bluzlvr
2 posts
Feb 17, 2008
2:57 PM
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I'm still chasing the illusive overblow. I've studied both Adam Gussow's and Jason Ricci's postings, visited the overblow.com website, but no luck so far. I think its because I've always been primarily a tongue blocker, although I can do blow bends and can bend the lower holes somewhat lip pursing style. Any advice out there?
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Carl_Comfort
1 post
Feb 17, 2008
3:26 PM
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Hi,
To a great extend it's all about proper set up off the harp. If the gap between the reed and the plate is too lage it's really impossible.
You mentioned watching the videos so,
If you bend the a blownote down slowly...there's this moment where it stops sounding..if you've gotten so far.
On that very moment, I really cant tell you what to do..It's to hard to explain I notice. But the one thing you should avoid is simply blowing harder.
What I mainly do, and how I did it the first time. Is adding presure(while keeping your mouth/tongue position the same)by using you're muscels in the throat. quite alot actually. I sure over did it at first, now I play them relaxed, but I remeber getting them cost alot of force.I also make adjustment with my mouth tongue but thats mainly to raise pitch.
seriously it might be just as hard as explaining it. There probably various ways of doing it, this is just how I do it.
Hope it helps,
Good luck!
Last Edited by on Feb 17, 2008 3:51 PM
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Carl_Comfort
2 posts
Feb 17, 2008
3:33 PM
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I forgot to say to get the overblows the harp must also been pushed hard againt the lips, tight.
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KudzuWalker
1 post
Feb 17, 2008
3:42 PM
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Here is my .02 -
First, I think if you have a good harmonica, and have it set up correctly, it will help you reach your goal. I don't know what is on the sites you mentioned, but I did see one of the videos Adam did was on harp set up.
Second, try using 6 blow as your target overblow note, I think that one is the easiest. And don't blow too hard.
You got it right when you call it the elusive overblow. People that play other instruments don't believe that there can be much of any 'real' technique to playing a harmonica. If they only knew.
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Patrick Barker
2 posts
Feb 17, 2008
8:48 PM
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I'm basically in the same situation- I've learned all the basics and I'm an intermidiate player and I've started trying to learn to do overblows. I've been experimenting with the 9 and ten hole overblow to play the intro to "Whammer Jammer" and have found that the 9 hole is easy to overblow a half step, although there's no kinda split between the 2 notes; it just bends. I've also been able to get the 10 hole down a whole step (like in "Whammer Jammer"). I may be wrong, but you might want to try to bend the 9 down just to kinda get and idea of what it should feel like.
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prah a
2 posts
Feb 19, 2008
4:46 AM
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I think those are blowbends in whammer jammer intro. Not overblows.
Last Edited by on Feb 19, 2008 4:47 AM
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Preston
1 post
Feb 20, 2008
5:19 AM
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I got my first over-blow to sound out by saying "Quee" on the six hole blow, immediately after a six draw bend. I had all the muscles in the roof of my mouth tightened, almost to the point of it feeling like I was pulling my nostril's down towards my upper lip. This resulted in a split second over-blow that quickly turned into a squeeling sound that made my wife yell at me to quit whatever I was doing. Eventually, I learned to do them soft with little force or straining, but everybody's got to figure out the internal mechanics of it on their own. I think it is different for everybody. If any beginners are reading this forum wondering why they would ever need to do overblows to play the blues, the six hole overblow opens up another blues scale, still in second position, on the high end of the harp. (and that's just one reason)
Why exactly is it called an overblow, by the way? Does anybody know? At first I thought it was because you produced a new note, instead of just flattening one out(like the 8 blow bend). But think about the 2 and 3 hole draws: you can take them to a whole step down to a new note as well. Is it because an overblow is usually a step and a half? We stole the term "bending" from guitar players anyway. Isn't an overblow and a bend essentially the same thing: a redirection of air that makes the reed vibrate at different speeds, producing a new sound?
