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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > Cupping Technique
Cupping Technique
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SmokeJS
166 posts
Oct 16, 2013
4:16 AM
I found the recent thread on cut from an amp to be very instructive. My Kalamazoo's single tone control is now set more mid range. That's added much better overall tone.

But the need to improve my cup has grown in importance. It's often stated that a good cup is needed though how to accomplish that is a bit of a mystery. Going to one of the early David Barrett books I noticed something I hadn't fully paid attention to earlier. While I use my middle finger to separate the harp from the mic grill I noticed David called that a minimum and in the photos he uses more like a finger and a half with only his pinky fully on the mic. The text mentions the importance of a tone chamber.

So I tried to copy. It's a bit trickier holding the mic with only the left hand pinky but not a big deal once the right is added. This technique, including a focus on sealing the high holes, makes a big difference to how much low end crunch I'm getting.

Anyone have similar results or other suggestions? Thanks.

Last Edited by SmokeJS on Oct 16, 2013 6:57 AM
Pistolcat
546 posts
Oct 16, 2013
4:29 AM
I think that cupping technique has a huge impact on your amplified sound/tone. I believe the advice that Greg Heumann always give "To cover the front of the harp with your cheek" gives a huge leap in crunch. It requires that you TB, though.

What mic do you use? I find my turner 254 shell is a lot easier to cup than my SM57 is. I still have a hard time on the high end... It comes down to practise and some experimentation.
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SmokeJS
167 posts
Oct 16, 2013
4:57 AM
I only use bullet mics as I find them easy to hold so long as they're in the JT30 size range.

Following Greg's advice about blocking the high holes is also what I'm trying to follow though it's going to need a lot more work. I end cap the harp with my right index finger and my thumb is generally covering the top three holes. Keeping the harp hard up against my right cheek hasn't felt natural so I don't focus on it but I am aware of it.

Last Edited by SmokeJS on Oct 16, 2013 5:00 AM
Martic
42 posts
Oct 17, 2013
12:25 AM
Cristian Inostroza, who is an awesome chilean harp player, located now in Chicago, once taught me how to use the face as a part of the sealing. Since I started using my cheek for sealing the harp, my thumb's role is not too important on the cupping. Once you get used to use the cheek, it becomes almost imposible to stop using it.

The other thing is adding some dirt to your sound: instead of playing a clean 4 draw, dirt it up a little bit by adding some 5 draw. As Greg once said, you can control the "amount" of 5 you add to a 4, according to how clean or dirty you want it to sound. But it's a great way to get a crunchy sound. Try it with holes from 2 to 6.


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