I have been on the forum a couple of months now and really enjoy it. I have picked up a lot of great info about the world of harmonicas, which I very much appreciate. I also enjoy the playful (well, sometimes playful) banter between members.
My name is Duane Frye from Kingsport, TN. I live in the mountains near the VA and NC borders. I'm proud to say Kingsport is also the hometown of blues greats Brownie McGhee and his brother Stick.
I have been playing harp for almost 4 years and just can't get enough. The harp stuff I know is from youtube and jam camp last year in Clarksdale. I am excited about attending Adam's Hill Country Harmonica event in May.
I guess we do learn by what we are exposed to. The first lessons I found on youtube taught lip pursing so that is the path I took, unaware that other methods like tongue blocking were out there. I thought for a while that tongue blocking only meant octave splits which I then learned. I had no idea that some people played single note songs with their tongue against the harp. Now I want to learn all I can about tongue blocking.
I know some players say they use both methods, but I think how you would play a single note solo (no chords) defines which one you are.
I really enjoy it when amateurs like myself post videos of their playing or what they are working on. I've been obsessed with overblows and overdraws for a year and wanted to learn a lick that I could use in 3 octaves.
This is me playing a Bb Golden Melody in 2nd position. The licks start on the major 5 and end on the flat 5. I guess you could say it covers the octave. I put word bubbles in wherever an over draw or blow is. I hope this helps someone. Thanks again everyone.
Wow! Those overdraws sounded so sweet! I'm about a year behind you in AHT (Accumulated Harp time), and I can get my OB's just fine these days, but the OD's still elude me. That was pretty cool! Great post! ---------- ------------------ The magnificent YouTube channel of the internet user known as "isaacullah"
Thanks Isaacullah.....The overdraws took awhile to learn to hit, and I'm sure it will take a while longer to be able to use them musically. I'm finally starting to use OBs at jams. It is cool when you can hit the 6 OB without hitting the 6 blow first. In the middle phrase I went back down from 7 blow to 6 OB.
Once someone can play the overblows pretty well, I recommend 1/4 note drills that alternate 6 overblow with other notes besides 6 blow. Play 5 blow, 6 ob, 5 draw, 6 ob, 7 blow, 6 ob, 7 draw, 6 ob.
A good practice for first position overblows on 4,5,6 is to jam along with some one chord blues like Mannish Boy or Catfish Blues. This way you can focus on pitch and tone without worrying so much about sructure and changing chords.
As isaac says, sweet sweet sweet 7od. I also like the vibrato on the 6ob and 7od. There's one little criticism, if you don't mind: IMO the 4 bend is bent too far. It's closer to the 4blow than the 4 bent a half step. For it to sound bluesy you can well bend it down further than the exact half step, but especially with harps that are setup that well, it shouldn't be to the 'floor'.
Btw. what kind of work did you do to your GM? ---------- germanharpist on YT. =;-) - Resonance is KEY!
Last Edited by on Mar 30, 2010 2:10 AM
I should add, I also learned a lot from 'amateurs' posting their stuff. It helps to see somebody work on something which is more advanced than yours but still in a reachable realm. I.e. you can directly see the 'next step of your development' (with all the flaws of an 'amateur' player). The problem with players like Jason is that you are distracted by all the awesomeness surrounding the technique that you are aiming for. ---------- germanharpist on YT. =;-) - Resonance is KEY!
Last Edited by on Mar 30, 2010 2:18 AM
