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Date: Thu, 05 Jul 2001 04:25:41 -0600
From: Matt Dickson
Subject: babbling

Heya,

What the book says about it is this: "The ability to bend all of the noes
listed may take the average player as long as several years, and although
the 4e, 5e, and 6e notes can be bent, they are so difficult and rarely used
in playing that they have been left out of this book. They are probably
used by fewer than one in 10,000 players."

I'm not sure what you mean when you say "Usually you can bend the higher
note in the same numbered hole"?. Haven't yet been able to bend the 5i to
save my life. The 8b is the first bend I figured out, and the tongue motion
is almost identical to the 8d. The 8 hole seems to be the easiest for me to
do, and the one which gets the best and most consistent tone . The 10 is
the toughest single blow bend for me, I don't hit it with much consistency
at all right now. More often it will pop down just a wee bit sharp of the
whole step blow draw, and when I'm trying for the whole step, I have to aim
the tip of my tongue just a little bit lower than where it sems to want to
go, and I think flatten or cup behind the tip of my tongue a little bit.
I'm also, as I said *very* surprised that I stumbled into what I have only
seen described as a very advanced technique so early. Guess it helps to be
obsessive-compulsive......

The 9 one-step blow bend is *really* loud if I use the same pressure as the
straight 9. The way I stumbled upon it, and the reason I was putting so
much effort into it, is that I thought it would sound really cool to do a
slide in the chorus of the song I asked the list about (no, it's not Roll
Out the Barrels, it's the one with all the yodeling in the chorus) , which
goes like this:

6b 6b 6b 9b 9d 8b 8d 7b 7d 6b 6b 6d 6b
5d 5d 5b 4d 5b 6b 7b

6b 6b 6d 6b 5b 5b 5d 5b 5d 6b 7d

6b 6b 6d 6b 5d 5d 5b 4d 5b 6b 7b

6b 6b 6b 9b 9d 8b 8d 7b 7d 6b 6b 6d 6b
5d 5d 5b 4d 5b 6b 7b

6b 6b 6d 6b 5b 5b 5d 5b 5d 6b 7d

6b 8b 8b 8d 7b

What I kind of have in mind, in my mind's ear, is a legato slide that would
be similar to the sound of a guitarist bending the string up a whole step
before striking the note, and then releasing the bend smoothly after
picking the string. What I do get is a lot more abrupt than that; the tip
of my tongue seems to want to snap into place as if being drawn into a
vacuum rather than to slide smoothly from the natural draw note to the
whole-step draw bend.

Yes, the harmonica lends itself well to this and similar styles. I like
playing descending two-note runs, alternating blowing and drawing as I
descend (or ascent, or go back and forth). Sounds really nice, and it's
very easy to do.

Anyway, Mr. OCD is staying up way to late and is going to sleep through his
off-day if he doesn't shut up. Thanks for any and all.

Matt

Also sprach Hans:

> The book gives a layout of what bends are available for each blow and draw
> for every hole. Specifically, it says you can so single (half-step) bends
> in the upper register for 8 and 9 blows, and 5, 6, and 10 draws, and a
> double (whole-step) draw on 10.

This doesn't seem right. Usually you can bend the higher note in the same
numbered hole. This would give draw bends on 1-6 and blow bends on 7-10.
The blow bends on 7-10 are trickier. I think it unlikely that a beginner
would be able to blow bend 10 on a C harp though!

The song sounds a bit like roll out the barrel? Which goes back to the
layout of the harmonica. If you block the lower three notes with your
tongue and play melody on the top note you can add chords by moving your
tongue. This works particularly well for polka's. You can also block 2,3
and play an octave on 1,4 then chord by opening up 2,3. It is likely
harmonica's were originally designed to enable playing with polka bands. It
seems like I recall the Hohner pampflets warning against bending notes!

bye,
Hans Mikelson