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harpn1
Guest
Feb 20, 2008
12:17 PM
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My question is...Why do most of the great blues players of today decide not to overblow? One writer mentioned the importance of the 6 overblow in second postion blues...and he's right...having that blue third (as Adam calls it) in the second octave of second position blues is huge.
For the earlier writers, regarding how to overblow...You must first be able to run the harp up and down with all bends in all three octaves, pucker not tougue blocking, with all clean single notes. If you can do that, then your ready to overblow. First, you need to learn how to set yours harps. Research on line, then experiment with old harps. Before you do, you must understand what your trying to accomplish. Overblowing is blowing into a hole and causing the blow reed to choke out causing the draw reed to vibrate, creating a sqeeky sound 1 1/2 steps up the chromatic scale, which is a 1/2 step above the draw note. You want to get both the draw reed and the blow reed as close to the reed plate as possible without causing either of them to choke out with normal blow/draw playing. If you have never hit an overblow before and are ready to try....hears the secret. With the cover plates off, place one finger over the 6 blow reed. A finger on the blow reed will manually choke out the blow reed causing the draw reed to vibrate much easier. Once you can do that, the cover plates go on and you can go to work. You should focus on the 6 overblow for a few days. Work on tight lips and pushing upward from the stomach into the throat while noticing that back off your tongue trying to go backwards down your throat, almost pressing up against your Uvula (the thing hanging in the back of your throat). Remember, your trying to bend that blow reed to choke out against the reed plate, causing the draw reed to vibrate. Once you begin squeeking them out, then go conquer the 4 and 5...very similar. After you can hit the 4,5 and 6 overblows, its time for the games to begin. Now you get the pleasure of learning how to incorporate these guys into your playing. You will be amazed at all the new licks and opportunities that are available to you...Best of luck-
Mike
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oldwailer
9 posts
Feb 21, 2008
12:19 AM
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OK Harpn1--I copied that info down and I'm off to the woodshed to give it another try. Thanks for taking the time to post this data.
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Anonymous
Guest
Feb 21, 2008
10:55 AM
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You can overblow tongue-blocked (don't let anyone tell you that it can't be done). I found the 4 hole to be the easiest, so try them all. I find it to be a similar technique as blow-bending. Try bending the 4, 5, or 6 blow (they do bend down) and just keep going! After the reed bends as far as it will go, just keep bending. It seems to me that the back of my tongue is arcing upwards (with the tip on the comb). Good Luck
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Carl_Comfort
4 posts
Feb 21, 2008
3:54 PM
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I'm very interested in that technique Ananymous. I spent some hours trying achieving it...I can get the blow reed to choke TB'ed. But overblowing...no can do, I'm just drowning the harp.
I'm no real TBer whatsoever, I also mainly block whith the side of my tongue...which make's it virtualy imposible to arch the tongue up (how I'd normaly play the OB)
anymore more info on this topic would be greatly appreciated...just as an indication.. about how long have you been practising to acomplish this technique? Just to stay at ease...
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KudzuWalker
2 posts
Feb 21, 2008
9:22 PM
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Getting 9 or 10 blow to bend is not the same as an overblow.
The overblow is different in that it is not a bend down, but more like a step or 'jump' to a slightly HIGHER pitch.
There is something about getting the 'air chamber' of your oral cavity EXACTLY the right shape and size that causes the pitch to sound. I don't understand it, I just DO it.
This is how I do it:
Take a nice airtight harp. Lip purse and blow a normal volume of air ONLY through hole 6. Slowly close your mouth/jaw - in the opposite motion of how you would draw bend on the lower end of your harp. There is a point where the pitch will stop, then jump to the overblow note. It Takes some work to get this technique down. I spent a long while sqwawking in between notes. If you don't get it after a while, try the same thing on hole 7. If you still don't get it, try a different harmonica.
I am not saying that you can't tongue block and do this. (I can't do it) just try it this way. once you get it down, you can develop it into your playing style.
