Ennio Morricone....Bronson..Harmonica Man
Winslow,
This is the theme from ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST.....the movie.
could you give a listen and tell us what you hear?
is it a tremelo harp and what key
do you know who plays it?
can it be played with a diatonic harp?
I have always loved the harmonica in this movie....and would love to be able to render somethng that sounds at least vaguely similar...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL-X53ze5O0&feature=related
Thank you!
Steve
Is there any way to attempt it with a Diatonic?
Sure. You just won't get those half-slide semitone smears. it was designed to sound right on a chromatic.
The first three notes, E, D#, and later B, all play easily on an E harmonica. And that's all he plays in various combinations for quite awhile. But you can't bend the E down like he's doing on the chromatic.
Later the B is replaced by a C, still with the D# and E. OK, you can bend Draw 3 down 3 semitones for that. And you'll need at some point to bend Draw 2 down 2 semitones for an A. (I'm about two minutes in, and so far it's all- doable on an E-harp to get the specific notes. But if you try it, you just won't get the same expressive result.)
By the way, I'm pretty sure he's not playing a C chromatic. The same-breath slide from D# to E tells me that it's a key where D# is a slide-out note and E is a slide-in note in the same hole on the same breath. The easiest choices are the least likely because those keys of harmonica are so rare - B and F#. however, it could also work fluidly on an E harp (still a bit unlikely) and a Bb (a more common key of chromatic).
There are two ways you can get some of the effect of this tune on diatonic. Hwoever, both methords require advanced control of bending.
One is to use an F-harp. The main 3 notes are E, D#, (or Eb) and B, with sometimes a C and rarely an A.
Play the E as Draw 3. Bend it down for Eb. This allows you to bend fluidly between the two notes, but you need a lot of control for that shallow bend. Then, for the B, you need to play Draw 2 bent down just one semitone - again, this requires fine bending control. You can release the bend when you need the C, and can bend the B down slightly for some of the effects on the soundtrack. And you can play Blow 2 when you need the A.
Another method is to employ a bending technique called reed decoupling to simulate the sound of the chromatic slide held halfway in. Anybody wanna hear about that?
Reed decoupling: divorce as a result of too much harp playing? I'm intrigued - what does it mean and how do you do it?
OK, since you asked.
When you bend a note on a diatonic harmonica, normally both the blow reed and the draw reed sound the same note. The reeds are coupled in a dual-reed bend.
If the reeds decouple, one will sound the bent note while the other will go back to its unbent pitch. The result is that you get two notes sounding, usually a semitone apart.
The easiest place to produce this effect is where the blow and draw reeds are only a semitone apart. For instance, Hole 7 on a G harp, where the blow note is G and the draw note is F#. (I'm mentioning a low-pitched harp because it may be a bit easier to get the hang of this technique by bending notes that aren't too high in pitch. But you may find that it opens up for you on a higher harp - experiment a bit.)
To get the effect, try this: Play the Blow note and bend it down. It doesn't bend far, but it does bend. If you place your tongue right at the back of the bend - at the border where you get either a bend or, pulling the tongue just a little further back, the bend disappears, you can elicit the following behavior:
The blow reed goes back to playing a G, while the draw reed continues to play the shallow bend that's halfway between F# and G. Result - an interesting discord of the blow and draw reed sounding two different notes at once.
I find this easiest with a pucker. Hole 7 blow bend works better for me than Draw 5 bend, even though that bend is also a less-than-a-semitone bend.
Draw 2 deep bend is another place you can get it. Try hitting this bend fairly hard. Notice the shuddering, growly, effect. There's a slight amount of reed decoupling helping to produce that sound.
Now the trick is to get that decoupling to work for you playing the half-slide discord on the chromatic in the soundtrack. Most of the effect you're hearing is between the notes E and D#. So the obvious place to get this is in Hole 7 of an E harmonica. You have the B in Hole 6, and you can bend Draw 6 when you need the C. The A note is in Draw 5.
Wow - thats a great explanation Winslow - I didn't realize you could work the blow bend on the 7 like that. I was surprised when the bend 'popped' back as I pulled the tongue back but then thought - David is always talking about the resonance chamber and changing it. It's a fine delicate line to get that discord.Much easier (as you say) to get it on the chromatic!!
Thanks - fun!!
What an incredible depth of knowledge you have...it must be the equivalent of several PhDs....
my respect for you is immense....some day I hope to understand it ! and maybe even play it....but I might have to buy a Chromatic and take even more lessons !! it sounds so simple.....\\
I have always loved this movie riff......
I did find the artist who played it .... Franko De Gemini....an italian....he said he was made famous by just 3 notes.
here he is if anyone is interested...
http://www.runmovies.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45:...
by way of related interest here is a guy on Utube who appears to play it with a Diatonic..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRcTSvYxr94&feature=related
Again, Winslow I am stunned by your knowledge.....and appreciate your time in putting together this wonderful bit of information....
Thank you,
Steve
Portland, Oregon
If you read the comments he admits that he's using a special retuning. it sound like he retuned two notes on the same breath in adjacent holes to be a semitone apart. The easiest way would be to take Draw 6 and 7 (only two semitones apart normally) and either raise Draw 6 a semitone, or lower draw 7 a semitone. That or just use a natural minor-tuned harp, where Draw 6 and Draw 7 are normally only a semitone apart.
In addition to that, he's using tons of reverb on himself, and playing along with the original soundtrack.
could it be that he was just using a out-of-tune harp?
i know it sounds far-fetched that an o-o-t harp would be used on a soundtrack, but wouldnt that add to some realism?
Neither the original chromatic nor the guy on Youtube is using an out of tune harp.
But let's explore the possibility.
Any reed tout of tune enough to produce that effect is a reed that is ready to break. And it's dangerous to play a harp in that condition, for two reasons:
-- If it's a draw reed and it fails while you're playing, the reed could end up on your tongue.
-- It won't stay that way. The pitch will keep going down (when you need to keep producing the same note over and over again) and then will take a final nosedive and the reed will stop sounding.
On that second point: Keeping a harp in that condition going reliably in a recording studio over an 8-minute track is pretty unlikely, as the reed is about to fail. If it fails during the take, you have to do it over again - not a good use of expensive studio time. And what are you going to replace it with? Another similarly ready-to-break harp that may fail in its turn?
The harmonica on this famous soundtrack is a chromatic, with a little reverb to make it sound sort of spooky. Most of what you hear is a blow note in Hole 6 of a 12-hole chromatic, with the slide moving in and out. The sound about 2:30 is the slide being held halfway in so that you hear two notes at once, a semitone apart - that may be what le you to wonder if it's a tremolo.
The pitch on this version seems to be a semitone low (that or the player was using a chromatic in B, something quite rare).
The harmonica player on this is someone obscure (at least to North Americans). It wasn't done in the US — it's a spaghetti western by an Italian director. I've seen the player's name before, but don't remember it, and a quick Google search doesn't reveal it.