Harp Tips

Beef Up Your Bends Harp Tips 

How Do I Know I’m Bending In Tune?

The Good Doctor 2 Comments , , ,

If I catch you bending, I’ll saw your legs right off..

It’s a fair question often posed by newcomers to the harp, regardless of any previous musical experience. Basically, we all want to know we’re doing something right the first time we try it. Folks often arrive at our workshops under the assumption they’ve nailed their bends, when they actually haven’t completed their journey.

The process starts by quantifying the task. There are twelve regular draw/blow bends on a 10 hole diatonic.  1D’, 2D’, 2D”, 3D’, 3D”, 3D”‘, 4D’, 6D’, 8B’, 9B’, 10B’ and 10B”.

Next we need to learn the skills necessary to achieve each bend. On first encounter each reed has its own distinct response. In time you will grow used to, and learn to accommodate, these idiosyncrasies. You can find comprehensive instructions for playing draw bends and blow bends in our Harp Skills section (top menu). (more…)

Harp Tips 

Blow Bending… that ‘Mini-Gillespie’

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Ken had a very productive session this evening, learning how to blow bend. He reminded the Good Doctor the first blow bend on hole 10 is necessary to complete the upper major octave (doh-ray-me..):

7B 8D 8B 9D 9B 10D (first blow bend..) 10B’ 10B.

We read through the blow bend page from the Harp Surgery menu and put it into practice. With patience and one-to-one coaching, Ken had his first blow bend (8 hole on an A harp) nailed within ten minutes.

His feedback? Yippee! And the ‘Mini-Gillespie air cushion’ advice on the blow bend page was crucial.

Harp Tips 

What Speed Do You Do Vibrato?

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This was a genuine and very welcome question asked during a session at the Harp Surgery today.

Before answering, a smile grew on the Good Doctor’s face. His thoughts flashed back to a time when he first noticed how other harp players’ vibratos seemed faster, more appealing or more perfect than his own. He recalled the thrill of graduating from a struggling player with no vibrato, to one who could emulate that special throat vibrato he’d heard time and time again on recordings by Kim Wilson and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. It was a coming of age. It was fulfillment. Blow bends followed and brought with them the same sense of arrival.

‘Do you know’, answered the Good Doctor, ‘I do my vibrato at my own speed. I have tried to do it faster. I have tried to do it better. But it’s the vibrato I was born with. I have learned that it is my vibrato. It doesn’t need changing.’

Harp Tips 

Lip Freeze

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Why do my lips freeze up?

It happens to us all – embarrassingly this can be in the middle of our showcase number, live and dangerous on stage. It’s happened to me on Whammer Jammer a few times. As with all things physical, if your muscles aren’t used to it, they rebel. Ever tried to do too many sit-ups? A repetitive strain occurs when your abdominal wall muscles go into spasm and lock up. You can’t move again until they have had time to relax. Lip freeze is no different – our lip muscles cramp up from under use. In their own little way they’ve run a marathon too soon. Lip freeze often kicks in when you have to purse a bit harder for a bit longer – notoriously on those top end holes. (more…)

Harp Tips 

Top End Harp Playing

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‘Apart from the known and the unknown, what else is there?’ Harold Pinter

What is the ‘Top End’?

Holes 7-10 and everything that goes with them. When I first took up the harp, it seemed players always asked each other two questions: ‘Do you tongue block?’ and ‘Do you use the top end?’ At that time I didn’t do either. I didn’t really know what they were.

Apart from one high-pitched lick I had gleaned from The Cheaters song ‘Drugs’ (on their excellent ‘Sweat It Out’ album), I think I cracked blow bends long before I ever explored what has lovingly become known as ‘banjo country’. The top end. I go there more often these days (I also tongue block). (more…)

Harp Tips 

Soloing

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So you joined a band and it’s your first rehearsal or maybe your first live show. At some point the rest of the guys look at you and nod: time for your first solo. What should you do? Don’t panic, Mr Mainwaring, you have plenty of options.

Do what comes naturally

Just pick a harp in the right key and go for it. Sometimes it’s the best option! Trust in your natural musical abilities.

Follow the melody

Pick up the melody line during the song, repeat and build on it during your solo break.

Follow the rhythm

Pick up the rhythm during the song and vamp over your solo break.

Follow the chord changes

Perhaps the most satisfying for you and the audience. Avoid retreating into trills and effects. Get musical. Play off draw 2 over the 1 chord. Use some blow notes over the 4 chord (try blow 2 or 4 and work off them). Find the patterns around draw 1 or 4 when playing over the 5 chord and the turnaround at the end of each bar sequence. Use light and shade – start quietly and build tension – especially in a slow blues. Work melodies, blues notes, moods, patterns, stops, licks and effects; but pay attention to the chord changes. The result is an accomplished musical contribution. (more…)