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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Newbie Intro and a question
Newbie Intro and a question
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ncpacemaker
1 post
Jan 02, 2011
7:47 AM
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Greeting to all MBH forum members. I am a 43 y/o amateur harp player in North Carolina. I have been playing since I was a teen but only this year have I came around to playing the blues and learned about second position. Previously, I liked to play folk songs in straight harp and learned on my own playing Oh Susanna and the like. Sadly, I cannot remember where I got my first harp or how I came to acquire it.
It was quite a revelation when I learned 2nd position. I always new that my harps did not sound quite right and even when I knew what key the song was in something was still sadly lacking. Finally, after coming out of the dark ages of 15 years on dial up internet, I began to broaden my harmonica horizon. Thanks largely to our friend Adam Gussow, I am now playing the blues and can "bend it with feeling"! While I only rate as slightly better than an advanced beginner, I love to improvise and what I play sounds good to me.
Anyway, enough about me for now. I would like to personally thank Dr. Gussow for all he has done to proliferate the music that he so dearly loves. I don't see how anyone could have done more for blues harmonica than he has. His impact has been worldwide as evidenced by this forum and his YouTube site. Thank You AG !
You will probably see my posts and comments around quite a bit while I ride out the blues that I am currently infected with. I hope nobody will mind my buttinsky approach.
So my first question is a two parter. (1) If the diatonic harmonica was never meant to play the full chromatic scale, then how did it just so happen that the scale was there all along? How did there just happen to be the right notes there that were not supposed to be there to start with? And (2) is an overblow just a bent blow note ? Thanks
Last Edited by on Jan 07, 2011 4:50 AM
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harpdude61
592 posts
Jan 02, 2011
8:13 AM
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Welcome from a neighbor in TN.
I've wondered about your first question. I LOVE overblowing but I really don't understand the physics other than the draw note is sounding 1/2 step higher than the normal unbent draw note of the hole, while the blow reed is not sounding. Note sure if the blow reed gets involved when bending the OB up or not? Amazing that it worked out that none are missing.
A LOT of people confuse a blow bend for an overblow. Not the same at all. Blow bends work when the blow note is higher, holes 7-10 and overblows work when the draw note is higher(1-6).
Hope this helps and again..Welcome!
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OzarkRich
310 posts
Jan 02, 2011
8:22 AM
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Welcome from a fellow displaced poultry farmer! In 2001, at age 38, I lost my half-million dollar turkey growout operation due to disease, contract issues and other details. Lost everything. Lived with my wife and two boys first in a conversion van, then a condemned house (flood plain), and then a barn without running water (where we had our third child). We eventually got back on our feet.
Hope things go good for you from here on.
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Ozark Rich
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Dog Face
67 posts
Jan 02, 2011
8:52 AM
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Welcome to the forum from a NC native. Good to have you.
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Be safe, keep the faith, and don't let em tearrrrrr ya down.
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nacoran
3539 posts
Jan 02, 2011
9:53 AM
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Welcome to the forum!
To expand on what harpdude said, blow bends take note on the 7-10 holes and bend it down in pitch. As best I can tell, it's the same mechanics going on inside the harp as a normal draw bend. They both involve bending the note into the space between the pitch of the two reeds. One just happens to be blow, the other draw.
Over blows go up from the pitch of the higher note. You play them on 1-6.
Which raises another question, which I don't know the answer too, is there an equivalent counterpart on the 7-10 where you can draw to raise the pitch?
And as for your first question, about why the scale was there all along, it's got to do with the order you add flats or sharps to create another key. For instance, the keys of G and C use most of the same notes. C is all natural, and G only has 1 sharp (F#). That makes it pretty easy to play them on the same harp. The key of D has two sharps, which makes it pretty easy to play with a G harp.
It comes down to the pattern of steps and 1/2 steps in a Major scale. C Major scales have the same pattern as G Major scales, and all the other Major scales for that matter. They just start on a different note. It's easiest to see if you count it out on a piano with a list of the sharps and flats in different keys in front of you. The closer two scales are on the circle of fifths the fewer bends and overblows you'll need to play in that position. (If in fact you are trying to play a major scale. Relative minor scales use the same pattern as Major scales, but they start on a different note in the sequence.)
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Nate
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harpdude61
594 posts
Jan 02, 2011
10:16 AM
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@nacaron...I didn't want to confuse by adding in overdraws, but they are available on holes 7-10. The draw reed stops and the blow reed sounds giving you a pitch the is 1/2 step higher than the blow note of the hole.
Note..overblows on hole 2,3 and the overdraw on 8 are notes that exist anyway.... but some use them for effects.
The two most useful of the overbends in second position blues are the 6 overblow, same note as 3 draw bent 1/2 step and 7 overdraw, same note as 4 draw bent 1/2 step.
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nacoran
3545 posts
Jan 02, 2011
10:36 AM
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Harpdude, I forgot I knew that! I had it on my harmonica layout chart, even including the alternate ones. My brains warranty must have been up at the end of the year. :)
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Nate
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