Tom585
40 posts
Jul 17, 2017
6:53 PM
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Taking the 5 hole note bending thread a bit further:
Is it correct to say that a player can bend draw holes 1-6 and blow holes 7-10 - to about 1/4 tone above the lower note (regardless of the interval between the draw and blow reeds)?
I never tried to determine just how far down we can bend.
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ejakon
31 posts
Jul 17, 2017
7:17 PM
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You're going to have to ask the God of Harmonica, @sharpharp that question..
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Mirco
496 posts
Jul 17, 2017
8:10 PM
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You can get very close to the pitch of the lower hole. 1/4 sounds reasonable, but it of course depends on the hole and the tuning of the harmonica. I can't imagine a use for bending it that low, though.
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Marc Graci
YouTube Channel
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Winslow
1 post
Jul 17, 2017
8:19 PM
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The lower pitch reed opens at around a quarter tone above its closing pitch. Nobody has published measurements, but it's safe to take that as a working approximation.
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hvyj
3374 posts
Jul 18, 2017
7:49 PM
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Some players (Jon Gindick and MadCat Ruth, to name two) contend blow 8 can be bent a half step and a whole step.
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Winslow
2 posts
Jul 19, 2017
9:46 AM
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You can create the *illusion* of bending Blow 8 down two semitones. Jimmy Reed does this in "Honest I Do." But it'really bending it down a semitones plus a quarter tone. If you bend Blow 8 down as far as you can and the play Draw 8, you'll hear that the draw note is still lower than the bent note. Draw 8 is pitched two semitones lower than Blow 8.
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nacoran
9528 posts
Jul 19, 2017
11:48 AM
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It's easier to bend the long harps like the 365s. You put one end in a vice and pull hard on the other. That's how Seydel invented their Boomerang model!*
*May not be historically accurate
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Nate
Facebook
Thread Organizer (A list of all sorts of useful threads)
First Post- May 8, 2009
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kudzurunner
6300 posts
Jul 19, 2017
2:01 PM
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I'll second Winslow's comments.
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SuperBee
4809 posts
Jul 19, 2017
2:38 PM
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It's common in 1st position to substitute flat blow bends for draw notes. I'm finding draw notes to sound 'wrong' in a lot of tunes.
I think this was even more viable when the 9 draw was tuned somewhat flatter, allowing 9 blow to be bent closer to the 'true' pitch sought than with modern compromises and et harps.
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hvyj
3375 posts
Jul 19, 2017
5:01 PM
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I made a typo. It's blow 9 that Gindick and Madcat say can drop two semitones. Gindick shows it in a notes available diagram and Madcat has told me in conversation. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing. But both of these guys are pretty knowledgeable.
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STME58
2008 posts
Jul 19, 2017
6:26 PM
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WinslowYerxa
1394 posts
Jul 20, 2017
8:06 AM
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@hvyj - Whether it's Blow 8 or Blow 9 doesn't matter. In both cases, the draw note is 2 semitones below the blow note. The lowest pitch at which the draw note can open is what defines the floor of the bend, and that is a pitch that is above the pitch of the draw note, and not equal to that pitch.
Again, both Madcat and Gindick, if they have stated Blow 9 can be bent down 2 semitones, are describing an illusion that players can create, even if they characterize that illusion as reality.
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Winslow
Check out my blog and other goodies at winslowyerxa.com
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