![]() ![]() You can teach yourself how to customize a harp (at least somewhat), but be prepared to ruin several while learning and even afterwards. In other words: consistency and fine tolerances cost money! I then think that, “Hey! This is the harp model for me!” So I buy another of the same brand and model – and it is a disaster!!īut let’s be honest: mass producing blues harps for a reasonable price just does not permit every one to be perfectly set up. a Hohner Special 20 or a Suzuki Blues Master and others) that have allowed me to do at least some overblows (especially +6o, sometimes +5o) right out of the box. In my experience it is a matter of luck but sometimes I have found a reasonably priced harp (e.g. I will try to keep my remarks here short and to the point (I know, unusual for me ). This is really a huge topic and sort of a Pandora’s Box. What’s your perspective/experience with overblows and overdraws? The Hohner website says that Howard Levy, who in mind is the consummate master of the technique, plays Hohner Marine Bands and Golden Melody’s.Īnyways, that gets the conversation started from my perspective. I’m not sure why? I’m not sure if high holes are easier to overblow than low holes?Īlso, in my article on which harmonica to buy, I mention about how much JP would sing the praises of the Seydel 1847’s once they’re setup aftermarket by a couple guys mentioned in the article, and he mentions that it’s easy to do overblows. Recently I was watching one of Alex’s videos about insanely hard licks, which are all Howard Levy licks, and while working on one, I was able to get an overblow on the 6 on a Lee Oskar key of F, without any aftermarket modification. So then I’d go back in, make the gap a little bib bigger, and then I could play and have it never choke, but I could never get the overblow. So I do have a lighter approach now, and maybe I should explore this world again and see if my experience is different.īut, what happened to me was, I found I could get the harp to overblow, but then it would choke sometimes when I was jus playing normally. I was blowing and drawing the HECK out of my harmonica. Once substantial way is that I played with waaaay to much force back then. Now I should note here that this was 10 years ago when I went on this mission, and my technique has improved a lot since then. So the idea is to get a toothpick or something and put some pressure on the reed you want to be able to overblow (or overdraw) and get it to be closer to the reed plate.īut here’s the rub: closely gapped reeds can choke if you play them too hard and/or if they are gapped too close to the opening. ![]() My understanding is that in order to be able to play overblows and overdraws, the reeds need to be gapped really close to the reed plate. I give myself like a B- in handiness, and I’m most challenged with really small work projects like…adjusting the reeds inside of a harmonica. ![]() Now, I don’t know if you’re the tinkering type. There was a time in my life that I felt really committed to learning the overdraw and overblow techniques so that I could finally get those “missing notes.” But, what I gathered from scouring forums is that success with these techniques is heavily dependent upon the harmonica being “set up” to play overdraws and overbends. They’re like, “look at me trumpet players, I can play even HIGHER than you.” But those of us who don’t play trumpet are like, “Ow. For example, trumpet players are obsessed with playing super-high notes, because it’s difficult to do. On any instrument there are difficult techniques that are impressive mostly only to people who play that instrument. None of my favorite harp players I grew up listening to used overblows (with the notable exception of harmonica overblow and overdraw master Howard Levy, of course.) So I don’t really sweat it too much. And then after that, explore tongue blocking. I didn’t even mention tongue blocking and all of the possibilities it opens up. I was just chatting with on another thread about harmonicas with alternate tunings, and the subject of overblows and overdraws came up tangentially, and I realized that it such a popular topic these days, I’d better go ahead and start a thread where we can chat about it.įirst of all, I think many people become obsessed with talking about and learning this technique and, I don’t wanna sound like a broken record here, but the vast majority of us harp players would be better served focusing our attention on the deep relaxed mouth position, being able to isolate really clean notes with lip blocking, being able to get draw bends on clean on draws 1-6, getting intonation of half step bends on -2, -6, and especially the -3, being able to get the blow bends on holes 8-10, learning scales and patterns of scales, learning how to improvise well, working on our time, playing with dynamics… You get the idea. ![]()
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