Your individual mileage may vary.
No harmonicas were hurt using this method.
visit your doctor if symptoms persist.
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Patrick Barker
6 posts
Feb 29, 2008
8:54 PM
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Thanks for clarifying that prah a and kudzuwalker, I blame the tab for whammer jammer that I printed because it said they were overblows (I like using scapegoats).
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Patrick Barker
12 posts
Mar 03, 2008
9:00 PM
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I just did my first overblow today- it sounded pretty bad but I did it. I found that it worked after another round of opening up my harp and adjusting the reeds, so I think that its extremely important to adjust the reeds so they are very close to the plate- as for technique, I just basically used the bending technique with blowing.
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kudzurunner
16 posts
Mar 04, 2008
7:43 AM
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The post by Mike (harpn1) is exactly right on pretty much every count.
For the record, I can take an off the shelf Marine Band and overblow 4, 5, and 6 without adjustments, in keys from A through D. But any harp will overblow easier if you make the necessary adjustments--narrowing the blow reed gap and, if necessary, narrowing the draw reed gap. My overblow style tends to use ob's as passing tones, quick hits. I almost never hit an overblow and just hang on it for more than a quarter-note (one full beat). Jason does that, as do all the best overblowers. And I never hit an ob, hold it, and then manipulate the pitch, as Jason and others do. I think that's extremely hard to do on a standard Marine Band.
For the record: at Bean Blossom '07, Jason and I did a clinic and I handed him my off-the-shelf harp and he could hardly make ANY overblows on it. He certainly couldn't do the amazing quick runs and other ob stuff that he does on his own customized harps.
I'm happy with my own approach, but it's clear to me that the next step, if I wanted to move further into overblowing, would HAVE to be custom harps. Even with my strong chops, there's a limit to what I'm able to do on regular Marine Bands.
I should also note that there's a difference between using overblows to play tonally--i.e., to play cross-harp blues with three extra notes, as I do--and what guys like Howard and Carlos del Junco do, where the key center frequently shifts.
Again: I've never claimed that I was a revolutionary, just somebody who took an obvious next step--one big but limited next step--above and beyond "classic" blues harp, which doesn't use overblows and tends not to play very melodically on holes 7-10. I think my approach is a good one for other contemporary players who want a little more. I will tell you that the moment I began overblowing, even in this limited way (only three extra notes!), everybody else sounded limited and old-fashioned to me.
Except Dennis Gruenling, because he took a different "next step" and used low-key harps and other positions (5 draw as the root).
I'm sure that what I do sounds sorta old-fashioned to Howard, Carlos, Chris Michalek, and others who move the tonal center. We're all part of a continuum. I'm just a blues/funk guy who plays harp and didn't want to let the sax players have all the fun.
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"The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare."
--Juma Ikaanga, marathoner
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Harmonica Slim
10 posts
Mar 04, 2008
7:43 AM
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Hi Patrick, there is a video/DVD on the market today were Howard Levy takes you thrue some of the mystic about owerblows. As for myself I have foun out that the best harp for OB;s are the Golden Melody, so if you have big problems with the OB you might consider to get yourself a GM and give it a try. Personally I prefer the lower keys, but thats me!
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Patrick Barker
13 posts
Mar 04, 2008
4:36 PM
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Thanks for the advice I've been trying different harps with special 20's as the main one and haven't tried a Golden melody yet, but I'll probably get one in Bb to play watermelon man (I've allways like this song as an amatuer jazz pianist and trumpeter). I may also try the Howard Levy CD if my overblows don't start getting better tonally after a couple weeks.
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bluzlvr
12 posts
Mar 05, 2008
1:43 PM
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I've taken harpn1's advice and I've taken the covers off a bad harp and set it aside, and been making an attempt using the "covering the reed" method every day. I WILL learn to overblow! Thanks for the advice everybody.
