shaneboylan
34 posts
Jul 30, 2008
3:46 PM
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Recently I've been working on overblows - and have had few thoughts I wanted to share with my fellow MBH'ers.
Firstly - while Hohner GM seems to be advertised as the harp most suitable for overblows (check harmonicas-direct.com for example) I seem to find it much easier to achieve overblows on the Hohner MB model - does anyone else feel the same way?
Secondly - is a good blues player expected to be able to achieve overblows on all keys of harp? (for me personally i find it harder if the key of the harp is higher...)
Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks SB
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"I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window."
-Steven Wright
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Preston
30 posts
Jul 31, 2008
7:20 AM
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Shane,
In case you haven't noticed by some of my other posts, I think the overblow is the coolest thing since sliced bread. I blew my first overblow on a GM, but I typically don't play that particular model. I'm a wood comb man myself, but the Marine bands swell so bad I switched to Blues Harps that have a factory sealed wood comb. I've had a couple of keys of each model and have been able to overblow them all with equal consistency.
As far as for the high harps, the highest I own is a D, and I buy low harps for Eb-F. So I really can't tell you anything with good authority on Overblowing high harps. I have a Lee Oskar in D and it overblows like a dream, and most posts I read say Lee Oskars aren't good for overblowing.
I have a low G Blues Harp that I can't get a very good sounding OB out of 4 blow, but 5 and 6 work great.
Bottom line: I think getting good Overblows is HARP specific, and not necessarliy MODEL specific.
Hope this helps with your questions.
I feel like I've mastered the 6 overblow, being able to give it rising pitch in mid note so it has bending qualities similar to the 3hole draw blue 3rd, and I'm pretty decent at 4 and 5 overblows. My next project is mastering the 1 overblow. This post has got me thinking about playing through all my various models while learning the 1 overblow, and posting my results so we can see if there is any difference in models and/or keys.
Last Edited by on Jul 31, 2008 3:01 PM
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Patrick Barker
101 posts
Jul 31, 2008
3:38 PM
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anyone with advice on incorporating overblows? I am new to overblows and can only play the 6 hole overblow consistantly and am working on the 4 and 5 hole. I see the use of the 6 hole overblow as the blue third, but haven't really figured out how to use the other two.
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"Without music, life would be a mistake" -Nietzsche
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kudzurunner
77 posts
Jul 31, 2008
9:12 PM
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I very rarely use this forum to plug my own products, but I'll make an exception in this case. I've tabbed out (and created videos in which I teach) a handful of songs that will show you some basic ways of working overblows into your repertoire: "Watermelon Man," "Blue Monk," "Tenor Madness," and my solo on "Sunday Driver," which combines blow bends on the upper holes with several overblows. "St. Thomas," too.
Here are some other jazz/blues heads: "Things Ain't the Way They Used to Be," "St. Louis Blues" (middle octave).....hmmmm. Well, there are others. "East St. Louis Toodle-Ooo." (Ellington).
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honeydawg
15 posts
Jul 31, 2008
9:46 PM
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One way is to think about what that note is in the lower or upper octave. The five overblow is equivalent to the 2-hole half-step bend, which is the 3rd of the V chord in cross harp. I find it most useful on the V chord, to outline the chord in the middle octave, maybe, or work it into a pattern of notes on your way to the IV chord.
The 4 overblow is equivalent to the one overblow or the eight blow bend... (actually not very helpful :-). In cross harp, I mostly use it as a passing tone... Adam talks about it this way too... part of a triplet run, maybe, not emphasized as a note but as a kind of fill, an in-between note that creates rhythmic interest, if that makes any sense. For cross harp the four ob is perhaps the least useful of those three ob's, as far as blues harp goes.
But in first position that 4 ob is the minor third, useful all kinds of ways. So don't get stuck in cross harp.
Adam's advice is good. Get his videos.
Hope that helps...
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shaneboylan
37 posts
Aug 02, 2008
4:49 PM
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that's weird - i was listenin to saxophone colossus when i read Adam's comment.
Thanks for the comments everyone - i think ill be checkin out more of the jazzy stuff for overblow help!!!!
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"I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window."
-Steven Wright
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Kaining
1 post
Aug 03, 2008
3:19 PM
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I've been working on watermelon man since last week after i realised that i was able to bend the 6 hole overblow with no real problem.
The bad thing about working on this song is that i have never bother working overblow with tongue blocking that much and i'm struggling to make the song sound not too awkward.
It was a dumb moment when i realised that i've been neglecting tongue blocking a lot since i decided to work on overblow last december.
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GobIronWard
1 post
Aug 11, 2008
7:58 AM
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I've never really tried overblows before, apart from the odd blowing madly hard on some of the mid reeds on a C, with absolutely no success.
Looking on www.overblow.com, it suggests that modifying gapping is necessary, but Adam has never mentioned anything to do with modifications in his videos. Can someone clear up whether or not altering your harp makes much of a difference?
Also, what's the general technique? Does it differ a lot from bending?
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Preston
34 posts
Aug 11, 2008
10:33 AM
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Mr. Ward,
Check back about 4 pages in this forum here, and there is a topic titled "overblows" There is some great advise from all of the overblowers here in the forum.
Good luck!
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