Can anyone tell me how to get that change in pitch in the middle of a shake, you here it in Sonny Boy 2's Help Me. Shake - Change in pitch - back to the original shake. Is the shake just bent down more, or is it an entirely different note thrown in there. Thanks for any help.
SB2 was just one example, but you here it all the time in a lot of shakes from everyone really. The shake starts out, then a little change in pitch, then the shake is finished as it started.
Yes you are right bending as you warble and you can vary it in pitch by dropping your jaw and bringing it back up also good for slowing it down and alternating between two holes whilst bending. ----------
"Those British boys want to play the blues real bad, and they do"
Last Edited by marine1896 on Aug 20, 2015 5:41 AM
Part of it is bending, part of it is how you use your hands (be it maybe opening one or more fingers, and also which particular finger or fingers), how you strategically use your breath force plus how you are able to manipulate whatever embouchure you're using. All of these things affects how the warble works for both acoustic and amplified harp.
Sometimes SBWII is using just one hand to do the warble, and having personally seen BW, he always used his hands and never shook his head, as did LW. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
When I first did shakes I used to bust up my lips something terrible, but over time I started changing how I was holding the harp to my face. The first thing was getting the harp deeper into my mouth so most of the contact was with the inside of my lips instead of the dry outside, but the other part was loosening up my lips so they were sliding along with the covers back and forth, while the rest of my mouth stayed still. It's funny I wasn't sure of what was going on with the airstream, but playing and paying attention, I think I may have to throw some flame on the fire of pucker vs. tb. I'm going to invent a new category called 'airstream blocking'. I can put my lips on the harp pucker style as if I was going to play several notes at once but still only play one note. I'm not sure what I'm doing in the back of my mouth that is creating an airstream that is straight enough to only get one note with other notes not blocked.
Whatever it is I'm doing it's key to how I do my shakes. The harmonica is moving back and forth in front of that stream of air but my lips, which until just now I thought were doing some version of lip blocking, are loose and the gap is more than one hole wide but I'm getting one note. I seem to be using the back of my tongue to create a channel of air. The tip of my tongue is nowhere near the harp. That's probably a topic for another thread, but the loose lips, for me, keeps me from ripping up my lips on warbles.
When you do a shake (warble) the note on the left is always the main note. That's also the note you bend, or at least that's the one you focus on bending.
With a shake of Holes 4 and 5 Draw, it's easier to control this, as the 4 bends deeper and more readily than the 5 (which also bends, just not as much).
When you're working with 3 and 4, they both bend readily, but to control the sound, focus on bending 3, and just let 4 go along for the ride. (Easier said than done, but that's what to aim for.) =========== Winslow
Thanks to everyone for there input, but I feel some are not fully understanding the question. The question isn't how to do shakes, I can do that. The question was how to get that little pitch change, or different note in the middle of the shake. It's still all one continuous shake but sometimes players throw this little extra note in the middle of it. But I think BBQ Bob is on the right track with his answer, they may be doing it with there hands.
Pretty sure that what you're after is just doing a normal bend while you're doing the warble. If you can bend the four draw, just do the same thing while you are doing the warble. ---------- Lucky Lester
