3-hole dip
Fri, 03/28/2014 - 02:49
Hi.
Up till now, I haven't paid too much attention to the starting point of my dips, but I've begun noticing that, on the 3-hole dips, it tends to be closer to the hole-step bend than to the half-step. Especially on higher-pitched harmonicas, where that half-step bend involves such a very slight movement of tongue and lips, it's hard to hit that bend when I know I'm going to be leaving it immediately. Especially when I want to articulate it, it automatically comes out a hole-step bend.
Listening to you playing The Strut, 3rd chorus, I hear a clear articulation on your 3-hole dip (over the IV chord). So I guess my question is: does it really matter where you start the dip from?
Thanks
Daniel
Hello Daniel. The main thing is that is sounds musical to you. Going a little bit lower than Bb is generally fine. If it goes too low (between A and Ab), it sounds strange. A dip on the 2 draw sounds nice down to the 2" (the 2" is more bluesy sounding than the 2'), so the half step depth is just a general rule of thumb.