528hemi
29 posts
Sep 02, 2009
7:04 PM
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Hi,
After you played with Harps out of the box with minor gap work, learned to bend and such, do you find it takes a while to adjust to a customised harp? Also,for you advanced players, do you find you can pick up almost any different brand of harp and hit the bends without practicing too much with it.
Do you find once you have lots of expericence that you just make the necessary adjustments on the fly to compensate for the differences in harps to hit the bends perfectly.
Thanks for your opinions.
Last Edited by on Sep 02, 2009 7:05 PM
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KingoBad
77 posts
Sep 02, 2009
8:46 PM
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You should be able to hit your bends with just about any harp-- crap or not. Some might need a little adjustment here and there to make it more responsive, but you would not need to practice much with it.
That being said, I wouldn't want to count on a bluesband, murano or swan when playing anything difficult. Some harps do have their limitations.
I have not used a custom harp excepting the ones I customize myself. I would imagine that it would take some getting used to the giddiness and permanent grin I would have from playing one. Other than that, I'm sure learning to play a much more responsive instrument would just mean a lot more finesse and getting used to the dynamic possibilities.
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Brad
4 posts
Sep 02, 2009
9:02 PM
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I would say there would be a little adjustment for you to go from a stock to a custom harmonica. You will find that the bent notes are much easier to hit, and you may bend them down to far.I would say the same as KingoBad, the hardest time you will have is to try and get ride of the smile on your face when playing a well set up harmonica to your needs. I nearly started on custom filiskos, I had been playing just a few weeks before I found filisko at the old town school of folk music. Those harmonicas made it so fun to play so I got better much quicker.
Just remember have fun and you will learn!
Brad
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nacoran
167 posts
Sep 02, 2009
9:07 PM
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I'm not an advanced player, but I have a couple different kinds of harps (none customs) and I find key makes more difference for bends than brand. I can bend my cheap Piedmont in F or my Lee Oskar in G. Higher keys seem to be easier to do blow bends on.
As for overblows, I can't seem to get more than an occasional squeak on anything, but my most expensive harp is about $30 and overblows seem to be the big selling point for customs. I switch back and forth between several brands and I seem to be able to adjust without too much trouble.
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Ant138
114 posts
Sep 03, 2009
1:41 AM
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I found it hard to adjust to different makes,models and keys when i first started but it just comes in time. I just got my new Seydel 1847 in the key of A yesterday and its one hell of a harp! It bends like butter and its so responsive. I cant wait to try a custom harp. Only problem now is that i think im gonna change to Seydel for good which means i need to start buying all the keys again. I found the Seydel Soloist pro is also a fine Out the box harp.
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arzajac
44 posts
Sep 03, 2009
3:14 AM
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"After you played with Harps out of the box with minor gap work, learned to bend and such..."
From experience, if you haven't learned to bend yet, you shouldn't be adjusting gaps. Take it as a guarantee that it's not the harp's fault...
I have been amazed at how many "defective" holes have been fixed with more practice.
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MrVerylongusername
485 posts
Sep 03, 2009
3:50 AM
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"Take it as a guarantee that it's not the harp's fault..."
amen! (but prepare yourself for the backlash!)
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528hemi
30 posts
Sep 03, 2009
4:19 AM
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Arz,
I can bend on any harp but
What I read is with lots of practice muscle memory kicks in and you just know the correct amount of pressure and such to nail the bends in tune. So if you play many different harp that are not all set up identical I would think some conscious thought would be needed to really nail the bends in tune until you learn each harp.
That being said thanks for all your responses. It would probably be best to stick to the harp that feels the best to me and put the rest away for now.
Last Edited by on Sep 03, 2009 4:23 AM
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MrVerylongusername
486 posts
Sep 03, 2009
5:12 AM
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@528hemi
Yeah, you're right.
