Brendan Power & Alternative Harmonicas Forum

Sure - but theory and diagrams are one thing, the actual sounds these tunings create are another. Looking forward to hearing you PLAY some of these things

Winslow: Yes, valved bending as on a stock fully-valved chrom gives you big bends, but not easily CONTROLLABLE bends. There is not a single chrom player i know who uses valved bending to get sustained notes. They just use them for colour and inflection. Nice - but nothing like the expression and ben...

An Overblow Chromatic is a good aim and one I'm sure will come to fruition. Ideally it should be the same size as a 10-hole diatonic, because overblowers come from that background. One possibility is shown here, and will be out there very soon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK_wXODAQ0Y&t=5s I'm in...

Thanks IaNerd - very useful to see all these tunings with such a clear graphical display.

Interesting thread! And cool clip, Boris :) As someone who has modified existing big bass harmonicas for sliders (a very tough project in design and making!) I share your and Triona's wish that they could be designed differently to be smaller and blow/draw. The big ones are so cumbersome, heavy and ...

Hi all, I've just been reading the interesting posts about your backgrounds and interests. Thanks for contributing and being here, you all bring a lot to the discussion. Some of you I know from meeting in person, like Patrice, others from online contacts. Great to have pro players and customisers li...

Good to hear from you Ed. Thanks for the extra strong points you mention - any examples? Would love to hear some of your work on PowerChromatic Tuning.

Thanks for the question Boris - apologies for the slow reply. I think the simple answer is to create stuff that people want! Preferably NEW stuff, that pushes the boundaries and gets players excited about the extended possibilities of what they could achieve if they own it. If they feel that urge, t...

Good question. I manage by having two types of harmonicas: 1. A couple of tunings that I'm confident improvising with: PowerBender on diatonic and PowerChromatic for slide harps. 2. A larger number of specialist genre tunings where I mostly memorise tunes, and don't improvise beyond a few melodic va...

Like several others in the scene who develop specialist harmonica tunings and setups (eg. PT Gazell with his Gazell Method valves, or Tony Ayers with his Major Cross Tuning), I have a page on the Seydel website for a couple of my diatonic harp tunings: PowerBender and PowerDraw. Now we’ve added a sp...