[Harp-L] Will Scarlett's place in the history of overblows

[Rick Dempster]

I just think it sounds bad. Even from the very best practitioners (Filip
Jers, to name one) it sounds out of sorts with the rest of the instrument.
I have taken up chrom over the last several years, much as I prefer the
sound of the diatonic.
Of the diatonic, I now use Sub30s with added valves. All the notes bend and
the sound is consistent, or at least as much as it can be on a regular harp.
A single reed bend, played in it's 'conventional' direction (ie a blow red,
blown, or a draw, drawn) as on a chromatic, sounds ok, if a little thin.
A DOUBLE reed bend (ie a conventional bend) has the advantage of the
sympathetic harmonics from the opposing reed, and sounds fuller, and more
harmonically complex than the single reed.
A SINGLE reed bend, played in reverse (ie an over blow or over draw) shares
none of the advantages with the two former bend types described above,
which is why it sounds so forced and strangled.
The harmonica is a mass produced instrument that requires a lot of capital
investment.
If this technique is ever heard being used by someone of the stature of,
say, Charlie McCoy, or even Bob Dylan, then it might take off. I doubt it.
The innocent little diatonic will continue to be used and popularised
largely by singers, who will care little for being able to play 'Giant
Steps' on the tin sandwich.
Like I said some time back, it reminds me of 'Esperanto', artificially
created to make a 'universal' language.
The only place it seems to have survived is with Esperanto enthusiasts.
I think OB/OD technique will remain popular with devoted diatonic harp
players, but that's it.
I've been putting off saying this for years, but I'm getting old and have
ceased to care!
RD



On Fri, 11 Feb 2022 at 09:25, Ronnie Schreiber <autothreads at xxxxx>
wrote:

> Rick,
> It seems to me that as a technique to allow you to play all the notes in a
> song accurately, to find notes missing on that particular harp, overblowing
> makes more sense than if you're using it to play a diatonic fully
> chromatically and get through a gig with a single diatonic, no matter the
> key (for the record, I like Will Scarlett's playing with Hot Tuna).
> Even Howard Levy uses different key harps for different songs so he can
> get those cool blue notes we so love.
>
> Ronnie Schreiber
> The Electric Harmonica Co.
> http://www.harmonicaster.com
>
> On 2/10/2022 5:13 PM, Rick Dempster wrote:
>
> Sorry; wasn't referring to Will Scarlett particularly. I used OBs for
> years. I think they sound awful, and ultimately will do nothing for
> diatonic harmonica.
> Just my opinion.
> RD
>
> On Fri, 11 Feb 2022, 07:02 Gary Lehmann, <gnarlyheman at xxxxx> wrote:
>
>> Will sounds funky!
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> > On Feb 9, 2022, at 4:46 PM, Rick Dempster <rickdempster33 at xxxxx>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > Maybe it just took this long for people to get used to the awful sound.
>> > RD
>> >
>>
>
>