So i got my valved promaster and any tips on making the valve bent notes sound like normal notes? And how should i really i mean REALLY utilize these valves?
Listen to PT Gazell. He is a fantastic example of what you can do with a valved harmonica. That is the sound you can get.
You need to just play with it for a while to see how you can color your notes on both the high and low end. There is no magic to it, you just have more possibilities and need to get used to them so you can use them.
Had a Promaster 350v for a little while now and am pretty happy with it. I like the tone because it offers me something different to my other harps, however the valves do get a little getting used to. The blow bends on holes 1 to 6 sound a little weak at first, you kind of have to coax them out and its the same with the 7 to 10 draw bends. At the moment I'm using the harp (in C incidentally) more for melodic numbers as well as blues. It could be I haven't got my head round the correct technique to get the best out of the instrument cos I have heard the what the amazing PT Gazell can do as mentioned by KingoBad above. Anyway having recently got accustomed to overblowing 4,5 & 6, I decided that these notes were nicer and louder sounding notes IMO than the valved notes so I took the valves off 4,5 & 6. Trouble is if my overblowing comes on I'll be tearing off more valves and then have a Promaster 350 in my hands. Bit of an expensive way of going about things but hey-ho!
You will have to adjust your mouth shaping when bending the valved reeds because I found I can't 'grip' the note using my usual technique.
The approach to playing a half valved diatonic is much like you were playing a chromatic and chromatics do not respond well to being played hard at all and so good breath control is extremely important when playing these diatonics or the note will blank out on you and if you tend to play unvalved diatonics really hard all the time, you ARE going to have problems with these harps. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
I have played one for about 5 months now, and dude, lemme tell ya, play it enough, and youll figure it out. keeping your mouth in a position to sustain those bent blow notes on 1-6 is like riding a bike, gotta ride with training wheels for a bit first... ---------- Kyzer's Travels Kyzer's Artwork
Hi Guys...here we go again...Bob what you say is just simply not true...the notes do not blank out. That is a function of improperly gapped reeds for half valved playing. I can play soft, loud or in between on my half valved harmonicas. Seydel is now offering to half valve any diatonic they produce and are using the valve material that I researched and use in my instruments. The issues with rattling, moisture and temperature are all but eliminated with this material. In addition, Seydel is also setting the reed action to my specs to facilitate easier half-valved bends. To order click on this link and read the instructions. Also at this page is a free downloadable PDF which contains a chart of the half-valved note layout and a tabbed version of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame." Here is the link:
PT, I found that to be true on all of the valved Promasters when they first came out in the mid 90's. One thing to remember is that what may be hard by the way you yourself play it is often a lot softer than what I've among a lot of average players and often my hardest playing is often the softest many average players tend to play. Since you've installed the valves yourself and have your harps set up to the way you play, there shouldn't be ANY note blanking out at all and with everything I've heard you play over the years, unlike the average player, you have TOTAL command of what you're doing and too often that can't be said of the average player, and obviously you're far from the average player.
Having Seydel doing things closer to your specs is not surprising because they've been far more willing over the years than jsut about any other company to put out harps in just about any tuning one requests. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Yeah I see your point. It's just been a bit frustrating over the years to fight all the mis-information about half valved playing. One of the biggest hurdles was to find a valve material that allowed the player to really pursue valved playing rather than fight the instrument. Also very few players have embraced the technique because there are so few visible players doing it. I contend that if you are a pucker player that has good intonation and good control over bends then you are a very good candidate for valved diatonic playing. As most folks on this list have heard me say before, having all the notes is wonderful, but the extra shading and emotion is equally as nice if not better. If any of you are thinking about checking this out I would order a Seydel so that you can see what it's like to play a valved harmonica set up like I have it. The nice thing about Seydel is that they will half valve any one of their 10 diatonics this way for you. Check it out:
i just let the camera roll here...I had been playing this song for about three weeks when i made this vid:
edit: i missed a few of the bends, in the beginning, in particular, but this song was a good experiment in sustaining those notes, the 2, 5 and 6 blow bends... PT's version, which i copied entirely, is a far better example of this in action... ---------- Kyzer's Travels Kyzer's Artwork
Last Edited by on Sep 16, 2010 2:40 PM
Then once you have clicked through to the Seydel site type in half valve in the search box. You will then be at the page where you can order valves. The photo has not been updated yet to reflect my valve material. So I would request that just to be sure. Let me know how that works out.
PT ---------- "Life...10 Holes & 20 Reeds At A Time"
Last Edited by on Sep 16, 2010 2:41 PM
