Introduce yourself
Re: Introduce yourself
Hello there,
I'm an engineer currently living near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
I was at SPAH last year so I may have run into some of you already in person. With any luck I will be at SPAH again this year.
I used to play a lot of clarinet, and then bit of piano (not enough to be much good), and I've been playing harmonica for a while now; it started when I needed something to do after blowing out my achilles tendon playing sports I'm 20 years too old to be playing and I was couch-ridden for many months. I haven't put it down since.
I mostly play rock, some blues, and more recently, jazz standards.
I play almost exclusively Wilde Tuning, which is very similar to PowerBender, in fact I can convert between the two by only changing a few reeds.
After playing the Wilde Tuning for a while I decided that, while great for rock and blues, it can be a bit clunky in Jazz unless you happen to be playing in 2nd or 4th position. So I created a "Paddy Wilde" Tuning for my jazz playing, and discovered that makes playing easier in a bunch of positions. The downside being that the blow notes are not nearly as expressive, the root of 4th and 5th position, the 5 of 3rd position. Bothered me that they are blow notes.
So I got into half valving. I got good at valved blow bends: more expression on the blow notes, with a half valved "Paddy WIlde" tuning I can easily play chromatically up and down a diatonic harp. That said, 7th through 9th positions, the "Levy positions" are still very painful as they are nearly exclusively bends.
I began to wish for a way to have easy access to all the notes and so I stared searching for the "perfect chromatic", ideally one where I can play in all keys which already feel familiar to positions I already play on a diatonic, where I can have expressive bendable draws on as many notes as possible.
Back in the diatonic rock and blues land, If I could only bend from the 4 down to the flat 3, and from the 5 down to the 4, I could really track those tasty Angus Young licks on the harmonica.
I always have a harmonica in my pocket. The more I play this instrument the more my love/hate relationship with (how awesome it is / frustrations with its limitations) grows. I like playing a Low D, because its the same tonal range of a guitar, but I find the low end sluggish and have been looking for ways to improve reed response. Playing 2nd position in a low D is almost the exact same range as playing 3rd on a G, I can't fathom why I wouldn't be able to get a Low D harp to respond as quickly as a G, so I'm learning everything I can about the physics of these things to get better response out of them.
Armed with a 3d printer, a garage full of tools, my engineering degree and my physics / math minors, I will continue tinkering with these things and hopefully get closer to harmonic nirvana.
I look forward to bouncing ideas back and forth with everyone here.
Thank you,
-Dominick
I'm an engineer currently living near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
I was at SPAH last year so I may have run into some of you already in person. With any luck I will be at SPAH again this year.
I used to play a lot of clarinet, and then bit of piano (not enough to be much good), and I've been playing harmonica for a while now; it started when I needed something to do after blowing out my achilles tendon playing sports I'm 20 years too old to be playing and I was couch-ridden for many months. I haven't put it down since.
I mostly play rock, some blues, and more recently, jazz standards.
I play almost exclusively Wilde Tuning, which is very similar to PowerBender, in fact I can convert between the two by only changing a few reeds.
After playing the Wilde Tuning for a while I decided that, while great for rock and blues, it can be a bit clunky in Jazz unless you happen to be playing in 2nd or 4th position. So I created a "Paddy Wilde" Tuning for my jazz playing, and discovered that makes playing easier in a bunch of positions. The downside being that the blow notes are not nearly as expressive, the root of 4th and 5th position, the 5 of 3rd position. Bothered me that they are blow notes.
So I got into half valving. I got good at valved blow bends: more expression on the blow notes, with a half valved "Paddy WIlde" tuning I can easily play chromatically up and down a diatonic harp. That said, 7th through 9th positions, the "Levy positions" are still very painful as they are nearly exclusively bends.
I began to wish for a way to have easy access to all the notes and so I stared searching for the "perfect chromatic", ideally one where I can play in all keys which already feel familiar to positions I already play on a diatonic, where I can have expressive bendable draws on as many notes as possible.