Last Edited by on Mar 05, 2008 1:46 PM
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dewey.deloe
13 posts
Mar 05, 2008
4:24 PM
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Thanx to everyone for the advice.
Preston I tried the word "Quee" you said to use and it worked the first time I tried it! I have done it a few time by accident before but I never could replicate it.
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Down the road I got to go overblow
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naez2u
3 posts
Mar 08, 2008
2:38 PM
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Ooo.. this was a serious hurdle for me.
I never even knew they existed before hearing Adams tutorial. I wen googling and adjusting (a few harps down the drain...) and reading and trying..
Lessons learned?
* Its hard. 6 Overblow is really the only one I can do , and its not as responsive as the normal notes. It keeps getting better and better though.
* Lee Oskar/Tomba is REALLY hard for me to produce a useful overblow on... Marine Band and Special 20 are easier.
* Amateur-adjusting your harp is an expensive hobby.
Rock on.
//Krister
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prah a
4 posts
Mar 09, 2008
10:39 AM
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" http://www.overblow.com/?menuid=117 " is good place to get help when practising overblows.
Adams YT-lesson (adjusting reeds to overblow ) is very good too.
With those tuts i learn to overblow holes 4, 5, and 6.( My A, D and G Lee Oskar's too )
a harp
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Patrick Barker
16 posts
Mar 11, 2008
7:29 PM
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I can stop the blow reed from sounding and I am able to get the draw reed to sound for the overblow, but I'm having trouble putting the two together. I can even get the draw reed to sound at the same time as the blow reed but am still having trouble combining the two techniques. Any advice?
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oldwailer
14 posts
Mar 15, 2008
4:20 PM
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OK--you've all had your fun--the joke is on me. I actually believed all the stuff about this overblowing--but I finally figured it out--it's all just a big joke to keep beginners and intermediates humble and thinking they're just never going to be as good as those guys that can make music with overblows.
Probably the same group of nerds who perpetuate the myth that there are more than 6 useful holes in a Marine Band!
I hope you're all having a good time with this.
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Carl_Comfort
16 posts
Apr 29, 2008
11:47 AM
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@Patrick Barker
I tried explaining putting it together..I've a YT account and posted on there: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMZVMgyDrNY
Maybe it works for you,
Cheers
Last Edited by on Apr 29, 2008 12:38 PM
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bluzlvr
26 posts
Apr 29, 2008
1:11 PM
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Thank you Carl Comfort for posting that video. I just got through watching it, and I'm going to re-attack the elusive (for me) overblow. I find myself doing what you and just about everybody else warns not to do - blow too hard. I can't WAIT do my first overblow.
Thanx again.
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Carl_Comfort
17 posts
Apr 29, 2008
3:43 PM
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okay cool, let me know how you're doing. One of the important things I forgot to mention; do not change your embouchure when you have choked the blow reed, just add pressure.
When you're on the overblow, and can maintain it you can of course experiment with your mouth-tongue position to change the pitch. But in order to 'get it' first, you really should keep your mouth position in the same place.
Last Edited by on Apr 29, 2008 4:59 PM
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Patrick Barker
48 posts
Apr 29, 2008
4:25 PM
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I actually had kinda stopped trying to achieve over blows for a while when I couldn't do it with the back of my tongue (I was able to somehow position the front of my tongue to do it, but this often made both the blow and the over blow to sound simultaneously). Then one day I figured out to do it similarly except more with the back of my tongue and my throat, and the clear over blow just popped out. Now I've been trying to incorporate it into my playing. Thanks for all of your advice!
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Throttleskeezer
1 post
Jun 04, 2008
11:12 AM
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Hello! after 3-4 hours of practicing I've got my 5-6 holes overblows!
Before I achieve this, I was able to choke the reeds and produce this awful sound : "ksssss". I was unable to sound the right pitch so here is how I did it:
1. First of all, I visited www.overblow.com and i strictly did what it's written in the "overblow technique" step by step.
