Okay, first thing that struck me was oh, I know this tune! Then- oh what a beautiful vibrato! Then- is it me ? Every time he plays an overblow it just sounds like a wrong note. Like a sour note. Even videos of Howard with the Flecktones he just sounds like he is wrestling a very fast duck. it just makes me wish he was playing a Chromatic harmonica.
I’ll give a new players perspective on this. The tonal quality of “non-native” (bent and over blow notes) are different than the “native” notes on a harmonica. I’m learning this is true for all instruments. I now know there are instances where my experience has conditioned me to expect certain tonal qualities. When the tonal quality is different it sometimes sounds good and at other times does not sound good.
This is now helping me understand why I like some versions of songs better than others.
So, I like duck wrestling…and jello wrestling…but, not usually combined.
I will also add that the room/mic setup may lend to a signal not as strong as Howard would usually send. Howard would normally have a Sennheiser MD441 mic placed close to the harp.
Everytime I hear harmonica players complaining about the sound of overblows, I wonder: Do other people, not familiar with 'overbending', say that some notes sound weird? I'm pretty sure that no one notices anything.
The duck wrestling crack applies to some of the notes he overblows- they are louder than the other notes and the intonation to my ears sounds off. Duck wrestling is different from overblowing with equal breath control and perfect intonation. When it is done well it opens up a huge amount of possibilities.I was just being honest.
Ok, I think we need to start an overblow rights society. Seriously, can you guys think of any other instrument where so many people have something against some of the notes?! I can only think of a buglar complaining that some of the notes on the valved trumpet sound wierd. It's ridiculous. Accept it and move on. They are notes. End of story. To be honest, I'd much rather listen to overblows than wavery, out of tune 3 draw bends any day. ----------
Last Edited by on Jun 28, 2012 2:28 PM
I can think of quite a few members on this forum who use overblows fantastically, I will repeat myself.... If you are playing a piece of music that requires asmooth transition from one note to the next and you apply too much pressure and your intonation is not spot on it will sound off. Any overblowers out there agree? The duck erase era need not respond, I think you already did.
Amazing. Howard's one of my heroes and when I seen Bela Fleck they were amazing. I'm happy he's out there proving that this is a real instrument and capable of very much more then usually expected. Plus any player that pushes you to practice harder or be more motivated to reach your goals ain't nothing to sneeze at!
@surrealIdeal "Everytime I hear harmonica players complaining about the sound of overblows, I wonder: Do other people, not familiar with 'overbending', say that some notes sound weird? I'm pretty sure that no one notices anything. "
I don't think so.
My wife overheard this video while I was watching it and heard the bit where howard was explaining the overblows and then played the full scale. Her comment, without turning around, was a snort and "I would not want to listen to this". I asked her why and it was pretty much due to the tonal quality of the overblows is significantly different to someone who is hearing it for the first time.
I would say that most harp players who like overblows have attuned themselves to this to an extent where overblow notes now sound "normal" enough.
Granted that's an extremely small sample of 1;-) Just sayin!
Personally I think HL is great, but I don't do a huge amount of overblowing myself because I can't get the tone I want on them. More practice or a custom harp needed!
Each to their own, in any event.
---------- Paul Cohen aka Komuso Tokugawa http://harpninja.com http://music.sonicviz.com
That dont say much. He prob played the chromatic scale which some people have a hard time to grasp as music.
I get the same reaction when I put on thelenious monk from my wife. And it's NOT about the bad tonality of his playing. It's how he plays that takes time to llearn to love.
Adam uses overblows. His stuff Sounds just pure awesome. And i bet she would not react to that the same way.
I use ob/od technique with the awareness that a lot of these notes will have tone/timbre challenges to incorporate them in a seamless way sonically.
This means that I will consciously place them within musical lines or context so that they have the least chance of "sticking out" along with working on the technique to get them as close as possible to sounding the same as "given" notes.
Carlos del Junco is an example of someone that has worked to blend them as well. In his case, I feel that his unique overall harmonica tone (slightly distorted through use of old analog tape delays) helps mask the differences pretty well for the most part.
So, while it is not perfect, many do move towards that seamless sound - especially a lot of those amazing young European players. ---------- The Iceman
I also play Shakuhachi, japanese bamboo flute. It's 5 hole pentatonic scale instrument. You can, with the right technique combination of finger shading and chin/lip/breath adjustment, also get a full chromatic scale.
There's quite a few people who try to use it like that.
I can count the people on one hand who use it musically though!
It's a worthy practice goal to get them down to use them musically though, on either harp or shak - and a hard one imo. However, unless (as smwoerner also points out as well) you have them down I would not use them in performance. They sound as bad as a high bend out of control otherwise. Just because you can do something does not always mean you should!
---------- Paul Cohen aka Komuso Tokugawa http://harpninja.com http://music.sonicviz.com
@Iceman x10 on context and awareness. I've been listening to a lot of Carlos del Junco recently and he really has it down.
This one Howard Levy and Miroslav Tadic : "Jovano, Jovanke" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLY_U5lYLeI he has a really interesting tone on. ---------- Paul Cohen aka Komuso Tokugawa http://harpninja.com http://music.sonicviz.com
Howard was the man that brought overbending (overblowing and overdrawing) to the forefront. He is a master and will go down in history as one of the best.
That said, I too hear slight delays, tone variations, and pitch problems while he plays overblows in this video.
As someone who has studied OBs and listened to countless hours of OB style playing..IMHO,Howard is not the best overblower out there. To me Jason and Carlos play all around cleaner overblows than Howard. They sound like any other note, tone and pitch wise and they seem to have a little more control over the OBs than Howard does.
Jason overblows more from the throat and it sounds like Howard's OBs come more from the front of the mouth..which makes them much more difficult to control.
Last Edited by on Jun 28, 2012 2:28 PM
