Definitely World Class player. I was walking around SPAH, the first few minutes of the first day I was there--when heard these really wonderful riffs coming from the restaurant area--I found one of my roommates there--Todd was talking harp and playing to demonstrate. I got to meet him briefly.
Of course, SPAH was full of the worlds greatest harpers--but Todd was right up there with the best. . .
One other note I'd like to mention is that Todd always tunes down the 7 draw a half step. I was thinking about how much sense that really makes. It's like the only note that I don't use at all for 2nd or 3rd position blues. It really makes sense to retune it. You can hit the same note (as the 7 draw) with the 6 OB but retuning still has a lot of logic to it.
He is awesome, but if he OBs on the 4, why not the 6? How can you not use the normal 7 draw in blues? It is the same as the 3 draw? What is so amazing about a lip purser playing so well? Many do.
"He is awesome, but if he OBs on the 4, why not the 6? How can you not use the normal 7 draw in blues?"
The retuning just allows for some different possibilities. The retuned note also sounds different than an OB and it's simply easier to hit, especially in fast runs (not to mention you don't have to worry about playing it in tune). With the retuned note you can do things like playing a short gliss from the 8 draw down to the 6 draw (followed by the 6 blow). Sugar Blue and John Popper do this a lot on a regular tuned harp, but since it has the major third it has a more major sound to it than if you were to tune it down. By tuning it down it makes that riff sound more minor and bluesy. It's simply not posiible to play that riff by using an overblow. You could play the same notes, but you couldn't gliss over them. There are deffinately other examples. Each method (OB or Retuning) has it's own pros and cons, you just have to decide which suits your style the best.
Also when you retune the 7 draw, it makes it possible to bend the 7 blow down a half step. That bent note is the major third (the note that use to be at the 7 draw), so you don't lose that note by retuning, it just gets moved to a different location.
Last Edited by on Apr 26, 2010 1:55 PM
In response to harpdude61... You are correct, a lot of lip pursers play very well. Unfortunately, I never spent much time trying to master the tongue blocking technique, though looking back, now I wish I had, because you can really do some cool stuff as a tongue blocker. As for the overblow question on hole 6, yes, I still use the 6 overblow, but with the 7 draw tuned down, it opens up even more possibilities for licks that sometimes are nearly impossible to do with the 6 overblow. For example, on a retuned harp, if you overdraw the 7 and bend it upward, then release it, the note you automatically land on is the minor 3rd. This eliminates the need to jump over to the 6 overblow, which can sound too choppy sometimes. You can also bend the 7 blow on a retuned harp which is not possible on a standard tuned harp. Lastly, the retuned 7 draw works great for playing in minor keys in 2nd position. For major key blues on a standard harp, the 7 draw will work; I'm not saying it has no place, because it certainly can work, but the minor 3rd, or the "blue note" is the one that actually sounds "bluesy", which is why everyone goes for this note via the 6 overblow (as do I) or the half step bend on hole 3 draw. However, with a retuned 7 draw harp, you cab also slide into that note really smoothly, which is virtually impossible to do using the 6 overblow. So, I do incorporate both, just depends on what I feel for the song. I'll be posting a clip on YouTube soon to talk about Joe Spiers' harps and will demonstrate this further in that video. P.S. - a retuned harp works extremely well in 11th position. Hope this helps!
And in response to harpdude61 and all of you, thanks for all of your kind words. I look forward to meeting all of you at SPAH, and will be glad to jam with you and answer any questions. I'm just an ordinary guy from NC, and I had no idea YouTube would allow to make so many new friends as it has. If you make it to SPAH this year, please come and introduce yourself to me. Take care!
Hey Todd, greetings from the uk and like yourself I am an LP for 40 years + I use TB for octaves more and more but not for single notes and I think the argument is counter productive...whatever goes I say..do you ever come over the pond?
Hey Todd, greetings from the uk and like yourself I am an LP for 40 years + I use TB for octaves more and more but not for single notes and I think the argument is counter productive...whatever goes I say..do you ever come over the pond?
Really nice playing sir, inspiring stuff. Have recently had a breakthrough tongue-blocking after many months of pain and frustration, working up my tongue-strength was the key I think.
