Note layout
I just found this yesterday:
http://www.bluesharmonica.com/sites/bluesharmonica.com/files/private/Har...
And wonder if you'd ever done a video explaining the theory behind how to write the bends and overblows on a note layout? I can get the blow and draws fine from your music theory lesson 1 videos but when I went to notate which notes you could bend to I either did the wrong note or put it as a draw when it should have been an overblow. Let me know if something explains this well because I know it's a combination of the upper and lower reed vibrating simultaneously.
Oh that makes so much more sense! I was writing in the bends as I knew them but thought it was actually bending the draw 4 reed to make the 4' sound. It sounds like you're saying the draw reed actually stops vibrating and the blow reed starts vibrating to create the bend instead. Very interesting. Thanks,
Might have also helped for me to watch the bending lesson again, I've been trying to primarily go with LOA though, so sorry to have wasted your time. You explained it very well there. I was mostly posting to be able to write in the draw notes on my charts for music theory.
Anyway, is it typically easier to do a half bend before being able to do a full bend? Now that I found an online tuner I'm finding I can do the half-step bends on holes 1-3, but not a full bend and it's still early but thought I'd ask.
Either way doing the lesson with you again got me almost at a full bend on 3 draw, so definitely need to do it a lot more.
You are correct, it will take some time to get lower bends on your 2 and 3. It's a process... so keep experimenting. Best wishes on this.
Good morning lkeeley. I explain what notes are available from standard draw and blow bending in Bending Study 1. Since I don't use or teach overbending, there is no material on the site for that. Ross Garren and I are developing and recording overbend material right now, so you can expect to see something up within the next three months. Ross is a great overbender and is an extremely knowledgable musician, so he really knows how to use them.
After watching the bending lesson you'll find out that in standard draw or blow bending that you can bend to anything between the higher and lower reed's pitch. For example... the 4 draw on your C Harmonica is D and the 4+ is C. You can bend to what's between these two pitches, which is Db. You are correct that it is the lower reed (4+ in this case) that is vibrating in the deepest part of the bend (the transfer of vibration happens about half way in the bend from draw to the blow). Another way to think about it, and an important point in understanding how overbending works, is that it's the blow reed vibrating a half step above its normal vibrating pitch. So, C is now sounding C#/Db.
The same thing happens in overbending. When performing a 4OB (4 overblow), the C of the 4+ does not slide in pitch at all, but when you tune your mouth properly it will sound the note a half step above the other reed's pitch, the 4 draw reed will now sound D#/Eb. You can think of hitting an overbend like you hit a bend in it's already bent position. To hit a 4' C# for example, you tune your mouth to that note and just hit it, not sliding to it... we do this all the time. The same applies to the overbend... you tune your mouth to D#, blow and hit it.
So, in the end, they're the same. The 4 draw bend sounds the 4+ reed a half step above its normal vibrating pitch, which is C#. The 4OB sounds the 4 draw reed a half step above its normal vibrating pitch, which is D#. What is not the same is that a standard bend will slide, transferring its vibration smoothly from the 4 draw D to the 4+'s reed sounding the C#/Db, where the 4OB only sounds the draw reed a half step above its normal vibrating pitch, D#/Eb.
There are other nuances, like all deepest bends being flat, and bending overblows, but this will get you started in your charting.