Bluefinger
36 posts
Feb 02, 2010
7:44 AM
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This is driving me nuts. I can't make this sound as nice as I want to. I just love the way Kim Wilson does it (I think Adam refers to it as the Magic Dick note because of teh Whammer Jammer intro) ... 9 blow, followed by 10 blow and then he bends it down a whole step while still sounding full and clear and then - to top it off - he adds that smooth vibrato. Aaaargh, I would kill to be able to play just this one note the way he does ... ok, so much for the venting ...
What's the secret behind it? First of all I can't bend it down without adding extra force which is not correct I guess. And because force it, it sounds more like I squeeze the note out of the harp rather than a full bodied musical note. Any hints or tips on this? I searched a lot of videos on YouTube but could not find the solution. I know it takes a lot of practice ... I don't mind the practicing but I gotta start with the right technique.
BTW, it seems to work better on an out of the box MB than on my Seydels ... these MBs start to grow on me.
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If it ain't broke you just haven't fixed it enough ...
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Luke Juke
95 posts
Feb 02, 2010
8:00 AM
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Firstly, I found lower keyed harps easier to blow bend on at first. So I practiced on an A harp. I Breathe into the 10 hole and instead of keeping my jaw open and my tounge flat, I move my tongue forward and close my jaw slightly. If the reed chokes then you are nearly there. Experiment with Tongue position and jaw position. And once you get the blow bend you can just move your jaw up and down and it gives a great vibrato. Hope this helps in someway, I don't think I've done a great job of explaining it
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Bluefinger
38 posts
Feb 02, 2010
8:05 AM
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I think you did a great job, it makes perfect sense. Thanks, I'll try that.
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If it ain't broke you just haven't fixed it enough ...
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HarpNinja
122 posts
Feb 02, 2010
8:30 AM
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This is another example of why good harps are important. That is not to say you can't do it without.
A harp set up with the correct gapping will make a huge difference on hitting the bend. Kim uses Filiskos, or at least has in the past. Obviously technique is number one here, but having a harp set up to blow bend makes a huge difference too.
I could never understand why that note sounded like money on some of my harps and dreadful on others. I gapped the crap sounding harps to match the good ones and life got a whole lot better in that regard.
For all you non-overblow haters, you can play this same lick in the middle octave. I do this all the time (7 blow to 6ob). I guess if I had a signature move, this would be it. I actually stole it from Derek Trucks and not trying to transpose it down an octave from hearing harp players do it.
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Mike Fugazzi
http://www.myspace.com/niterailband
http://www.youtube.com/user/NiteRail
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Ant138
295 posts
Feb 02, 2010
8:59 AM
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This has also been doing my head in for ages.
Still can't get it. Glad its not just me.
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nacoran
961 posts
Feb 02, 2010
9:31 AM
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Bluefinger- My low low F blowbends great, but my regular F# does to. A lot of the harps in between don't sound as good. I pull my tongue down and back for a blow bend. I tighten my lips too.
HarpNinja- Don't confuse us all with overblows in the middle of a discussion of blowbends! :)
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Oliver
139 posts
Feb 02, 2010
9:39 AM
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I would 2nd the idea that this bend becomes *much* easier (at least it did for me) after I only recently spent a fair bit of time gapping the 10 hole draw and blow reeds. I had always neglected the upper octave when it came to gapping.
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isaacullah
647 posts
Feb 02, 2010
10:28 AM
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Rick Epping once wrote on harp-l that the size of a typical hole 10 channel (in the comb) is too big for the resonant frequency of the +10 blow and blow bend. This effectively makes it an "uphill battle" to get the blow bend to sound. He suggests gluing a little wedge of material into the back of the channel in order to reduce the resonant airspace and change the airflow dynamics. I have not tried it, but folks who did so and then posted to the list about it seemed to think it made a difference.
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The magnificent YouTube channel of the internet user known as "isaacullah"
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barbequebob
416 posts
Feb 02, 2010
10:38 AM
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With every different manufacturer of harmonicas, you do need to maker sublte adjustments to your embouchure as well as the inside shape of your mouth (again, the one size fits all approach NEVER works, which is too often what the average player tends to do like clockwork).
Another thing to remember, the 10 blow gets harder to play on harmonicas tuned from key of C and higher. In the Marine Bands, they use two different combs, one for the key of C and lower and another for D and higher.
One thing nearly every player tends to do is try to force it and play very physically uptight and that is an entirely WRONG approach and all you're doing is making too much unnecessary work for yourself to the point that you're like a car that can't get oput of its own way.
D and up on a stock harp is more difficult just because the reeds are shorter and stock harps have a wider slot tolerance than a custom one does.
A number of you are trying to attack the bends with FAR TOO MUCH BREATH FORCE, and as a result, if you do get it, you're already hitting the floor of te bend, and then the bend is being hit badly out of tune, and a vibrato, just like with a singer, is a fluctation of two pitches 1/4 step apart and when ylu hit the floor of the bend, there's no room for the note to go and that completely kills any hope of a vibrato happening.
If the gaps on both reeds of the upper registers have been gapped too high, the bends are harder to achieve, but if too low, they just about won't happen and setting the gap on those reeds is really tricky and requires some patience because your margin for error is a lot smaller than say a 2 draw is gonna be and remember, when gapping, you do HAVE to account for the need to do BOTH reeds in the hole.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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congaron
502 posts
Feb 02, 2010
10:45 AM
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on all blow bends, I put mu tongue behind my lower teeth. Then I make tiny adjustments in the length of my air passage by pushing on the back of my lower teeth with my tongue. It changes the shape of the tongue and makes the passage longer. Just enough length without too much is harder to do with blow bends, so I do it this way. I also whistle a certain sound using this technique because of the control it gives..its a European siren-like whistle. That's something I've been doing since I was a kid so i decided to try it this way on the harp.
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Shredder
132 posts
Feb 02, 2010
1:13 PM
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BlueFinger, gap the blow reed wide and the draw reed almost closed.If it dosn't sound just keep working with the blow reed gap. I finally figured out that's what works best for me. I can get the bend with little effort on most every harp I play including an F harp.
Mike
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Bluefinger
40 posts
Feb 03, 2010
2:31 AM
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Hey Luke Juke ... I experimented with your method for some time now and I really have to thank you. It works great! I'm not where I want to be yet but I can easily bend down the ten hole without additional force and it sounds open and pretty clean. I was even able to apply a nice vibrato sometimes. On anything higher than a C harp the note pops into the full bend instead of a glissando but on the higher pitched harps this note is causing me a tinitus anyway.
For now I am working on accurate half and whole tone bends and as soon as I feel confident with this I'll work on the vibrato. This was a giant leap for me ... THANKS!!!!
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If it ain't broke you just haven't fixed it enough ...
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Luke Juke
99 posts
Feb 03, 2010
5:33 AM
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No probs. Now try to bend the note with as little air as poss to really help refine technique.
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