2.Always keep in mind the pronunciation of "Hey" which keep your mouth and cheek relaxed (H-spot). Pronunce "hey" and feel how is the back and the tip of your tongue.If you can get the blow reed to stop sounding easily, it means you are in the correct way. Dont't try to hit the harp!
3.Try a lot of differents harmonicas in the usual keys (A,Bb,C,D). Try differents brands...
4.If you can't choke the blow reed, it means you have problems with your tongue or the gap of the blow reed is to big or your reeds are strong...
5. Start oweblowing with the one you fell better.
6. The most difficult part is to adjust the gap of the blow reed in order to have a harpe responsive enough...See what "reedbuster" is doing on youtube for exemple.
7.THERE IS NO NEED TO BLOW WITH TO MUCH STRENGHT!!!
In addition, I still can't overblow in my Lee Oskar Tombo in D
The easiest harp for me are:
Hohner blues harp in C
C.A. Seydel söhne blues in C
C.A. Seydel Söhne 1847 in A
I'll try to adjust all my harp right now.
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Preston
20 posts
Jun 09, 2008
8:18 AM
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Well folks, I guess I'm writing to brag on myself a little bit. Also, I've never seen this issue come up in the forumn before, so I thought we'd talk about it.
Last weekend, for just a split second, I bent the pitch on my overblows up. Jason Ricci and Tinus can actually bend them up from a flat to a regular note and sustain it. I can't do that yet, but like I said, I can do it for a split second. Which, in the blues world, can make for some pretty cool sounds. As the six overblow was my first overblow I accomplished, I was glad to have another "blue third" note to put into my playing, but I could never get it to have that same affect as the 3 half step draw. I realized it was because I always hit the 3 draw with rising pitch--I start at blue third and release it just slightly. I think Adam may have covered this particular technique/effect in a lesson or two.
Anyway where I am going with this is now I can recreate some of that sound on my overblow. Haven't found much use for it yet on the 5 OB, but the 4 OB is the blue third for first position, so I have been using it there too.
Anybody else been able to bend an overblow up from flat? If so, can anybody hold it?
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honeydawg
11 posts
Jun 09, 2008
11:25 AM
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I've been able to bend overblows up... not an easy thing to do by any means, and it helps considerably to use a well-adjusted harp. But if you want to hold those overblows and not use them simply as passing tones, it's essential to be able to bend them up, in order to bring them into pitch. Overblows, especially when you're first starting out, tend to sound flat, and that's in addition to the squealing sound they can generate. Bending overblows would enable you to play, for example, a nice, slow jazz ballad like In a Sentimental Mood (Ellington) in cross harp on a standard Richter-tuned harmonica.
Once you're able to bend an overblow up, it gets easier on that harp, almost as if you've created a groove for it. I've heard Allen Holmes bend an overblow up several semi-tones, to the point where he can play the entire chromatic scale on just two or three holes. That ruins harps quickly though.
My personal challenge now is to hit the overblow cleanly from an adjacent draw note, like when playing an arpeggiated D7 chord on a C harp (4 draw, 5 overblow, 6 draw, 7 blow). Or on Adam's version of The Entertainer, where you have to go from 6 draw to 5 overblow smoothly. Very cool sound.
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Preston
22 posts
Jun 09, 2008
12:41 PM
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Honeydawg,
You may already be doing this, but I found that the blues scale - first position - middle of the harp, the ABSOLUTE best woodshed for overblows.
+4 4OB -5 5OB +6 6OB +7
Every other note is an overblow and there is one even coming off of a draw note like you said. Once I discovered this and practiced it, I really saw a difference in my OBing ability.
