[Harp-L] Questions on Bending/OB/OD and Scales/Music/TAB

[Michael Rubin]

If I had to stop hearing the sound of 5 draw bend because of fear of being
out of tune or breaking a harp, might as well kill me now.  That's one of
my favorite sounds on the harp.  There are plenty of quartertones on the
harp and plenty of cultures and styles of music that embrace quartertones.

Michael Rubin
michaelrubinharmonica.com

On Sun, Apr 23, 2017 at 8:42 PM, Steve Hayes <bigbandrhythm at xxxxx>
wrote:

> Many tongue-blockers pucker when bending. Try everything and do what is
> comfortable.
>
>                Harmonica TAB (1+ 2 2'', etc. as per music)
> Yes, this is common with publishers and many teachers and has the
> advantage of using ASCII characters and being compact on the page when
> annotating written music.
>
> Um,... Bending draw 5 may be considered bluesy or soulful by some, but you
> won't be in tune with anybody else. There isn't a note there. If you are
> going to bend something, bend in tune with something.
>
> When I blow out a reed, it is usually because I'm trying to hit a note
> that isn't there--this includes trying to draw bend 5, or trying to
> overblow hole 6 and mistakenly hitting hole 7 instead.
>
> Which harp?
> I lay my harps out in cycle of 4ths order..
> A D G C F Bb Eb Ab Db F# B E
> 2nd position is the harp following the harp for 1st position (major or
> minor). 3rd is next, then 4th, 5th, 6th. 12th is the one before 1st
> position.
>
> So, if I want to play in D or Dm, I would try a G harp in 2nd position, a
> C harp in 3rd, an A harp in 12th, a D harp in 1st, etc.
>
> You sound like you already play an instrument. To me this means the tones
> are already in your head and you won't be just breathing in and out through
> a harp hoping to get lucky and sound OK. I suspect you'll learn fast.
>
> Have fun.
>