[Harp-L] Harmo Torpedo

[Leonard Schwartzberg]

By the way, I watched an motivating Little Walter video this
morning......... He says he "plays with his hands".   He says "anyone can
play the notes", but his "hands are what shape the sounds and the tones".
Just thought I'd add that ..... I thought very interesting.   Leonard

-----Original Message-----
From: Harp-L [mailto:harp-l-bounces at xxxxx] On Behalf Of Ron Burton
Sent: Monday, August 21, 2017 9:48 AM
To: flyingv8 at xxxxx; Harp-L <harp-l at xxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Harmo Torpedo

Excellent response and analysis.  Couldn't agree more.

Ron Burton

Still playin' for 'gators...not  the football team

________________________________
From: Harp-L <harp-l-bounces at xxxxx> on behalf of
flyingv8 at xxxxx <flyingv8 at xxxxx>
Sent: Monday, August 21, 2017 9:31 AM
To: harp-l at xxxxx; Leonard Schwartzberg; dh at xxxxx
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Harmo Torpedo

Hi Leonard. Whenever I see questions like yours my first thoughts are that
you need to relax and get a good understanding of why you want to play the
harmonica and what your goals are. I have a customer who is 85 years old who
sends me harps to repair. He doesn't bend any notes! Never! None at all! He
loves playing diatonic harmonica and plays old folks homes 20 to 25 days a
month. My question for you would be what are you trying to accomplish? If
you are aiming at being a harmonica superstar on the level of Jason Ricci
you better be prepared to put many, many, many, hours into practicing. I am
thinking 8 to 10 hours a day for years. So many people want to move so fast
in their learning but they skip the basics. A knowledge of music theory is
necessary as well. Do you know the cycle of fifths? Do you know the sharps
and flats in all 12 keys. Do you know chord construction? Then there is
timing, quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth and thirty second notes. Do
you understand 4/4 time? 3/4 time? Can you play Mary Had a Little Lamb in 3
different positions on one harp? Do you know where all the octaves are?
There is way too much emphasis put on overblowing, overdrawing, and speed
playing these days and not enough on style. Are you playing to impress
others or to make music? Playing the harmonica or any instrument should be
fun. The better you get at it the more fun it is. Overblows and overdraws
have been explained on this forum before but your best bet is to schedule a
lesson with a player who can show you the idea. You could also take up the
chromatic if you really need the missing notes. It all depends on what your
goals are. What are you trying to do?
Dee
Dee's Finely Tuned Instruments
Erie,PA.
www.deesfti.com<http://www.deesfti.com>
Dee's Finely Tuned Instruments<http://www.deesfti.com/>
www.deesfti.com
Music has been an extremely important part of my life ever since hearing the
Association play Windy! My name is Don Makowski and I am known in these
parts as Dee ...



---- Leonard Schwartzberg <Leonard1 at xxxxx> wrote:
> Hi;   Thanks for your essay on the Harmo Torpedo.   Just about when I'm
> finally starting to play a "song" (in other words, the folks no longer
give
> me dollar bills to STOP playing), I'm MORE CONFUSED than ever.   I'm
> somewhat of a lower/middle intermediate harp player and trying to do 
> ALL my bends (on my Seydel Session Steels) through Tongue Blocking, which
I'm
> starting to do ok.   I'm not familiar (yet) with over (???).   What is
(and
> what is difference) overblowing, overbending, overdraw, overdrawing?   Do
I
> need your Torpedo Harp for this?   Can I use my Session Steels?   Do they
> need to be specially tuned?   What notes will I hit (that I'm not hitting
> now) with these other techniques?   Seems like Jason Ricci uses some of
> these unusual techniques.   Why is he using them?   How does he know when
to
> OB, OD, OBend, OBlow, Regular Draw, Regular Blow, Draw Bend (1/2, whole, 1
> 1/2)?    Thanks, Leonard


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