Back in the diatonic rock and blues land, If I could only bend from the 4 down to the flat 3, and from the 5 down to the 4, I could really track those tasty Angus Young licks on the harmonica.
I always have a harmonica in my pocket. The more I play this instrument the more my love/hate relationship with (how awesome it is / frustrations with its limitations) grows. I like playing a Low D, because its the same tonal range of a guitar, but I find the low end sluggish and have been looking for ways to improve reed response. Playing 2nd position in a low D is almost the exact same range as playing 3rd on a G, I can't fathom why I wouldn't be able to get a Low D harp to respond as quickly as a G, so I'm learning everything I can about the physics of these things to get better response out of them.
Armed with a 3d printer, a garage full of tools, my engineering degree and my physics / math minors, I will continue tinkering with these things and hopefully get closer to harmonic nirvana.
I look forward to bouncing ideas back and forth with everyone here.
Thank you,
-Dominick
Re: Introduce yourself
Hello Dominick,
welcome here.
Is it like this?
dear greetings
triona
welcome here.
That sounds interesting. What does the layout look like?
Is it like this?
dear greetings
triona
Aw, Thou beloved, do hearken to the Banshee's lonely croon!
sinn féin - ça ira !
Cad é sin do'n té sin nach mbaineann sin dó
https://www.youtube.com/@triona1367
https://soundcloud.com/triona-966519605
sinn féin - ça ira !
Cad é sin do'n té sin nach mbaineann sin dó
https://www.youtube.com/@triona1367
https://soundcloud.com/triona-966519605
Re: Introduce yourself
Very close! I also raised 7 blow to an A:
C | E | A | C | E | E | A | C | E | A
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
D | G | B | D | F | G | B | D | G | C
I play it half valved, so the missing Eb is a valved blow bend on 2, 5, 6, and 9 blow, and the Ab is now available as valved blow bend on 3 and 7 blow.
Re: Introduce yourself
Thank you.
I missed that the Will Wilde Rock Tuning is repeating the "Richter-note-duplication" of 2d=3b in holes 6d=7b. Considering this your alteration to Will Wilde on 7b as well makes sense.
Maybe I should have a try on this, because I like to play Paddy Richter as well as Will Wilde Rock tuning. Paddy I use mainly for Irish folk. Will Wilde I use mainly for march music (like e.g. Yorckscher March).
I just do not like valves very much. But I do not really understand blow bends either. Maybe I have played them already since long. But I never did this consciously. But I think this is a question to discuss at another place than here.
dear greetings
triona
I missed that the Will Wilde Rock Tuning is repeating the "Richter-note-duplication" of 2d=3b in holes 6d=7b. Considering this your alteration to Will Wilde on 7b as well makes sense.
Maybe I should have a try on this, because I like to play Paddy Richter as well as Will Wilde Rock tuning. Paddy I use mainly for Irish folk. Will Wilde I use mainly for march music (like e.g. Yorckscher March).
I just do not like valves very much. But I do not really understand blow bends either. Maybe I have played them already since long. But I never did this consciously. But I think this is a question to discuss at another place than here.
dear greetings
triona
Aw, Thou beloved, do hearken to the Banshee's lonely croon!
sinn féin - ça ira !
Cad é sin do'n té sin nach mbaineann sin dó
https://www.youtube.com/@triona1367
https://soundcloud.com/triona-966519605
sinn féin - ça ira !
Cad é sin do'n té sin nach mbaineann sin dó
https://www.youtube.com/@triona1367
https://soundcloud.com/triona-966519605
Re: Introduce yourself
SPAH 2024 registration, flight, and hotel are booked.
Hope to see some of you there!
Hope to see some of you there!
-
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2024 6:47 pm
Re: Introduce yourself
Hi, my name is Burke Ingraffia. I am a songwriter, guitarist, and wannabe harmonica player living in the Richmond, VA area. I have been looking for this sort of community for a long time, as I am also a coder and techie by day.
