-5269-7
Resident Expert, bluesharmonica.com
Instructor, Jazzschool for Music Study and Performance


________________________________
 From: Dan Hazen <bluesmandan76@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2014 6:03 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] Chromatic harmonica for smaller mouths?
 

Hi all, I am mostly a diatonic player, but also play some chromatic. I have
a couple of chromonikas, a swan, and a chrometta 8. I have a problem
playing them though... my mouth is too small to play octaves on a
chromatic. I've been told before "ah, your mouth isn't too small, you just
have to press it in your mouth more." Uh... no. I push the doggone thing as
far in as I can, til it hurts, and then I can get an octave, but of course
lose all musical ability at that point. Shoving it in farther and harder
does not work for me. If the holes were spaced a little closer, so that the
octaves were a little closer, that would work.

Is there a chromatic model available that has narrower hole spacing that
someone with a smaller embouchure would be able to more effectively use?