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beginner forum: for novice and developing blues harp players >
Bending tip: A and D harp
Bending tip: A and D harp
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SuperBee
4804 posts
Jul 17, 2017
8:14 PM
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Hi folks. I want to share this little tip.
I have been carrying 2 harps regularly; an A and a D.
Believe it or not, it's not just because these are very common keys.
Today I was playing along with Just a Feeling, the little Walter tune.
I was playing the bass line.
I had no trouble playing this on the I chord, and the IV chord is easy enough.
It's very similar if not exactly the same as Richard Sleigh uses in his Honest I Do video, except Richard is playing in 1st position.
The second position I chord is very simple: 2 hole draw, 3 draw, 4 draw, 5 blow 6 blow
3 draw 4 draw
6 blow 5 blow 4 draw 3 draw
And the IV chord (same as the 1st position I chord):
1 blow 2 blow 3 blow 3draw whole step bend 4 blow
2 blow 3 blow
4 blow 3 draw whole step bend 3 blow 2 blow
All pretty straight forward
In scale degrees it's:
Tonic 3rd 5th 6th Octave
Or in chord tones you might say Root 3rd 5th 6th Octave. Probably better to talk of the chords because I'm following the chord changes.
Anyway, I wanted to play the same pattern for the V chord, which is a little trickier
It's 1 draw, 2 draw half step, 3 draw whole step, 3 draw, 4 draw
2 draw half step, 3 draw whole step
4 draw, 3 draw, 3 draw whole step, 2 draw half step
You can't actually play this with the song because it is a 2 measure pattern, but it's a pretty good practice so I thought I'd share.
If you can play in the I chord and IV chord positions, you'll really hear how this should sound, so your ear will tell you about those bends when you try it in the V chord position (I could say 3rd position, yeah?)
So I'm sitting in the car and I have my A and D harps and I'm playing my D harp.
I have my ears and memory to tell me how I'm going, but I realised I have an A harp too
Guess what? The 2 draw half step bend on my D harp is Ab. That is the same note as 3 draw on my A harp (although it's called G# on the A harp)
And the 3 draw whole step on my D harp is B, which is the same as the 4 draw on the A harp.
So this is the exercise:
You can use the A harp 3 and 4 draw to check your 2 draw half step and 3 draw whole step bends on the D harp.
You can hold theb2harps in the same hand and move between them.
Jimi Lee showed me this a few years ago and it's a great way to get away from the tuner and really start training your ear to get those bends sweet, as well as starting to know which notes are on your harps.
And playing bass lines like this is also very cool to start getting structure into what you play
Ok, it's been a while since I said anything useful. I hope someone finds this to be so.
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Sundancer
144 posts
Aug 03, 2017
9:21 PM
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SuperBee - I like this approach. Made me realise I spend far too much time on my C harps. I'm gonna start carrying around two MB deluxes - a D and s BB so I can use them much more.
So yes, your post was useful amigo.
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Sundancer
148 posts
Aug 07, 2017
10:28 AM
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Going with SuperBee's process a bit, I've found that the notes of the -2, -2' and -2" on the D Harp are the same as the notes on the -3, -3' and -3" on the Bb. A. Ab/G#. G. I play from one Harp to the other trying to match tones.
My observation of my own playing is that I love the sound of all the half step bends on the Bb and hate the sound of them on the D. On the D they sound "Squeekier" but this may be me sucking too hard trying to get into (Gindick's) "cradle of ca" on the D bends. I'll keep working it and trying to play as soft on the D as on the Bb because it feels like quite a useful exercise. Thanks SB. Anybody else feel the same about the half step bends on the D?
Last Edited by Sundancer on Aug 07, 2017 10:41 AM
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SuperBee
4879 posts
Aug 07, 2017
9:05 PM
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Hi Sundancer, i'm glad you found something to interest you there.
that is an interesting exercise youve found with the Bb and D harps. i think this is the kind of thing that can build your playing over time without really registering.
in the Bb harp you are playing the 3 slot, and the 2 slot in the D harp, but the D harp is the one that sounds squeaky. i believe the natural notes you are playing are the same octave...A4 for the sake of argument.
so why would they sound different?
the obvious answer is the reed/slot dimensions. but generally it seems less likely for the lower hole (chamber 2 on the D)to be squeaky compared to the higher hole (chamber 3 of the Bb)
however, if you are playing a hohner handmade (MB, MBD,Crossover, Thunderbird, Sp20, Rocket, Golden Melody; i usually call these 'marine band and sp20 types'), the 2 draw slot is actually shorter than the 3 draw of the Bb.
Hohner use two templates for these harps. those from C down to whatever the lowest pitch is (Low D i think) use the 'long slot' template, and Db and higher use 'short slot'.
slot 2 on a D harp is the same size as slot 4 on a Bb harp.
the D harp 'A' in 2 draw should be like the 4 draw A on a G harp. the difference is that there is only a half step available on the G harp.
this could be an interesting experiment to compare bending the 2 draw on D with 4 draw on G
i expect we'll find its still somewhat different, even when attempting the half step on the 2 draw of the D. if so, id have to suspect its the interaction of the blow reed which is responsible
id be interested
in hohner 'handmade' harps the Bb harps are different from the D harps
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Sundancer
150 posts
Aug 10, 2017
3:00 PM
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Let me reiterate how useful & important I'm finding this trade-off between Bb and D harps to be. The more I do so the more I keep hearing voices:
Adam - "drop your jaw and open up your throat. Get a deep embouchere"
BBQ Bob - "play softly and practice breath control."
It's much easier to play a C all the time. The SuperBb and D program is how ya develop good breath control habits I think, so I intend to stick with it for awhile. My go-to songs to practice are Grey Owl's version of Work Song, and this version of St. Louis Blues which has -2', -2", -3', -3", -4' and -6' bends - both are quite a workout on either Harp.
https://youtu.be/ho0_wW7QR18
Last Edited by Sundancer on Aug 10, 2017 3:06 PM
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