I have been playing Lee Oscar harmonicas mostly. Here is a song of mine on the harmonic minor tuning, playing a song I wrote called "Traveling at Night." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLL65GvCfwg
I have some neck problems due to cancer when I was an infant and spent a long time looking for the best neck holder. The best one I have found (and I have no affiliation) is from Farmer's Foot Drums here: https://www.footdrums.com/product/gecko-harp-holder/. All of the others out there are either too little or two much, with not enough pivot points for someone like me with a short and small circumference neck. It's not perfect, so I'm still looking for something better that doesn't even require a neck but can also be backed off of the mic easily.
When I discovered the MINIMIDI-JOYSTICK I was intrigued. I'd love to see how people are using it with vocal mics to play virtual instruments with the voice or breath.
I have been playing Lee Oscar harmonicas mostly. Here is a song of mine on the harmonic minor tuning, playing a song I wrote called "Traveling at Night." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLL65GvCfwg
I have some neck problems due to cancer when I was an infant and spent a long time looking for the best neck holder. The best one I have found (and I have no affiliation) is from Farmer's Foot Drums here: https://www.footdrums.com/product/gecko-harp-holder/. All of the others out there are either too little or two much, with not enough pivot points for someone like me with a short and small circumference neck. It's not perfect, so I'm still looking for something better that doesn't even require a neck but can also be backed off of the mic easily.
When I discovered the MINIMIDI-JOYSTICK I was intrigued. I'd love to see how people are using it with vocal mics to play virtual instruments with the voice or breath.
Re: Introduce yourself
Hello Burke,
welcome here.
dear greetings
triona
welcome here.
The Farmer / Seydel Gecko indeed seems to be the best neck holder on the market at the moment to my experience too. Only harmonicas with covers of brass or any other non-magnetic metal - like e.g. Easttop, including Brendans's Lucky13 - can not be fixed to the holder. I have been told that magnetic tape attached to the harmonica cover could help. But up till now I could not find a tape that has sufficient adhesion.burkeingraffia wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2024 7:13 pm I have some neck problems due to cancer when I was an infant and spent a long time looking for the best neck holder. The best one I have found (and I have no affiliation) is from Farmer's Foot Drums here: https://www.footdrums.com/product/gecko-harp-holder/.
dear greetings
triona
Aw, Thou beloved, do hearken to the Banshee's lonely croon!
sinn féin - ça ira !
Cad é sin do'n té sin nach mbaineann sin dó
https://www.youtube.com/@triona1367
https://soundcloud.com/triona-966519605
sinn féin - ça ira !
Cad é sin do'n té sin nach mbaineann sin dó
https://www.youtube.com/@triona1367
https://soundcloud.com/triona-966519605
Re: Introduce yourself
Hi all, I just discovered this forum having got back into the harmonica after a long break, and after a chance meeting with Mr Power himself (down on the Kentish coast)... Looks like I'm in interesting and intelligent company
Anyway, I got my first harmonica, a Hohner Blues Harp I think (or was it a Silver Star?..), back in the late 90s at the age of 17, having picked up guitar a few years earlier. Back then, it was the blues that got me, and those little intro bits on early Beatles records. I played on and off but the bass guitar became my main instrument and I never really developed my harmonica playing beyond a few Howlin' Wolf, SBW2 and Little Walter licks... I picked up the most useful keys and dabbled a little in other styles, even attempting PR tuning (this is when I discovered Brendan Power, shortly before his Jools Holland performance), but came back to the standard tuning for those stock blues riffs... I ventured a little into chromatic territory, but at that time valveless options were poor and I was too impatient to wait for the thing to warm up, resulting is sticking valves etc!.. At one point I joined a garage rock band on keyboard, with some harmonica on a few tracks, which is the one time my playing has made it onto vinyl... I stopped playing since it started to irritate my lips quite badly, but eventually I discovered that stainless steel covers and recessed reedplates were the solution...
