Posted Fri, 05/30/2014 - 07:17 by David Barrett Admin
The same Chewing Vibrato you experimented with yesterday can be used on blow bends. To prime your embouchure, play a 8+ and then 8'+ a couple of times to feel where the sweet spot is for the pitch of the 8+. Now play the 8+ and move your jaw up and down and the vibrato will be there. The same applies for the 9+ and 10+. The first time I heard of this as a technique was in an audio cassette instruction by Gary Primich. Have a great weekend everyone!
Posted Thu, 05/29/2014 - 10:25 by David Barrett Admin
The 3' sounds great with a vibrato, but for most players the 3" swings too much in pitch and is not a very pleasing sound. When performing the 3" try moving your jaw up and down to produce the vibrato. The more you move your jaw the larger the change in pitch. The speed of the jaw movements depends on how fast you want the vibrato. This is commonly known as the "Chewing Vibrato."
Posted Wed, 05/28/2014 - 07:48 by David Barrett Admin
To check if you're achieving the vibrato, open up HarpNinja. Play a tremolo (no pitch change) and you'll see the green light of the box for that hole flicker on and off. When performing the vibrato (pitch change) you'll see the readout alternating between that hole and its half step bend.
Posted Fri, 05/23/2014 - 07:52 by David Barrett Admin
Play a 3' and turn on your tremolo... for most players a vibrato will be produced. As the throat opens it bends the 3' a little more and as the throat closes the bend releases a little bit.
Posted Thu, 05/22/2014 - 07:40 by David Barrett Admin
Item three of our three elements needed to produce a vibrato on the harmonica was, "Tongue and pharynx are relaxed enough to be influenced by the throat tremolo." continue reading...
Posted Tue, 05/20/2014 - 07:06 by David Barrett Admin
Vibrato is change in pitch, and slightly in volume, and even more slightly in tone. As a technique, it's one of the most difficult skills to teach and learn. Here are the three important elements to producing this technique. Item 1 we've already discussed; we'll discuss items 2 and 3 over this week.
1) Throat tremolo is on
2) Mouth is tuned to the note you're playing
3) Tongue and pharynx are relaxed enough to be influenced by the throat tremolo
Posted Fri, 05/16/2014 - 07:54 by David Barrett Admin
This is the harmonica player's standard way of performing a tremolo and is the basis for the vibrato that we'll cover later. This technique is produced at the vocal folds, where you open and close your airway. Performing a slight cough (without engaging your diaphragm) will give you the feeling of this technique. Your goal is to isolate your vocal folds so that the listener never hears a coughing sound (you are exhaling, but it's a smooth and even stream of air, not a burst of air from the diaphragm for each tremolo piece). continue reading...
Posted Wed, 05/14/2014 - 07:38 by David Barrett Admin
Cup your harmonica so that it's not squeezed airtight, but closed nonetheless. Most players hold the harmonica with their left hand and open/close their cupped hands using the wrist of their right hand at a speed slightly faster than a triplet (this depends on the tempo of a song, slower relative to fast tempos and faster relative to slow tempos). When your hands are closed, both the volume is soft and the tone is muted and bassy. When your hand open, the volume is loud and mid and high frequencies are back with a less tubby tone. Both volume and tone are changed in a hand tremolo. continue reading...
Posted Tue, 04/29/2014 - 09:33 by David Barrett Admin
Every song starts with a spark of an idea. Most of the time the spark is a cool lick that has a catchy rhythm and/or note combination that you match to a groove after its creation. Sometimes you sit down to write material for your band or a CD project and you think about exploring different grooves (shuffle, swing, two-beat, rock-beat, rumba, etc.) to add variety and spark some new directions. Sometimes you have a mood in mind.
Let's take some time and explore these different ideas this week. Listen to these three examples for their mood and let's discuss their ideas tomorrow. continue reading...