Willie,
Sounds like you are getting the hang of it. I am very glad to hear it. Sometimes ya just gotta play it and not think too much. Sometimes I rack my brains trying to do certain things or get just the right bend, but in the end i find just playing makes me happy and those things eventually come along. Congrats on your improvement and look forward to hearing more from you....maybe even hear you in Jon's Jamming Room someday!

Just an update for anyone who happened to be wondering. After working on embourchure for awhile and getting frustrated I started to just go back to having fun playing songs from Jack's Harmonica Page again. Since I've been doing that all the things in that video are starting to click for me. My mouth is relaxed and I think I sound a bit better, though I might still be breathing too hard (I haven't learned how to breathe yet very well).

But the reason that this is an update is that today somehow I'm making the 2 draw sound good. Kind of came out of nowhere and I'm not sure what I'm doing different and I'm worried that it'll be gone tomorrow but right now it's sounding alright. It still takes a little time to sound sometimes, but a lot of the time I get that tone right away. woohoo!

It's weird how the brain's background processes work. I'm guessing that all that practicing I was doing just needed some time to sink in and once I stopped picking at it it was able to work its way into my playing. Same thing happened to me when I was trying to get 16th notes down with my right foot on the bass drum.

Thanks for posting that video Jon. I wonder why mouth formations would have that kind of an impact on the vibration of the reed. Seems like if air is going through then the reed should make a sound. I kind of figured that improved tone through proper embourchure was due to reverberation in your mouth or something, but that sort of thing wouldn't keep sound from coming from the reed at all, would it?

Oh also, I just tested both harmonicas. For some reason I'm less consistent with the newer harmonica, but the tone on the 2 draw is the same so I'm assuming that the harmonicas are fine.

Practing "Suicide is Painless" really helps too. It's such a beautiful song and it sounds pretty good on my harmonica, which makes me feel good.

Be expecting a post in the next couple weeks where I've bought a third harmonica because I don't sound right when I try bending notes!

Thanks for all your help guys.



-- Edited by Willie McCoy at 09:17, 2007-03-20

It does. It's very encouraging and I'm starting to feel less like an idiot. After some rigorous scientific observation I've come to the conclusion that my new harmonica is probably not damaged, because if I draw softly enough it sounds pretty good. My old harmonica is broken: the 2 draw sounds terrible no matter what I do. I remember drawing pretty hard on it a few times to try to fix it so I bet I broke it then.

This embourchure stuff is pretty tough to get the hang of. I think I'm getting better but I'm not noticing a huge difference in sound yet. I'm trying to relax my mouth but I have to tense the sides of my mouth to get that single note. I just have to keep practicing.

Thanks for everyone's help.

That might be it. I'm very confused by the whole thing. When I watch the lip blocking video from this forum and play the 2 draw at the same time as Jon it sounds very similar, but my note isn't as strong. Obviously he's going to sound a lot better than me though. The sound just doesn't mesh with the rest of the notes.

I need to grab that rock n' blues set. I got a $6 harmonica book when I bought the harmonica but it hasn't been much help beyond very basic stuff. There's so much I'm struggling to figure out. Jon's youtube videos have been very inspiring and I'm trying to learn by watching him.

That might be what happened. That's really too bad. I'll see if hohner will replace mine.

Thanks for your help. It's kind of funny, it doesn't sound so out of place when I play it very softly, but sometimes the sound doesn't come right away and it's just not right.

Thanks again.

the first question: did it do that right out of the box? if it did, the reed may be misaligned, or there may be some bit of foreign material obstructing the reed in its slot. if that's the case the covers need to come off and a VERY thin piece of flat metal can be run around under the reed and between the sides of the reed and the edge of the reed slot, which may dislodge any lint, metal chip, etc that might be interfering with the reed's movement. this reed could also just be out of tune from the factory. rare but it happens.

second question: and this happens often esp with new players: did you draw too hard on that hole when you first got the harp? if you've ever had a harp's covers off and seen the delicate size of a reed, you may understand how fragile they can be, and it's relatively easy to draw or blow too hard early on. if that's the case this reed may be warped and fatigued past saving.

i actually got a new harp- different brand- and the #2 draw was bad out of the box. fortunately the maker has a blowout guarantee, so i sent it back and will likely get a fresh one in the mail soon.

sounds like, to me, the first order of business is to get the covers off. the blues harps have a small star-shaped screw head i think. this kind of driver can be found at better tool shops and hobby shops. if it's a simple philips head or slotted head screw, or when you get hold of the right driver, the cover screws will come out, the covers will come off, and you can look at the reedplate.
the hohners still use small brads rather than screws to hold the blues harp together if i'm not mistaken- which i may be! to get the reedplate off of the comb can be tricky, i use an exacto knife to gently and carefully pry the reed plate up off of the comb, using equal effort in several places and then pulling the brads out with small pliers and setting them aside where they won't get lost.
i actually prefer harps that have screws holding the reedplates to the comb of a harp since i sometimes want to clean the reed plates in a shallow dish of 91% alcohol. this loosens saliva and other gunk that can collect around the reed slots. wiping gently with a lint-free cloth is next, and a very thin feeler guage is a good thing to use to check the reed/reed slot for any other debris that may be in the way of the reed.

lee oskar and other harp makers market a harmonica repair kit and book which explains how to regap and retune a reed. this may be a good investment.

perhaps the best suggestion i can make is, if you are very new to harp, play like the baby is asleep in the next room. in other words GENTLY!

that reed may be save-able and it may not. once the brass is fatigued it develops tiny cracks and can't be retuned and hold the tuning. in the past, i used to blow out reeds fairly often due to my volume of air i put through that harp. learning good wind control and where to breathe from, was a big event in my development as a player.

jon's "rock'n'blues" cd and book set was indispensible for me to learn the basics of playing harp.

usually when i invest in a harmonica i look for harps with replaceable reed plates. i use harps a lot, almost every day, and i play out quite a bit, for tips or pay. which helps finance harps and reed plates! it is much cheaper in the long run to use either bushman delta frost, or hering 1923 vintage harps, since these 2 models have replacement reed plates. the hohner ms series also features replaceable plates.

you may have lost that harp, if the reed is gone bad. unless you want to go to the level of replacing individual reeds, which i personally don't do. time and effort wise it's much simpler to play softer, and replace reed plates if/when i kill a reed.

i hope some of what i said makes sense to you! these are lessons we all have to learn in order to be proficient at harp playing. this site has a wealth of information, and a lot of good people who can add to what i've said. i am by no means an expert!