A nephew asked me to do a specific melody on harp for one of his original songs. I nailed most of it off the bat but there was a troublesome note. I had nearly a year to work it out before the recording. I tried to farm it out to a more appropriate talent but he was disheartened at the thought so I slugged it out.
The problem note was a sustained A# at the end of a phrase on a C harp. I could not get around the honk so I used the 2 draw on an E harp and it turned out well. I just felt ridiculous holding an extra harp for one note in such a pristine environment. I was prepared and nobody seemed to care but ....
I have 2 questions:
- Is it possible to maintain a draw bend note that sounds pleasant?
- Do people tune diatonics for a single song? I was not using 1 or 2 so those holes were open territory.
Forgive my continuing but waning ignorance.
EDIT: Please see below for corrections to this error filled explanation of my particular 'playing' difficulty.
Last Edited by JustFuya on Mar 02, 2015 2:08 PM
I'd love to hear a example of a sustained A# on a C harp.
[BTW, STME58, thank you and Nacoran for the spreadsheets. I would not have been able to communicate my shortcomings without them. Love the dropdown box in your spreadsheet. Do you program? It has the guts of a very nice VB executable.]
I like to retune harmonicas, and sometimes discover songs on them after the fact--like recently, when I retuned to this PentaBender (which gives you every note of the chromatic scale either as a given note or as a draw bend--every hole can be bent a half step) and found it useful for the horn parts on Uptown Funk. I once retuned a diatonic to an arrangement of tones that enabled me to smoothly and artfully execute the lead line to Wildfire by Michael Martin Murphy while playing guitar. The Bb (A#) on a C harp is pretty easy on hole 3 as a draw bent note that can be held for some time, once you are good at bending--of course, bending is always a moving target . . .
Last Edited by Gnarly on Feb 26, 2015 10:08 PM
I have been playing for a long time and have a very good control for sustained bending on full bends but on the 3 hole steps,no way, I've no doubt that people can do it but i would imagine that it takes a lot of work and a perfectly set up harp. Nothing 'wrong' with using another Harp to get one note imo. Even on stage ,handled right ,it can look quite cool in that people think wow he knows his stuff to be able to change harps like that. A sort of Norton Buffalo 'Runaway' effect ;-)
The Bb on a C harp is a half-step bend, the minor third in second position.
If you asked me, the semitone bends on the 2 and 3 hole draw are where the magic happens. Those notes are what make the harmonica sound expressive.
Those notes are not particularly easy, but they are a lot more accessible than overbends. And a lot more expressive in most cases!
" Is it possible to maintain a draw bend note that sounds pleasant?"
More than pleasant, you can make the harp talk. To me, that's the point of the harmonica. Otherwise, I'd be playing another instrument.
"Do people tune diatonics for a single song? I was not using 1 or 2 so those holes were open territory."
Nothing wrong with that, but consider the power you gain by altering your tuning. Often, you can position the notes you want strategically so that you can hit them as juicy draw bends to emphasize the point (instead of making it a straight note). For example, PowerBender tuning places key notes/intervals in several positions as expressive draw bends. Albeit, most of the bends are one and sometimes two semitones, unlike the three draw bend's three semitone bends.
What kind of song is it? I'd be willing to bet that you could play your same licks on a natural minor harp (no bend for that A#), or on a paddy Richter/Melody Maker, where that A# would be the only available bend in three draw, which would make it a lot easier to sustain on pitch. ----------
JustFuya, thanks for the kind words on the spreadsheet. I hope folks find it useful. I am a very amateur coder, just like my harp playing. If you look under the hood of that spreadsheet you will find brute force long formulas and conditional formatting. There is no elegant Visual Basic.
I play in F on a C harp frequently. "Send in the Clowns" is a good one in 12th, it starts on a Bb in C. As arzajac says, the 3 draw bend Bb (A#) is a lot easier to hit than the 6 OB Bb.
A piece that is frequently recommended on this forum to help get all 3 draw bends on hole 3 is "Sentimental Journey" I have found it very helpful. What is showed me was that the reason I could not bend hole 3 down to the Ab was because I was already playing near Ab when I thought I was playing an A.
Here is a recording I made on a Bb harp last July. It is using "Sentimental Journey" as a bending exercise. It is not the best example of 3 hole bends but it shows it can be done by a non-professional. I would highly recommend making an occasional recording of yourself. It helps show you how far you have come and how far you have to go.
I agree with Indigo about harp switching being perceived as an advanced and cool technique by many audiences.
Last Edited by STME58 on Feb 27, 2015 8:47 AM
@Isaac - I'd call it pop ... just short of country with the pace of 'Star Spangled Banner'. Not busy at all. He whistled the harp part as a place holder/guide and he didn't want a lot of improvisation, bless his heart. It was straightforward but for that one note. So my task was complete last September but it continues to bug me. As an ear player can you point me to an audio example of Paddy Richter/Melody Maker tuning? That's exactly what I am wondering. Is there a standard tuning for those moments or would I have to use a bastardized harp to achieve a goal like this. I tried a chromatic and while all the notes were there I lost the feeling.
