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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Help with half valved harmonica
Help with half valved harmonica
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SweetBlood
63 posts
Apr 23, 2018
10:45 AM
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So I picked up a Seydel Session Steel Gazelle method harp at the harmonica summit in Tulsa this weekend. The local harp repair guy, Mike Peace was selling it because he said he tried but couldn't play it. He had a $30 price tag on it so I quickly grabbed it.
I have been wanting to try a valved harp so I figured it would be a perfect chance to get ahold of a decent one cheap. The problem? I am in the same boat as Mike. The non valved holes are great, just like my other session steals, but the valved ones...I can't get a decent sounding bend to save my life.
Does anyone have any advice? I know a lot of people including PT say that it works just like your regular bands, making it completely intuitive and automatic, but so far this has not been my experience.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
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Crawforde
168 posts
Apr 23, 2018
12:10 PM
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All the holes should be valved, but only half the reeds.
If it is set up correctly all notes should bend as normal.
Maybe you need to open the gaps a little?
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SweetBlood
64 posts
Apr 23, 2018
2:21 PM
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Yes, I understand that Crawford. When I said the valved holes, I should have said the valved reeds. Maybe I will try opening the gaps and see what that does.
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robbert
453 posts
Apr 23, 2018
3:24 PM
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Not that I’m a valve harp player, but in experiments with said instrument, I found I needed a little softer, more shallow approach to effect some of the bends. Especially the unfamiliar blow bends.
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WinslowYerxa
1561 posts
Apr 23, 2018
4:17 PM
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The valved bends require a different approach. Instead of a dual-reed bend, you're playing an isolated reed that has neither the support nor the absorbent quality of a responder reed.
Absorbent? When you have both blow and draw reeds in the airstream, both unvalved, one can absorb excess breath flow directed at the other, acting as a sort of shock absorber. As a result, When you play a valved or half-valved instrument for the first time notes can clam up - you have to learn to modulate your attacks, and after awhile you find a new way of playing that can get fairly aggressive without making notes blank out.
Valved bends can bend farther than dual reed bends, but they're harder to tune and harder to sustain. Again, not having an enabler reed changes things. And again, a new area of technique development opens up.
PT's harps, afaik, are set up with larger gaps to compensate for the tightness caused by valves. You could always re-gap it, but first I'd play it for awhile and see if you can refine your technique to adapt to the instrument.
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Last Edited by WinslowYerxa on Apr 23, 2018 4:19 PM
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