Fast forward to a couple of years ago and my (re?)discovery of traditional folk music, particularly English music, I start playing around with diatonic accordions. Unfortunately, the old RSI in the wrists reared its head, originally from less than ideal positioning of the hands when playing bass, so i must limit my playing (don't play through physical pain folks!)... So I pick up the old harmonica again, a Lee Oskar in G, and I'm thinking can I get a similar thing going as on the button box?.. Well, I'm working on it using richter tuned harmonicas and tongue blocking, so here I am!.. Thanks for reading
Ed Arnold
Anyway, I got my first harmonica, a Hohner Blues Harp I think (or was it a Silver Star?..), back in the late 90s at the age of 17, having picked up guitar a few years earlier. Back then, it was the blues that got me, and those little intro bits on early Beatles records. I played on and off but the bass guitar became my main instrument and I never really developed my harmonica playing beyond a few Howlin' Wolf, SBW2 and Little Walter licks... I picked up the most useful keys and dabbled a little in other styles, even attempting PR tuning (this is when I discovered Brendan Power, shortly before his Jools Holland performance), but came back to the standard tuning for those stock blues riffs... I ventured a little into chromatic territory, but at that time valveless options were poor and I was too impatient to wait for the thing to warm up, resulting is sticking valves etc!.. At one point I joined a garage rock band on keyboard, with some harmonica on a few tracks, which is the one time my playing has made it onto vinyl... I stopped playing since it started to irritate my lips quite badly, but eventually I discovered that stainless steel covers and recessed reedplates were the solution...
Fast forward to a couple of years ago and my (re?)discovery of traditional folk music, particularly English music, I start playing around with diatonic accordions. Unfortunately, the old RSI in the wrists reared its head, originally from less than ideal positioning of the hands when playing bass, so i must limit my playing (don't play through physical pain folks!)... So I pick up the old harmonica again, a Lee Oskar in G, and I'm thinking can I get a similar thing going as on the button box?.. Well, I'm working on it using richter tuned harmonicas and tongue blocking, so here I am!.. Thanks for reading
Ed Arnold
Re: Introduce yourself
Hi Arnold,
welcome here. I think, here is a good place to get some useful input.
With English trad on buttonbox, I guess you mean something like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RtjA-bmzbI
Here you get more of this:
https://www.youtube.com/@anahatamelodeon
Very good for emulating buttonbox or any other accordion like diatonics, concertina, Steirische, cajun accordion, or even piano accordion or bajan etc is an octave tuned harmonica, be it Richter tuned, Paddy Richter or Viennese. I.e. Seydel Concerto Steel, Seydel Club Steel, Hohner Autovalve, or any of the old Knittlinger models. And I like for this especially Brendan's Slide Diatonic. You can use a chromatic as well. And for some soulful tunes a tremolo sounds nice too. E.g. Donald Black from Scotland is playing tremolo most time.
Crucial for emulating buttonbox sound is extended tongueblocking indeed. Play any kind of splits -- octaves and other intervals, with varying distances and covering and uncovering, slapping and with chords. You actually must dance with your tongue on the whole harmonica from left to right. Play rhythmically and constantly with no stops, in combination with much legato. Learn to play polyphonically -- melody / treble voice on the right of the tongue, bass on the left of the tongue and the rhythm wth the tongue in the middle range in between -- all of this simultaneously of course.
A good breathing technique is crucial as well. It is either necessary for creating a constant and fluent rhythm, as well as for extended legato. The slide of the Slide Diatonic or a chromatic is a good thing for trills, rolls and cuts etc - especially for playing passages with fast fingering on the buttons or keys.