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kudzurunner
53 posts
Jun 09, 2008
8:01 PM
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Preston:
I think you're absolutely right. And I daresay that the blues scale you describe--middle octave, first position--is the most outrageously under-utilized straight-ahead-blues thing that overblowing lets you play. I mean it's RIGHT THERE FOR THE PLUCKING. It's not Levy / Del Junco far-out stuff. It's down-home blues. It's something that guys like the Walters and Sonny Boy would have clearly been using if overblowing had been current when they were refining the blues harmonica language.
From time to time I noodle around on that particular scale, and I always come away from it thinking, Damn, this isn't jazzed-up extensions of the blues. This is pure blues. Why isn't everybody working this vein? Yet as far as I know, none of the contemporary revivalists--Kim Wilson, Rick Estrin, Mark Humel, Jerry Portnoy, etc.--have gone there. Why haven't they? I don't get it.
Please make us all proud and lay something down on record using that scale. I hit a 6 ob in first position on the new (old) Satan and Adam album--in a tune called "Set Break," where I play "Darling You Send Me" and use the 6 ob, first position, as the flat seventh in a particular run. But I don't really exploit the hard-blues potentials in the scale you describe.
Yes, the scale is challenging. But the payback is huge. Your ears realize right away that you've landed on the mother ship--and that pretty much nobody else out there seems to want to ride it.
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honeydawg
12 posts
Jun 10, 2008
7:28 AM
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Perhaps because those guys are heavily invested in tongue-blocking techniques? Pure speculation on my part; I'm certainly not expert at tongue-blocking or overblowing. There are players who can overblow using tongue-block; I find that totally daunting. But you don't have to do that. Certainly Adam you switch back between tongue-blocking and pursing/whistle/lip-blocking for overblows quite effectively. I'm sure we're going to see overblowing becoming a "standard" technique (if it hasn't already) as more players learn to do it and as ob-friendly harps continue to be developed.
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BigHarper
2 posts
Jun 29, 2008
1:53 AM
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I've been on an overblow odyssey over the last three months or so. I watched Adam's video on YT and was hooked. It took a month of frustration before the light bulb came on. My illumination arrived when I heard this advice: "If you want to hear your first overblow, bend a 6 hole draw and, while holding the bend, reverse your breath so you're now blowing through a 6 hole bend." It will sound crappy at first. But the SOFTER you blow, the more likely you will get a CLEAN tone. Adjusting reed gaps is essential for consistent easy overblows. But practice a bit before you pull your instruments apart.
Right now, I can successfully overblow without thinking about it about two thirds of the time. It depends on the harp too. F anf G (high and low) are challenging. C is easy. It's cool when you can start to incorporate overblows into your standard improv riffs. Adds a whole level of musical complexity and texture, especially in 1st and 3rd position, and that's exactly the challenge I wanted. God I love this instrument.
Last Edited by on Jun 29, 2008 1:56 AM
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bluzlvr
63 posts
Sep 30, 2008
12:52 PM
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I thought I'd bring this up to the top for the benefit of Silver Dog. Still no success for me. I'm going to try Chris Michalek's straw trick and see if that works.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys86fFfylRw
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harmonicanick
13 posts
Oct 01, 2008
1:25 AM
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I dont know about overblows, have been playing for over 40 years,does it matter???
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Preston
53 posts
Oct 01, 2008
9:00 AM
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Doesn't matter unless you want them to. Ever try to play The Star Spangled Banner in second position? Need the 5 overblow to make it happen. Play it in first position, and the overblows don't matter.
Wanna play the blues scale in second position on the high end of the harp? Need the 6 overblow and the 7 overdraw. Play the blues scale on the low end and they don't matter.
Want a flat third for first position other than the 8 blow bend? You need the 1 or 4 overblow.
They are just another form of bending to coax a few more notes out of the harp in different places. And here is the real kicker: only another harmonica player is going to appreciate the fact that you can do it.
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Anonymous
Guest
Oct 01, 2008
3:09 PM
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"They are just another form of bending to coax a few more notes out of the harp in different places. And here is the real kicker: only another harmonica player is going to appreciate the fact that you can do it."