Sounds like paddy richter or melody maker would work well on this song. Hard to find a really good video showing that specific bend, but you might get some ideas from these promotional videos by the Lee Oskar company:
Paddy Richter is typically played by folks doing irish or other trad music, but it's actually really similar to Melody Maker, and so give good access to both Major and Minor pentatonic scales in second position. Here's a tune of mine on a Paddy Richter harp:
I just gave Sentimental Journey a try and it is indeed a good workout. I'm putting it on my woodshed wall.
Last Edited by JustFuya on Mar 02, 2015 2:09 PM
"The problem note was a sustained A# at the end of a phrase on a C harp. I could not get around the honk so I used the 2 draw on an E harp and it turned out well."
2 draw on an E harp is B natural, not A#. The same note (I.e., B natural) is available at 3 draw on your C harp.
Did you mean to write "an Eb harp"?
Last Edited by timeistight on Feb 27, 2015 8:56 PM
I retune a lot of my harps to PR & or MM or Major X. I play a lot of bluegrass & I find this tuning fits the fiddle tunes better than standard diatonics. One of the lesser promoted aspects of the MM tuning is that it is great for playing lots of minor tunes. Lee Oskars range of MM tunings is somewhat limited hence I took to making my own. In particular the D & C Lee Oskars are based on the G & Low F tunings which are nice but too low to cut through when playing with other musicians. A hi G and standard F were amongst the first that I retuned & although I don’t much like them as harps (too shrill) they cut through & do the job.
Of course one of the drawbacks in having additional tunings is that you need more harps. Of course the ultimate is to just use a Chromatic for everything.
Couple I have done on MM TUning ie both are basic C harps with the Blow 3 altered from a G to an A and draw 5 & 9 from F to F#. Desperado is in G cross harp & Ghost Riders is in Am (1st pos according to Lee Oskar) commencing on 3 blow. Both tunes are fairly easy on MM tuning.
Thanks for all the input. I think @Aussie comes closest to what I imagine but I will try MM tuning to experiment. It's always been a frustration for me as I try to be true to the original melody and I don't like to fudge notes.
I mis-read my harp key. I used a D harp for the missing note and had the choice of blow or draw. Sorry for my confusion. Next time I'll demonstrate with audio or use my reading glasses.
@ JustFuya I think I am beginning to understand your problem with the C harp. If you used a D harp and had the choice of draw 2 or blow 3, the note you are looking for is an A. This A on a C harp is draw 3 full step bend. From what I read in the OP, I thought you were trying to hit and sustain a 1/2 step bend (A#/Bb) on 3 draw of the C harp. The full step bend is difficult to hit when the note has to be spot on pitch. I have been working on it for the last 3 yrs. I'm not suggesting that it takes that long to control the whole step bend on hole 3. I'm just saying for me it has been something that has not come quickly or easily. For a long time I would just play an octave up and hit it on draw 6 or play around it on the lower octave. I have to agree with arzajac though, "More than pleasant, you can make the harp talk. To me, that's the point of the harmonica." I just want to encourage you to make this note as musical as any of the other notes on the harp. For me, it has been time well spent even though my progress has been slow. There is nothing wrong with switching harps or using altered tunings. But gaining skill and control over the three bent notes on draw 3 will be worth it. ----------
Last Edited by orphan on Feb 28, 2015 12:01 PM
Gary Primich ends "Ain't you trouble" (one of my favorite Primich tracks) with a sustained A on the Company Man CD. The one I found on YouTube is a live version and he doesn't do it. It's pretty much next to impossible to make it sound like a natural note if that's the concern, it's baggage inherent with how the diatonic harmonica works. You did the right thing for a recording!
There is no doubt magic in a bent note which is a major part of the harmonicas appeal in the right choice of music. But some music (eg Irish Fiddle) however well the note is executed being spot on pitch it can sound like the harmonica stops and a car horn is used to get the note. No one would argue that Brendan Power isn't one of the greatest living players who criss crosses all types of music & can extract any note from a normal diatonic but Brendan invented PR tuning or uses a Chromatic on those pieces that need it. Horses for courses I say. ---------- HARPOLDIE’S YOUTUBE
The A is in the key of the C harp in first position. An exercise I find helpful is going up and down the major scale in all three octaves of the harp. Hearing the pattern in the middle octave helps you hit the draw bends accurately in the low octave. The note I have the most trouble with in this exercise is the 9 blow bend.
When you get bored with the scale, You can do the same thing with any tune that has the notes A and or F in it in C major. Play it in the middle octave to set the pattern in your head, then play it in the low octave and pay attention to the two hole step draw bends on hole 2 and 3.
