Skalbal
9 posts
Apr 14, 2012
9:49 AM
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I have been playing for just over a month now and have noticed that when i try to slide between notes sometimes the harp does a rather low pitched squeak or squeal. It is more noticeable on the higher pitched harps. I am just wondering if this is a modification or technique issue and if technique how would I fix this. Thanks
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arzajac
777 posts
Apr 14, 2012
9:54 AM
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If a reed consistently squeals, then it's a technical issue that you can address. If you can play the note fine but are noticing a squeal when you are trying something new, it probably is your playing technique - it's hard to say. Can you post a clip?
Or do you have another harp of the same key? Are you having the same problem on it?
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Steamrollin Stan
342 posts
Apr 14, 2012
9:56 AM
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Practice, practice, practice,.
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Skalbal
10 posts
Apr 14, 2012
9:59 AM
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yes it does play fine except when i slide from note to note. I will try post a clip if I can figure this thing out.
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Skalbal
11 posts
Apr 14, 2012
10:00 AM
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And yes it is most harps so I I guess it must be me
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FreeWilly
170 posts
Apr 14, 2012
10:17 AM
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Watch what you are doing with your mouth when the noice comes. Self-reflect. You probably tighten up somehow.
Also: use vaseline on your lips so your lips can remain open and soft during sliding? Or at least moisturize with saliva.
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Skalbal
12 posts
Apr 14, 2012
10:20 AM
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Thanks for the advice and sorry for the silly questions all the time.
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FreeWilly
172 posts
Apr 14, 2012
2:26 PM
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No need to say sorry. Harp players stick with one another. There isn't a whole lot of support from elsewhere. If you did a forum search to see if something has been asked before, you can ask A-ny-thing.
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nacoran
5540 posts
Apr 14, 2012
2:46 PM
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I've used Vaseline, but I find it causes more build up on the harp. If you get the harp in your lips far enough you can do most of your harp sliding by sliding your lips and the harp together in front of the hole in your mouth. A little angle adjustment and you can save a lot of wear and tear on your lips.
I can't tell without a clip, but you could just be referring to the sound a double stop makes, or at least a partial double stop. When you blow or draw two holes together you get a partial chord. When you only get a little bit of one of the holes you can end up with a rough noise created by the two notes interacting sort of unevenly. When you are playing gentle melodies, but when you are playing bluesy you'll actually want to throw that sound in from time to time. (With out a clip though I can't tell if that's what you are talking about.) It can be particularly harsh sounding if you are trying to bend a hole and you get a part of the next hole unbent next to it.
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Nate
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ElkRiverHarmonicas
855 posts
Apr 14, 2012
2:50 PM
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Low pitched squeak... More noticeable on higher harps.... Do you hear it more when you slide around the 7 and 8 holes?
I think your harmonica may be haunted.
Concentrate on single note making. You don't have to pucker your lip opening small, just narrow.
When you hit two notes or more, these tones interact with one another to make new tones. Its called difference tones, but I always called them ghost notes. That's why a just tuned harmonica chord sounds so rich, there aren't just the three notes you play, there's a smooth blend of difference tones as well... These difference tones aren't so noticeable until they sound like crap, which they do on the higher end of the harp. It's a lot more noticeable on higher harps.
This is, btw, what Nate (Nacoran) was referring to.
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David
Elk River Harmonicas
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"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato." - Lewis Grizzard
"Also, drinking homemade beer." - David Payne
Last Edited by on Apr 14, 2012 2:51 PM
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SlimHarpMick
7 posts
Apr 14, 2012
3:08 PM
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Like others, I can't really offer advice about the squealing problem without more info; I'm just not quite sure what you mean without seeing/hearing the problem.
As for lubricant on the harp, in my opinion, if you're playing the instrument properly, then you shouldn't really need any.
What I've found is that when I've been having a hard time getting something right, my mouth will tend to dry up. I presume it's to do with the stress that a bad-harp-day can bring about - you know, those days when nothing will go right. They can happen to experienced players as well as beginners. Anyway, I seem to find that when I come back to the instrument the next day, or later that same day, as often as not, things are back as they should be. And I'm not one of those players who advocates tilting the harp up to place the top lip over much of the instrument. The book I first learnt from made no mention of doing that, and I've never felt the need to. I suppose that you can get used to playing either way with equal ease.
Anyway, back to your original question, as others have said, you need to post something to give peeps a better idea of what the problem is.
