Help! I want to learn the Harmonica...

[ujnhunter]

thanks for the tip obscurity... i didn't read the date... just browsing the boards and posting... i'll keep my eyes open next time... btw... sisters of mercy are a pretty good band to like...

[PlainSongs]

So I got this toy harmonica, handy to kill some time. Chinese 'Parrot' brand, costs peanuts, doesn't sound too bad.

After some experimenting I find it's not too much like a blues harp. It gives a tremolo effect and it's got 16 holes, but each one only produces a sound by either inhaling or exhaling, not both. This is the note layout:

Code: Select all

E.G.C.E.G.C.E.G.
.a.b.d.f.a.b.d.f

So the range is actually smaller than on a blues harp - less than 3 octaves.

I have two questions for you harmonicists and musicologists:

1) Any advantage to that particular note layout?
2) Should bending be possible on any harmonica, perhaps with extra effort? No luck with it yet. There's a sort of different attack and the tone does seem slightly lower, but nowhere near a half-tone. cheers

[JonPorobil]

thanks for the tip obscurity... i didn't read the date... just browsing the boards and posting... i'll keep my eyes open next time... btw... sisters of mercy are a pretty good band to like...

I don't want to be a jackass or anything, but how did you fail to notice that the thread hadn't been posted to in three years? That's some pretty deep digging.

So I got this toy harmonica, handy to kill some time. Chinese 'Parrot' brand, costs peanuts, doesn't sound too bad.

After some experimenting I find it's not too much like a blues harp. It gives a tremolo effect and it's got 16 holes, but each one only produces a sound by either inhaling or exhaling, not both. This is the note layout:

Code: Select all

E.G.C.E.G.C.E.G.
.a.b.d.f.a.b.d.f

So the range is actually smaller than on a blues harp - less than 3 octaves.

I have two questions for you harmonicists and musicologists:

1) Any advantage to that particular note layout?
2) Should bending be possible on any harmonica, perhaps with extra effort? No luck with it yet. There's a sort of different attack and the tone does seem slightly lower, but nowhere near a half-tone. cheers

I don't really know anything about question 1. It looks like sort of a cross-harp hybrid, but I can't imagine getting used to that kind of layout.

Question 2...

Bending is possible on almost any harmonica, but it depends on the pitch of the reed. Of course, it's nearly impossible to bend a low blown note on a standard blues harp, but it's possible to bend higher blown notes. And it's almost universally easier to bend a note on a draw.

I assume you kind of know what you're doing already, right? So it just doesn't want to change the pitch when you change the angle of air flow on a draw note? It's quite possible that just bending "harder" will give you the desired effect. What are the reeds made of? I would worry a little about warping them, but it sounds like this harp is a real cheapie anyway, so I guess it's up to you how prudent you want to be.

[ujnhunter]

thanks for the tip obscurity... i didn't read the date... just browsing the boards and posting... i'll keep my eyes open next time... btw... sisters of mercy are a pretty good band to like...

I don't want to be a jackass or anything, but how did you fail to notice that the thread hadn't been posted to in three years? That's some pretty deep digging.

eh, it was the first post I ever posted here... and I didn't know how active/inactive the board was... it was a topic on the top of the second page... I didn't look at the date... blah

[PlainSongs]

Thanks for your input Jon.

I made another fruitless attempt at bending and then a fruitful websearch:

My harmonica has two (brass?) reeds per note, giving a tremolo effect. As this page explains very well, "bending down any note using both reeds is enormously difficult if not impossible since that would take too much wind". There are two options to still play the full chromatic scale.

• One is to block the airflow to either reed with your lip and bend just the other reed. I tried it and yes it works. However the reeds are more easily deformed than in a blues harp. As my harp is from a £1-shop (got it with other essential camping gear) I'll risk bending the life out of the poor wee Parrot.
• The second option is apparently the 'Asian way' and requires playing say a C and a C# harp on top of each other. I'd like to see that.

As for the tuning, it resembles the "scale tuning" described here, with the lowest and highest pitches lopped off. "The lower octave is designed to play a complete diatonic scale, rather than a pair of chords". Incidentally, what did you mean by a "cross-harp hybrid"? I read that playing a harp 'cross-harp' is to play it in a different key using mainly draw notes... but are there specific cross-harp tunings too?

Those two sites I linked to are chock full of cool info!

I'm curious what kind of tunes the Parrot could do. I suppose one can alternate playing both reeds (chorus effect) and just a single one, for one thing...

Also browsed YouTube to see what can be done with a harmonica apart from blues. There's some classical stuff but I liked best this Take Five version, this 'simple' Miles Davis solo cover, and this wonderful No Woman No Cry. The first two use chromatic harps though. I don't know what kind John Popper plays but it sounds beautiful.

[JonPorobil]

I don't know what kind John Popper plays but it sounds beautiful.

I don't know the specific brand he uses, but Popper usually plays a standard diatonic blues harp. It almost sounded like a tremolo harmonica for the first half of the solo in "No Woman No Cry," but I'm pretty sure it's the same story.

I assume his harps aren't too terribly specialized, though, because he often tosses them into the audience at live shows. As much fun as a Blues Traveler show can be, I sure wouldn't want to be the one to catch it. Whew.

[Rabid Garfunkel]

I think (and I'm too lazy to back it up) they're Hohner Special 20s. Very bendable, but a bit too tinny and clean sounding for an un-degreed harmonicaist like myself.

[JonPorobil]

Well, he does do some insane bends.... What's it, like two whole steps, just before the three-minute mark in "Hook"?