Hello-- This note seems to be very popular. Perhaps a good approach to get people interested in harp is to show them this first. That, and the shake on four and five draw. Also, the top four holes of the harp seem to be neglected. I personally am fond of the enharmonic on 2 draw/3 blow. Here's Dan Gage demonstrating the shake, he included the draw bend on 4 at no extra charge.
Last Edited by Gnarly on Jul 09, 2018 8:20 AM
This note is TOO popular. I think that we should consciously avoid it in our practice. It's the flat 5 (of the I chord) and it's really bluesy. It's also the one note difference between the minor pentatonic and the blues scales.
Jason Ricci tells me that the reason he practices the minor pentatonic (instead of the blues scale) is because the 4' just happens so naturally and intuitively. Better to practice your scale runs without it. You can always add it in when you want that extra spice.
I love exploiting the difference between 2 draw and 3 blow. There's a subtle difference between the sounds of the notes, which becomes much more pronounced if you're a regular tongue blocker.
The Sonny Boy's seemed to be real deliberate when choosing between the 2 draw and 3 blow. Some of those classic licks (like the turnaround 3+ 2+ 1 1 1) really depend on that note choice for their fluidity. ---------- Marc Graci YouTube Channel
My teaching work around this overused area is to get the student to play that 4 hole inhale bend as a stand alone note - 1 foot above the floor for correct pitch - and to totally resist that impulse to ALWAYS use it as a bending type sound related to the 4 hole inhale.
As a solid note choice, it leads to more interesting ideas and away from the cliched "harmonicky" sound. ---------- The Iceman
