Hey y'all, I got a Ab MB deluxe set up so the 7 overdraws, I know the harp can do it cause the guy who set it up can get it I don't know how to overdraw and I'm checking out videos and blowing every way possible and still not getting it Hoping someone hear might say the right thing that will help me get it Thanks
A fantastic note to get it is too. Combine it with the 6 OB and you will open up that section of the harp like you couldn' imagine. It's not easy though and harp set up really helps. I'm still practicing. ----------
Last Edited by bonedog569 on Feb 23, 2013 6:42 PM
The as if you were sucking down a milkshake suggestion from Chri Michalek videos is quite apt. I didn't start getting overdraws till it was shown and described to me be a dozen or so people till one day the right person demonstrated it the right way (for me) and things clicked.
Firstly be able to do clear draw and blow bends of all notes. Remember overdraws are inhale not exhale notes. Open your throat wide as if you were swallowing an egg. As I was learning I would do 7 draw, then 7 blow, then 7 overdraw. Try not to think of it anymore then a draw bend. Remember the note is there, it is possible, and you can do it. Try playing the notes from 7 draw, 7 blow, and 7 overdraw on another instrument to know what to expect sometimes if I can hear it in my ear first ("visualize") it's so much easier to imagine the note is there as you try to technique.
Best thing you can do is not get frustrated & not give up. Take a few days break now and then and then go back to it.
One more thing I can add, if I think of the size of the space in my mouth when I bend the 4 draw on an Ab harp, I can maybe say it's the size of an almond. The "size" of the 7OD is more like the size of a pea. But that's just an example, not a scientific measurement or something you should swear by, just a reference.
You can always take the coverplates off and cover the draw reed with your finger and "feel around" with your embouchure to find where the note it.
When you overdraw, first you shut down the draw reed and make the blow reed become a draw reed (overblow is the opposite. Everybody learning gets hung up on that first part. You can't practice it, because you can't shut that reed down. That's why I came up with the idea that folks ought to learn to overblow and overdraw on tremolo harmonicas. In the Vienna-comb harps (which the tremolos usually have) each reed has its own cell. thus, there is nothing to shut down. Lip block the bottom row and go to town. In theory, every draw reed will overblow, every blow reed overdraw. In practice, most of the reeds will. ---------- David
____________________ At the time of his birth, it was widely accepted that no one man could play that much music so well or raise that much hell. He proved them all wrong. R.I.P. H. Cecil Payne
Pretend the 7 draw is the the straw of a McDonalds Shake . I 100% really serious! This is the advice I was told before instantly doing it over and over. BTW advice via Michael Peloquin.
Pretend tip of your tongue is super glued to the spot where your lower teeth and gums meet.
If you now extend your tongue forward, it will naturally curve up towards the roof of your mouth forming a "lump".
Position this "lump" to the "D" spot on the roof of your mouth (the spot where your tongue touches when you say "D").
Now, inhale. (Without harmonica in your mouth, it will make a "ssss" sound).
This is the area for tongue placement for 7 hole inhale OD.
As you practice this, you may have to adjust that "lump" in your tongue slightly forward or back until you find your "sweet spot" position for creating this note.
Remember, it's not force, but finesse..you don't need a lot of suction. ---------- The Iceman
For me playing non-customized harps the only thing working to get an (occasional!) OD is to go about it quite forcefully. I squeeze them mofos out of the harp ... and they, admittedly, sound terrible and can only be used as swiftly passing notes, unless you wanna torment a dog.
But if nothing else works, try putting a little violence into the equation.
Last Edited by Martin on Feb 24, 2013 9:56 AM
@Martin:"if nothing else works, try putting a little violence into the equation. they, admittedly, sound terrible and can only be used as swiftly passing notes, unless you wanna torment a dog."
Therefore, I wouldn't recommend this approach unless you are going for that "ugly" harmonica sound, which does have a place in the lexicon..... ---------- The Iceman
On a C harp, what note should I be aiming to hear from the 7od? I'm getting something but I don't know if it's what I should get. I'm finding I need to really back off with the draw pressure to get this. Unlike Martin.
"[T]hey... sound terrible and can only be used as swiftly passing notes..." (Martin).
This is subjective opinion. Recall the quality of the notes you play can be attributed to the time and effort you put into playing them correctly. Otherwise all your notes will be off pitch regardless as to lip purse, tongue block, bend, overdraw/blow.
Tooka, yes, orphan is right. 7 overdraw is equivalent note as 4 draw bend, 1 draw bend, &, the much more difficult IMO, 10 overdraw. Very useful in 2nd position blues!
Moon Cat, you don't have to apologize! The milkshake thing didn't help a dime until I talked directly with you and heard you explain what you were doing and demonstrate it for me. Without that I would still be trying to find my first overdraw.
At this point I can get all overblows and overdraws on a correctly setup harmonica. Now I have an altogether different problem. How to correctly set up all my F-ing harps so that they are playable, lol. It really sucks that harp set up comes into the equation as to whether or not these can be played.
"Therefore, I wouldn't recommend this approach unless you are going for that "ugly" harmonica sound, which does have a place in the lexicon..."
Iceman, I see the general validity of not recommending ugly things. But as I said: use only as a passing note, etc. The simple, say, B-C-C#-D on holes 7/8 is at times a good thing to have close at hand.
But honestly, the no. of OD´s coming from my apartment won´t add up to any greater hill of beans, though there was a certain "technical" satisfaction when I found out I could do it, despite the rude sound.
Other way to go: pay $300 for a customized harp. (Might last you a whole month.) Or (gasp) learn to set it up yourself. I seriously dobut any of these will occur to me in my lifetime. Which of course is a bit of a pity.
Nobody ever agrees but I'm gonna post what works for me. I use 7,9,10 overdraws all the time during shows. WIth a properly gapped harp the notes come clean. Vibrato and bending up 1/2 step are no problem. Instead of closing and tightening things up, try relaxing and dropping your jaw as much as possible. Open you throat as much as possible and try pulling the air across the area on the roof of your mouth right behind the front teeth using your throat. If you close up your resonator, the overdraw tone will suffer and you want have anywhere close to the control of the note that you have with a big open mouth. The only tension that should exist is the reshaping of the throat. Good luck! I think another reason this works for me is that I tilt the back of the harp up. My top lip actually hangs over the front of the harp.