Absolutely the wrong way to think about it. If you want to play music without limits then you need to utilize all of the notes on the harmonica. There is much more to harmonica than simply playing blues.
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Preston
54 posts
Oct 02, 2008
11:58 AM
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Anonymous,
I'm alright with agreeing to disagree. I personally feel my statement was a stripped-down, very basic, but very true statement about overblows, in response to a gentleman who had been playing for 40 years without them, and is interested in what all the fuss was about.
I myself am an avid overblower and think they are absolutely awesome, and that all harp players should learn it for their own sakes. However, if you were to walk into Guitar Center on a Saturday afternoon and say "Hey everybody, I can overblow!", I guarantee you 9 out of 10 guys testing guitars and amps won't have a clue what the hell you just said.
I know there is more than blues to be played on this instrument, which is why I threw the Star Spangled Banner into my response.
I value your opinion too, and it sounds like I inadvertantly hit a nerve. So don't leave me and harmonicanick hanging, tell us your take on overblows. That's what this forumn is all about.
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oldwailer
220 posts
Oct 02, 2008
8:05 PM
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"There is much more to harmonica than simply playing blues"
Well, yeah--but who cares? Sorry--I'm just kidding around here. . .
I'm actually here to announce that I finally got an overblow yesterday! (Do I sound too much like a kid seeing his first pubic hair?)
I have been practicing with that straw technique--and I finally got that I shouldn't blow so damn hard--and there it was! Belly dancing music for one brief shining moment! Damned if I could do it again--but I'm working on it!
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Anonymous
Guest
Oct 02, 2008
8:28 PM
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If you walked into guitar center and exclaimed that you could bend notes on a harmonica, you would get the same reaction if you walked in exclaimed that you know how to overblow. Either statement makes you look like a person who knows nothing of music. NOBODY cares about technique. What people care about is what sounds good to them.
Learning overblows is like learning any other note on the harmonica. There is nothing special or advanced about it and they are equally useful in blues, jazz or any other kind of music. Overblows are just another note and should be utilized as you would any other note, there is nothing special about them. However to outright cast them aside, ignore them or say they do not have purpose is the cry of a musical idiot. (Being unaware of them is a different story)
Personally, I don't like to compromise in any situation, therefore I've taken it upon myself to know how to play every note on every harmonica. I have taken it upon myself to learn every technique there is to learn. There is nothing wrong with not using something on purpose but there is something wrong if you have to use something but can't.
learning technique and style is all about options:
I'm not a tongue blocker but I can do it. I have the option of split notes or doing tongue flutters etc...
I'm not a blues player but I can play blues with anybody on any stage. I don't even like playing blues but at least I have the option of saying yes or no.
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Preston
55 posts
Oct 03, 2008
5:07 AM
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Atta Boy, Oldwailer! Congratulations!
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Patrick Barker
137 posts
Oct 03, 2008
5:03 PM
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Does anyone know how to fix the squealing of the reeds during overblows? Is it me or the harmonica with the problem? Are there any reed adjustments I should make?
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"Without music, life would be a mistake" -Nietzsche
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oldwailer
222 posts
Oct 03, 2008
6:31 PM
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Well, Patrick, What kind of harps are you overblowing? In Rupert Oyslers 2 DVD set about customizing, he says that some kinds of harps (I think it was LO's) that need a dab of beezwax on the reeds to stop the squealing.
There is more data here: http://www.overblow.com/?menuid=140
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Patrick Barker
138 posts
Oct 04, 2008
4:54 PM
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Well the problems seem to occur with my higher harps, although that may just be because I tend to use Marine Bands on the low keys. My Delta Frost in D is a pretty bad overblow squealer as well as my special 20's in Eb and F.
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"Without music, life would be a mistake" -Nietzsche
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belfast_harper
18 posts
Oct 08, 2008
1:54 PM
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I just surprised my self there, I was watching Howard Levey's DVDs and he was describing how to overblow.