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Skalbal
13 posts
Apr 14, 2012
3:26 PM
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I think I figured it out. I don't tilt the harp up either as I always found I can play single notes just fine with it straight. As ElkRiverHarmonica said I thought for a while that while transitioning notes I might have been playing two, throwing off the sound. So I started making my whole narrower and narrower trying to hit just one note. As I read these replies I tried all the suggestions out and at one point i just let my mouth relax. It is now wide enough more than one whole fits but I guess somehow the air is directed through only one whole. I should have known this before, as I used to do it, but as I try learn new things I sometimes forget the things I already know. You guys here are all a great help. I'll get it though just gotta practice until it's natural! Thanks guys!
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SlimHarpMick
8 posts
Apr 14, 2012
3:44 PM
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"It is now wide enough more than one whole fits but I guess somehow the air is directed through only one whole."
Yeah, I think there's a passage in Winslow Yerxa's Harmonica for Dummies book where he illustrates that point. If I'm remembering it correctly, he shows that if you make a pucker, then take the harp away, the hole will look larger than it should be, but will be just fine.
I did that experiment myself before reading his book, and I think I got the same result, but I'm too tired to go downstairs to a mirror and check right now. I've just got the energy to finish the beer I'm on and get some zeds.
Just a quick last word about that pucker. Remember that the sound you are making will be a whole lot smoother and easier to control if your face is relaxed. If you've only been playing a month or so, then you may find that, from time to time, you get face ache. The more practised you become, the less that will happen.
I think the description in the book I learnt from said something like, "You should feel slight tension in the sides of your mouth, but not in your cheeks." I think that's as good a description as any.
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Skalbal
14 posts
Apr 14, 2012
4:12 PM
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It seems counter intuitive so when I am playing bad i pucker tighter and tighter. Which makes my playing digress rapidly. You are also right about that face ache and when I start playing bad I try harder to fix it and the ache gets worse and worse. Strange little instrument I am learning but I am hooked!
Last Edited by on Apr 14, 2012 4:13 PM
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ElkRiverHarmonicas
856 posts
Apr 14, 2012
6:44 PM
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Don't pucker tight, pucker narrow.
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David
Elk River Harmonicas
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"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato." - Lewis Grizzard
"Also, drinking homemade beer." - David Payne
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nacoran
5542 posts
Apr 14, 2012
10:04 PM
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Just to be clear, I wasn't advocating a tilted pucker, although some people use it with good effect. I was advocating keeping the muscles in your mouth loose so that your lips can slide with the harp rather than against the harp. Rolling the harp rather than sliding it should be good for about 6 holes with a normal sized mouth, more the farther in your mouth the harp is. Basically think of it like someone blowing smoke out of one side of their mouth, only you are playing the harp instead. I also like to keep my lower lip really loose so that when I slide the harp it moves with the cover of the harp. I leave a tiny gap between my top lip and the harp, sort of like the cushion of air on an air hockey table. Sometimes I get out of practice when I don't think about it for a while, but it can save a lot of lip from the mouth grinder.
The one thing tipping the harp can be useful for is if you are a spitter. Just giving the harp a tip and keeping your chin up just a tiny bit can help the spit stay in your mouth, with a side benefit of helping open you keep your airway open (remember they used to tell you when giving CPR to put your hand on the persons forehead and gently lift the chin up to help open someone's airway. I think now they tell you not to do that now. They decided the risk to someone who might have a broken neck was too great to justify it). In the other thread with the 'mental' harp player going crazy, aside from being bad form for breathing deeply, if I bent over like that my harmonica would have more spit in it than a dog's mouth at a butcher's shop.
(I'm trying to invent colloquialisms today. Don't mind the funny talk... it's just me trying me trying to invent some new languagifications.
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Nate
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rbeetsme
735 posts
Apr 15, 2012
5:02 AM
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When I slide between the notes the women squeal, just sayin'...
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Skalbal
15 posts
Apr 15, 2012
8:24 AM
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That's funny. Nacoran the spit is also a big problem for me sometimes. I can play 12 bars once or twice but then I get to much spit build up and I think I actually start blowing some into the reeds . I can here it, it messes with the sound, and gets pretty gross. I've been trying to figure out a technique so I can squeeze in another few twelve bar sections. My mouth generates far too much saliva. I will try the tilted head thing
Last Edited by on Apr 15, 2012 8:30 AM
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