Maybe you like to have a look on my soundcloud and youtube. I might not be the best harmonica player. But I like to play this styles very much. There is no example for the buttonbox sound yet. But there are some recordings showing the bacic playing techniques I tried to describe and explain above.
https://soundcloud.com/triona-966519605
https://www.youtube.com/@triona1367
Btw: The "Cuckoo's Nest" by Mary Humphreys and Anahata (see link above) I like to play preferably with Brendan's Slide Diatonic. Maybe I will make a recording any day.
Just today I happened to discover this nice little cajun tune which sounds quite like a real cajun accordion. It is an example for the combination of legato and rhythmic playing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcdkarpCv3I
I tried it at once. And I used a Knittlinger octave (something like Hohner Autovalve), tuned similarly to Richter.
A useful lesson for some of these techniques you can find on this video from Jason Ricci. It shows especially how to play a chromatic for diatonic players and for blues. But he demonstrates some of the techniques I descibed above very well. (And btw, he plays some folky tunes some times as well.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5cwCd6DR-Q
Another useful teaching book is "How to play Old-Time Fiddle Tunes on Harmonica" by Cary Moskovitz. It is not only useful for learning how to play fiddle tunes. He deals especially with the constant playing all through a tune -- in opposite to the call and response or breaks like e.g. in blues. This is necessary for to play a fiddle tune e.g. in dance music, like Jigs and Reels etc, where the fiddle is the lead instrument of the band and not a solist like the harmonica in blues. And this is important not only for fiddle tunes, but for buttonbox tunes as well. The book is based on a Paddy Richter tuned diatonic.
https://carymosk.com/old-time-fiddle-tu ... harmonica/
To improve the breathing technique -- especially considering rhythm and speed -- I can recommend "Rhythms of the Breath" by Howard Levy.
https://levyland.com/book-rhythms-of-the-breath
I have Vol.1. But I did not yet get through all the book. And now I have seen that there is out Vol.2 as well.
I hope I could help you a little bit.
dear greetings
triona
welcome here. I think, here is a good place to get some useful input.
Aw, RSI is a bloody bitch. I wish you get well again.Arnold wrote: ↑Thu Oct 10, 2024 9:55 pm Fast forward to a couple of years ago and my (re?)discovery of traditional folk music, particularly English music, I start playing around with diatonic accordions. Unfortunately, the old RSI in the wrists reared its head, originally from less than ideal positioning of the hands when playing bass, so i must limit my playing (don't play through physical pain folks!)... So I pick up the old harmonica again, a Lee Oskar in G, and I'm thinking can I get a similar thing going as on the button box?.. Well, I'm working on it using richter tuned harmonicas and tongue blocking
With English trad on buttonbox, I guess you mean something like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RtjA-bmzbI
Here you get more of this:
https://www.youtube.com/@anahatamelodeon
Very good for emulating buttonbox or any other accordion like diatonics, concertina, Steirische, cajun accordion, or even piano accordion or bajan etc is an octave tuned harmonica, be it Richter tuned, Paddy Richter or Viennese. I.e. Seydel Concerto Steel, Seydel Club Steel, Hohner Autovalve, or any of the old Knittlinger models. And I like for this especially Brendan's Slide Diatonic. You can use a chromatic as well. And for some soulful tunes a tremolo sounds nice too. E.g. Donald Black from Scotland is playing tremolo most time.
Crucial for emulating buttonbox sound is extended tongueblocking indeed. Play any kind of splits -- octaves and other intervals, with varying distances and covering and uncovering, slapping and with chords. You actually must dance with your tongue on the whole harmonica from left to right. Play rhythmically and constantly with no stops, in combination with much legato. Learn to play polyphonically -- melody / treble voice on the right of the tongue, bass on the left of the tongue and the rhythm wth the tongue in the middle range in between -- all of this simultaneously of course.
A good breathing technique is crucial as well. It is either necessary for creating a constant and fluent rhythm, as well as for extended legato. The slide of the Slide Diatonic or a chromatic is a good thing for trills, rolls and cuts etc - especially for playing passages with fast fingering on the buttons or keys.