What arzajac was getting at and as Kingobad said, is that a player ought to be able to play all the bends (not necessarily overblows although it is possible) on a stock harp without any tweaking or reed adjustment. The point being that technique problems are all too often assumed to be the harps fault. In 20 years I have had a lot of bad harps out-of-the-box, (cracked and leaky combs, arced/twisted reedplates, gapped too high etc...) but even with the worst clunker I ever bought, the bends were all there, it was just a matter of the degree to which I had to adapt my technique to get them. Only once have I bought a faulty (as opposed to poorly setup) harp.
Once the bend is sounding, the intonation is not so much dependent on the harp, but on one's ability to hear the notes and make tiny subtle changes in the embouchure. Custom, self custom, good stock, cheap crap - it doesn't matter, the technique at that level is the same. It's like trombone or fretless bass, muscle memory gets you into the right ballpark, but you need fine tuning to get it spot on and that can only come from practice.
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harmonicanick
361 posts
Sep 03, 2009
5:24 AM
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MrV is right on the button as usual
528
Don't get hung up on overblows, overdraws or over bollocks!
As someone posted ages ago on this forum,most of us have got by very well without them, and when you do use them in performing the only people who will notice are very advanced players, should there be any in the audience, which is highly unlikely given the status of our humble instrument.
Concentrate on your tone and sound and enjoying yourself:-)
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DaDoom
123 posts
Sep 03, 2009
6:52 AM
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@528hemi
My experience so far is that you should be able to bend on any harp be it cheap or expensive. That's an absolute basic technique you need to have. If that doesn't work you should definitely work on your technique before buying a new harp.
Switching harps is something that I personally like - that's why I buy harps of all brands. When I've been playing on a cheap harp for some time and then switch to a better one that's when I really enjoy the better instrument. But it requires some basic playing skills otherwise it wont make much difference if you play a cheap or a good one. You'll probably even enjoy the cheap harp more. At least it's been like this for me. Lee Oscars seemed superb when started off, while the more expensive brands/models seemed much too "stiff" to play.
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djm3801
208 posts
Sep 03, 2009
7:22 AM
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You mentioned Lee Oskar. Funny, my second harp was a Lee Oskar. Hate the deep set numbers on the harp. Do not think they have a very rich tone. But I'll be damned, my Lee Oskar C harp plays right on, bends right on the money, has been used on and off for over a year and plays great. Used to be on the end table, not it is in the car for them days when the road is open and no one can see I am playing. While my soloist pros and Deltas and Special20's have their quirky notes here and there, that old LO is spot on! Maybe I just got a good one. Like my experience with Seydel Soloist pros. Got an A harp to try it. AMazing out of the box. bought 3 more and they are all good and sound GREAT but the A was best. Now it seems that the smacing on them damned soloists, like a Golden melody, is hard to get used to after playing mostly Deltas and Specials. Go figure. Waiting for the Manji.
Bottom line - I need more practice, not more harps!
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nacoran
169 posts
Sep 03, 2009
10:52 AM
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djm3801-
You don't like the numbers on the Oskars? That's actually my favorite detail on them. The fine numbers on, say a Golden Melody, seem rough on my lips. The Oskars slide so smooth (except for those $*!^@%# holes on the end that always catch my mustache hairs). The wide note holes make tongue blocks easier too, imo.
528hemi-
I'd actually suggest playing on different harps, even cheap ones so that adjusting between harps becomes more automatic. Then when you get a chance to play high end harps you'll make that switch on the fly and be able to really appreciate them.
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walterharp
41 posts
Sep 03, 2009
11:30 AM
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I don't find myself thinking about bends much even when moving onto a completely new harp with a different set up. Once you have it down, it is almost more of an unconscious automatic and you adjust so quickly, just like different bends on different notes on the same harp, that it just happens. You might think after, dang that is a leaky harp.. but not on how you hit it. Now, if a note clogs during a solo and you cannot clear it for some reason, that does require some thought!
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