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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > Brendan Power's AsiaBend
Brendan Power's AsiaBend
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Chris Sachitano
5 posts
Mar 22, 2017
8:57 AM
I just picked this up from Rockin Rod's. I have had it for two days, and it is a great instrument. It has fantastic tone. OOTB The reeds are extremely responsive, and I am finding that first few overblows dial in well (my tone is still a bit thin) without any huge embouchure changes on my behalf. It is its own (a new) "animal" so to speak. Brendan did a great job here.

Anyone else picked up one? I didn't see any threads discussing the mechanics of playing here, and I was wondering what others thought.

Last Edited by Chris Sachitano on Mar 22, 2017 9:01 AM
Brendan Power
587 posts
Mar 24, 2017
2:35 AM
Glad you like it, Chris. It's an unusual harmonica, but perfect for good blues harp players to explore as it relies on having mastery of your draw bends. I think some are put off because it looks like a chromatic, but it's definitely not!

The overblows were not in my mind when I created it - in fact it took me quite a while of playing (a couple of years experimenting with different tunings) before it suddenly dawned on me they were all in there! If I'd been a regular overblower I guess it would have been obvious from the start , but having the blind spot so long made the discovery all the more surprising and pleasurable.

A happy accident indeed, as they complement the basic diatonic scale by giving an alternative way to get all the missing chromatic notes. Handy, though to be honest I usually prefer to do partial bends instead.

I play lots of different types of harps in many tunings, but if I want to play a melody in the most soulful way possible I'll always choose the AsiaBend. Having access to all that wide draw bending expression on every note is addictive, and other harps seem a bit restricted by comparison - though of course they have other strengths.

What did you mean about the 'mechanics of playing'? Happy to help if I can.
Chris Sachitano
6 posts
Mar 24, 2017
8:56 AM
Brendan,

I am glad you responded. First of all, I want to thank you for your invention. I can definitely see how it lends itself to Eastern styles; however, one can really honk out some bluesy/jazzy stuff also. A fully bendable Chromatic for $100 shipped within 2 days to my house. It's a wonderful world.

I have been working with it since Monday. I am following your lead and working with the non-traditional tunings myself, through your inventions(PowerDraw and Lucky 13). I picked up the AsiaBend from Rockin Ron, as it seemed to me to be something I could focus on melody and scale with such a broad range of draw bending.

I think it was last night that it truly dawned on me from a muscle memory perspective how the b3s, b5s, and b7s, are not only easily accessible but also bending/turning those into "blue notes" or "worried notes" is more intuitive.

In regards to the OBing, I think from a practical perspective, I would more often be bending those tones out of an adjacent reed. I am just getting into OBs, so I am not going to relate much about the experience on the AsiBend OBing so far other than to say the b2/#1 above the tonic ONE hole blow is a great place to "dump" some air and pass to the right back up the scale or hop back to the tonic.

I guess when I say mechanics, I am talking about embouchure and breath regulation. I am finding myself TBing the whole instrument so far. It makes it much easier to comp with the 1 chord accessible. I have not worked much on the 3rd position/DFAB side, but just toying around with St. James Infirmary-ish lines has already proven to be just as intuitive, if not more than the first position.

The challenge (for me at least) is the smooth transitions across holes. I think what I need to focus on is a bit more finesse and articulation. Once I hear more people using them and gain more experience, that will all start making more sense. I did notice yesterday that you had some specific videos on the AsiaBend. I plan to watch them this weekend.


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