Maybe you like to have a look on my soundcloud and youtube. I might not be the best harmonica player. But I like to play this styles very much. There is no example for the buttonbox sound yet. But there are some recordings showing the bacic playing techniques I tried to describe and explain above.
https://soundcloud.com/triona-966519605
https://www.youtube.com/@triona1367
Btw: The "Cuckoo's Nest" by Mary Humphreys and Anahata (see link above) I like to play preferably with Brendan's Slide Diatonic. Maybe I will make a recording any day.
Just today I happened to discover this nice little cajun tune which sounds quite like a real cajun accordion. It is an example for the combination of legato and rhythmic playing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcdkarpCv3I
I tried it at once. And I used a Knittlinger octave (something like Hohner Autovalve), tuned similarly to Richter.
A useful lesson for some of these techniques you can find on this video from Jason Ricci. It shows especially how to play a chromatic for diatonic players and for blues. But he demonstrates some of the techniques I descibed above very well. (And btw, he plays some folky tunes some times as well.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5cwCd6DR-Q
Another useful teaching book is "How to play Old-Time Fiddle Tunes on Harmonica" by Cary Moskovitz. It is not only useful for learning how to play fiddle tunes. He deals especially with the constant playing all through a tune -- in opposite to the call and response or breaks like e.g. in blues. This is necessary for to play a fiddle tune e.g. in dance music, like Jigs and Reels etc, where the fiddle is the lead instrument of the band and not a solist like the harmonica in blues. And this is important not only for fiddle tunes, but for buttonbox tunes as well. The book is based on a Paddy Richter tuned diatonic.
https://carymosk.com/old-time-fiddle-tu ... harmonica/
To improve the breathing technique -- especially considering rhythm and speed -- I can recommend "Rhythms of the Breath" by Howard Levy.
https://levyland.com/book-rhythms-of-the-breath
I have Vol.1. But I did not yet get through all the book. And now I have seen that there is out Vol.2 as well.
I hope I could help you a little bit.
dear greetings
triona
Last edited by triona on Fri Oct 11, 2024 12:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Aw, Thou beloved, do hearken to the Banshee's lonely croon!
sinn féin - ça ira !
Cad é sin do'n té sin nach mbaineann sin dó
https://www.youtube.com/@triona1367
https://soundcloud.com/triona-966519605
sinn féin - ça ira !
Cad é sin do'n té sin nach mbaineann sin dó
https://www.youtube.com/@triona1367
https://soundcloud.com/triona-966519605
Re: Introduce yourself
Thanks Triona,
I have found your post very helpful, as are your other ones that I have read through
It is the ‘melodeon’ that I refer to, yes. Not so much emulating the sound as imparting a similar drive to the rhythm. So bass/chord patterns, become tongue slap/release and so on. I’m getting there with Jigs, Polkas, Marches etc. The biggest challenge rhythmically has been hornpipes.
I’m fairly settled on 10 hole richter. I’ve tried others, but I don’t fancy having to tune all those reeds!.. Of course, there is still the missing 6th problem but other folk instruments have even greater limitations. There are many popular English session tunes that omit this note fortunately, although I do have a neat solution based on one of the designs on this site (thanks to Brendan)
More to follow
I have found your post very helpful, as are your other ones that I have read through
It is the ‘melodeon’ that I refer to, yes. Not so much emulating the sound as imparting a similar drive to the rhythm. So bass/chord patterns, become tongue slap/release and so on. I’m getting there with Jigs, Polkas, Marches etc. The biggest challenge rhythmically has been hornpipes.
I’m fairly settled on 10 hole richter. I’ve tried others, but I don’t fancy having to tune all those reeds!.. Of course, there is still the missing 6th problem but other folk instruments have even greater limitations. There are many popular English session tunes that omit this note fortunately, although I do have a neat solution based on one of the designs on this site (thanks to Brendan)
More to follow