Great explanation Todd. I guess I never saw the middle ground, by that I mean using OBs in any alternate tuned harp. Opens up even more possibilites.
I like the way Kim Wilson (who I get to see Wednesday in Asheville!...are ya close Todd) uses the major 3rd to start a phrase, maybe a whole note, and make it bluesy from there and adding the flat 3rd later in the phrase.
I too lip purse. It was the first style I came upon when I searched youtube for beginner harmonica lessons. I thought pursing and overblowing were the norm. I find it hard to learn tongue blocking. I can do the 1,2,and 3 hole splits. I think ocataves and splits are more natural to a lip purser because they are centered. That going to one side thing is giving me fits!
I should be more open minded about alternate tunings. Jimi Lee showed me a harp that was tuned in C on holes 1-6 and the key of G on holes 7-10. 2nd position blues on the low end and 1st position on the high end. He said hole 6 and 7 were exactly the same.
Thanks for the explanation guys!
Last Edited by on Apr 26, 2010 5:04 PM
Todd: Extremely nice playing! You have certainly given those who exclusively lip purse a reason to hold their heads up high. :) harpdude61 is exactly right: 99% of audiences don't hear this and say, "Hmmm, so much is MISSING when you don't tongue block."
What you gain by LP is lightness, fleetness, nimbleness. (Not to start a fight, but I suspect that some full-time TB folk might have a little trouble replicating what you do here. They'd translate it into their terms, but they'd lose some of what you do.) Your sound is, I suspect, one that goes over very well in Nashville; it's not country blues (Deford Bailey, Sonny Terry) but rather the country side of blues in the best Nashville tradition, which includes more of a jazz sensibility than most people realize.
Yo Adam HD's response was to me he totaly missed my point,i thought if 1 person misconstrued my question 1000 will follow...
i fear not ask a simple question for fear of simple persons responding, for i am only a simple man,with simple questions, that in its self leads to complexity...
Adam, thanks so much for your post and your kind compliments! You are dead-on in mentioning Nashville, as most of my early influences were the big session players in Nashville, like the late Terry McMillan.
Unfortunately, I never spent much time trying to master the tongue blocking technique, though looking back, now I wish I had,
Todd this isn't ment to be offensive,
i switched from LP to Tb several months back,you mention above you never spent much time learning the method,? could i ask Why
i quickly learnt the method but i sat down like a man with a mission for 2 or more Hours a day and got it happening in about 4 weeks,Yes i was scared of loseing every thing i new but i had no need to Be,
it was a new discovery and my old tunes I'm still rediscovering adding tongue slaps and such,
Bro I'm not saying you are a bad player this is far from the truth or am i saying you must TB,
i tryed to ask this question Befor but got shit on being accused of saying you must go out in the woodshed and i got the old LOL,
Bro I'm not hear to suck butt yes you are a fantastic player and insperation to All Players this is a question of Puzzelment,
PS my Bro i consider a mentor is a Lip Purser and i have just taught my Guitarist Bro to Lip Purse,
Dear todd i Hope you don't take this Question the wrong way I'm not trying to hurt you or be offensive or defame you in anyway,
ive found you on Youtube wayback and should have taken your advise those LO ultimos aren't good for Blues Harp are they:)
Nastyoldog: No offense taken at all. I guess I never mastered tongue blocking because my early influences never used it. I wish I had a better answer. I'm not saying I couldn't master it now, but tongue blocking just doesn't seem to fit in too well for my style of playing I suppose. I do use some tongue blocking for octaves and for playing 3 notes and blocking the center note, but I don't think I'll ever be an expert tongue blocker like some of the others who do it so well. I have a huge amount of respect for tongue blockers.
As for the Tombo Ultimo, they aren't bad harps, but once again, they squeal like Lee Oskars for overblow bends. I guess my point in the Ultimo video was that Lee Oskar seems to have tied up the entire U.S. market for over 25 years with one model, when Tombo has an entire line of harmonicas that we can't get. It would be nice to at least have access to them here in the states. Not sure of all of the reasoning behind that deal.
Ive followed Todds vids since he started positng, and I always look forward to him putting up a new vid.........sensational player and one of lifes gentlemen.
....and thanks for contributing to this forum Todd!
