Just curious who out there uses which technique and why. I've had better luck with half valving myself, but I do love the sound a good overbend player can produce; with my favorite overbend player probably being Todd Parrott.
For me both the technique and the harp setup are a bit easier for the half valved approach. However, on the higher key harps (D and above) I've had some issues with the valved bends on the high draw notes; they can get kind of sticky on me.
I do neither of these techniques very well.. However, Filip Jers does both.. and that guy is amazing..
Of course, in a musical context, Filip does everything well.. ---------- Greg Jones 16:23 Custom Harmonicas greg@1623customharmonicas.com 1623customharmonicas.com
It's not a dichotomy, there are other options out there.
For example, Jim Antaki's clever TurboSlide, which has some cool extra effects besides the increased chromaticism. Here's the ordering page, and there is a video showing how it works with PowerBender tuning:
Another option which gives you both easy, strong overbends AND the effect of half-valving is the Suzuki OverDrive. You can hear both effects on this old Suzuki promo video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8rH3aa3FS4
Finally you cold consider an x-reed harp. This gives you full chromaticism with easy interactive-reed draw and blow bends. Here they are on an -X-Reed ExtraBend harp:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OUh0m-xPNQ
Hope that helps you to keep an open mind for other options. Or maybe it just adds confusion!
Thanks Greg and Brendan. Alternate tunings make my head hurt, but that turboslide looks pretty cool. I've seen that video of yours before Greg, but I did enjoy watching it again.
I haven't had the discipline to really learn my Turboslide well enough to use it chromatically, which is laziness on my part. If I had spent half the time it took me to finally get overblows to pop learning my scales on the Turbo I would be fully chromatic, and now, I've got overblows but I still need to sit down and learn my scales to play chromatically.
I don't know as we have anyone who specializes in the style, but there are a lot of Asian players out there I think who just stack two harps a half step apart to get the extra notes. Again, you have to learn where to go to get the notes, but technique-wise, learning to swap back and forth quickly between two harps is an easier learning curve than learning obs. (You can also do some neat things with two harps a fifth apart. Brendan has some videos on that, I think.)
I can't quite get as deep an embouchure with it, but I've also just taken the top cover off of one harp and the bottom cover off another and put a third comb (no plates) in there backwards. Long screws and you have a funny looking two level chromatic diatonic harp. Maybe not practical (I plan at some point making a 12 key version just to show off as something funny at shows) but it shows there are lots of ways to skin the cat to get those extra notes.
I learned to play on xb-40s; once the got into the $125 range, I switched to valved Suzuki Promasters. I stumbled into my first overblow on a low E Manji last month, but I'm sticking with the Promasters. I like having the extra low notes; plus, I don't have to get a new technique together. I still have lots of growing to do with the half- valved harps.Even with the added expense of changing the combs to brass ones, they're still cheaper than a harp set up for overbending
I worked on overblowing the 4,5,6 for about 9 months at which time I could get those notes most of the time on most harps, but I found the harp set up difficult because there seemed to be a very fine line between popping overblows well and not choking when you get into a line that has a hard attack or a hard tongue slap. I've never owned a custom harp to date.
At some point I got a halve valved promaster for a really low price and then beginning learning about another option which allowed all the notes to be bent; which was half valving. I didn't care that much for the promaster due to the valves having a mild rattle when I did chording or tongue blocking stuff, but later I learned about PT Gazell's seydel harps and order one. Basically been hooked ever sense.
I worked on overblowing the 4,5,6 for about 9 months at which time I could get those notes most of the time on most harps, but I found the harp set up difficult because there seemed to be a very fine line between popping overblows well and not choking when you get into a line that has a hard attack or a hard tongue slap. I should note that I've never owned a custom harp to date.
At some point I got a halve valved promaster for a really low price and then beginning learning about another option which allowed all the notes to be bent; which was half valving. I didn't care that much for the promaster due to the valves having a mild rattle when I did chording or tongue blocking stuff, but later I learned about PT Gazell's seydel harps and order one. Basically been hooked ever sense. Now I valve my own harps, but still like the seydel sessions.
Last Edited by Harp Study on Sep 11, 2015 7:17 PM