I got it the first time I tried, I tried it a few other times and I found it a little harder but I managed to get it again. I have just tried it on a G, A, B flat, C & D, harp, and have managed to get it on all the keys, but the G harp was the one I struggled with the most.
Just for the record I was using promasters, special 20's and marin band deluxe harps.
I had never tried an overblow before because I have only been playing 6 months, but when I heard Mister Levey say that you did the same as you were doing a blow bend on the 8 hole, to but do it on the 6 hole it all made sense.
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apskarp
8 posts
Jun 12, 2009
12:26 AM
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Yesterday I decided to start a new page with harp playing and started to learn overblows. I read some of the experiences from here and the theory from overblow.com
For me it was important to know that the difference between a blowbend note and overblow is that in bend you just manipulate the normal blowreeds resonance, but in overblow you stop that normal reed and actually make the _drawreed_ to vibrate.
So I took these steps:
1) Opened up the harmonica and get the drawreed to sound while blowing by stopping the blowreed to sound with your finger
2) Tried to maintain the drawreed to sound while you lift the finger from the blowreed. Practised this for a while.
3) Lowered the gap of the blowreed (since it was hard to mute by bending)
4) Put the harmonica together again and practised the blowbending without fingers assist.
I could actually achieve the shriecking sound where you could hear the drawreed sounding together with the blowreed. However it seems almost impossible to get only the drawreed to sound - also when I practised this "finger assisted". I will next ry to adjust the gap of the drawreed also if it helps. Anyway, now I can get to that impure overblow about 1 out of 10-20 tries, so I'm definetly progressing.
I remember how hard it was first to make the 2 draw to sound normal and then to make the drawbends. The same learning curve is natural with the overblows too, I'm sure. At first many things seem impossible, but I you don't give up, "miracles" can happen. Like the first sound of the trumpet or didgeridoo for example (or maintaining circular breath with didgeridoo). I like to develop myself in the area of using the breath and your mouth cavity etc in different ways and instruments - the same learning applies to singing too, which I also practise.
ps.
I'm also a zen practitioner and believe me when I say that learning these techniques with harp is nothing compared to koan-practise.. ;D
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apskarp
9 posts
Jun 14, 2009
11:24 AM
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Little update on my journey with overblows:
I have continued to practise few minutes every now and then. Now I get the overblow sounding about every other try. Not like an immediately but "searching" it with my mouth. However the blowreed sounds the same time so perhaps some additional work would help with this.
What I noticed today was that the amount of air pressure affects the required tongue position for OB. When I maintain the overblow (just learned to do that today but not on every try) and begin to get out of breath I need to readjust the tongue to get that OB sound. So it is very subtle thing, much more so than normal bends seem to be..
Very interesting stuff - but also bit boring now when I can't use it in a melody yet.. But let's see how the learning proceeds - Good luck for all of us struggling with OB's!
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apskarp
10 posts
Jun 15, 2009
1:01 PM
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Let's continue the progress report:
Today I received a new reedplates for my Special 20 (key of C). I adjusted the gaps when I installed the plates and tried the overblows. Now I seem to be able to hit the overblow on almost every try + few times I got it almost immediately so that I could even try a simple "melody": 3' 2 6OB 6. So the progressing seems to continue also when you don't actually practise it - as I have noticed on many other activities.
First I tried it finger assisted as the harp was already in parts due to the plates changing work. Now I could achieve an OB without the blowreed to sound at the same time. So the previous problem seemed to be inproper mouth/tongue position and not because of the harp.
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apskarp
11 posts
Jun 16, 2009
12:43 PM
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Dear diary,
Today I managed to get 6OB also with my out-of-shelf Hohner Blues harp (key of C). And now I can get it almost every time straight away without chasing. I started to practice "Spoonful" in higher octave, where I can use the 6OB in melody. (It is also a good practise for the higher octeae which I'm not so confident with.)
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