harps n tuning

[Mr Nilsson]

Went to the jam as usual the other day, had the feeling i was gonna do
pretty well...

get on, blow the first note, and i sound totally off key... check the
harp, yep its the right key.. double check, yep its very much the
right key. ok maybe that harp is pooped. next song, another key.. that
harp sounds out of key aswell!! wtf! now my confidence is down the
drain.

third song, new key.. this sounds allright actually, but i still play
like a turd ;)

next day i sit down at home with my harps and check em.. they sound
allright..
so i take my geetar tuner and hook my microphone to it.. wow... what
an eyeopener.
heres what i cape up with:

* harmonicas are a LOT more sensitive to how you breathe and shape
your mouth than i ever thought....

* some notes i can only hit right if i simultaneously breathe through
my nose.

* holes that are supposed to only bend two half steps (ie 4 draw)
actually goes a bit further

* (for me) its impossible to bend really low notes (like on a low F
draw 1+2) all the way... maybe my mouth is just too small

[Robert Reynolds]

Just a few words of encouragement. The more you play, the more often
you will play the note in tune without thinking about it. You get to
where you can hear the out of tune note and correct it before it
happens. The only problem is that you have to play lousy notes for a
while as your brain gets trained. As the old saying goes, "Wisdom comes
from experience, and experience comes from a lack of wisdom".

I don't play nearly enough, and I haven't gotten to the point where
everything is automatically corrected, but I have gotten halfway there.
I correct a lot of garbage before it happens, but I also hear a
significant number of really bad notes while they are happening and then
correct them through conscious effort. This is good as well as bad.
It's good because I understand the process and I realize that I'm slowly
becoming a better musician through playing off-tune notes. But it's bad
because it makes me realize that I must have spent a lot of time on jam
stages over the past 3 or 4 years sounding really rotten.

Post by Mr Nilsson
Went to the jam as usual the other day, had the feeling i was gonna do
pretty well...
get on, blow the first note, and i sound totally off key... check the
harp, yep its the right key.. double check, yep its very much the
right key. ok maybe that harp is pooped. next song, another key.. that
harp sounds out of key aswell!! wtf! now my confidence is down the
drain.
third song, new key.. this sounds allright actually, but i still play
like a turd ;)
next day i sit down at home with my harps and check em.. they sound
allright..
so i take my geetar tuner and hook my microphone to it.. wow... what
an eyeopener.
* harmonicas are a LOT more sensitive to how you breathe and shape
your mouth than i ever thought....
* some notes i can only hit right if i simultaneously breathe through
my nose.
* holes that are supposed to only bend two half steps (ie 4 draw)
actually goes a bit further
* (for me) its impossible to bend really low notes (like on a low F
draw 1+2) all the way... maybe my mouth is just too small

[Mr Nilsson]

funny thing is, ive never experienced anything like this before, and
ive prolly played 20-30times at public jams by now..
maybe its just my ears getting better, but i asked the bass player and
he agreed that it did sound a bit funny this time

Post by Robert Reynolds
Just a few words of encouragement. The more you play, the more often
you will play the note in tune without thinking about it. You get to
where you can hear the out of tune note and correct it before it
happens. The only problem is that you have to play lousy notes for a
while as your brain gets trained. As the old saying goes, "Wisdom comes
from experience, and experience comes from a lack of wisdom".
I don't play nearly enough, and I haven't gotten to the point where
everything is automatically corrected, but I have gotten halfway there.
I correct a lot of garbage before it happens, but I also hear a
significant number of really bad notes while they are happening and then
correct them through conscious effort. This is good as well as bad.
It's good because I understand the process and I realize that I'm slowly
becoming a better musician through playing off-tune notes. But it's bad
because it makes me realize that I must have spent a lot of time on jam
stages over the past 3 or 4 years sounding really rotten.

Post by Mr Nilsson
Went to the jam as usual the other day, had the feeling i was gonna do
pretty well...
get on, blow the first note, and i sound totally off key... check the
harp, yep its the right key.. double check, yep its very much the
right key. ok maybe that harp is pooped. next song, another key.. that
harp sounds out of key aswell!! wtf! now my confidence is down the
drain.
third song, new key.. this sounds allright actually, but i still play
like a turd ;)
next day i sit down at home with my harps and check em.. they sound
allright..
so i take my geetar tuner and hook my microphone to it.. wow... what
an eyeopener.
* harmonicas are a LOT more sensitive to how you breathe and shape
your mouth than i ever thought....
* some notes i can only hit right if i simultaneously breathe through
my nose.
* holes that are supposed to only bend two half steps (ie 4 draw)
actually goes a bit further
* (for me) its impossible to bend really low notes (like on a low F
draw 1+2) all the way... maybe my mouth is just too small

[Robert Reynolds]

Post by Mr Nilsson
funny thing is, ive never experienced anything like this before, and
ive prolly played 20-30times at public jams by now..
maybe its just my ears getting better, but i asked the bass player and
he agreed that it did sound a bit funny this time

Well, maybe your harps are going bad. Did you play with an extra loud
band recently and blow some of them out of tune?

[RPM1]

Post by Mr Nilsson
Went to the jam as usual the other day, had the feeling i was gonna do
pretty well...
get on, blow the first note, and i sound totally off key... check the
harp, yep its the right key.. double check, yep its very much the
right key. ok maybe that harp is pooped. next song, another key.. that
harp sounds out of key aswell!! wtf! now my confidence is down the
drain.

Are you sure the band was in the key you thought they were in?

[Fat Sam]

Post by RPM1

Post by Mr Nilsson
Went to the jam as usual the other day, had the feeling i was gonna
do pretty well...
get on, blow the first note, and i sound totally off key... check the
harp, yep its the right key.. double check, yep its very much the
right key. ok maybe that harp is pooped. next song, another key..
that harp sounds out of key aswell!! wtf! now my confidence is down
the drain.

Are you sure the band was in the key you thought they were in?

And if they were, are you sure that the guitars were tuned up?
uitars are a lot more likely to go out of tune than harmonicas, so it could
have been one of the guitarists at fault.

[Bill Otten]

Post by Mr Nilsson
Went to the jam as usual the other day, had the feeling i was gonna do
pretty well...
get on, blow the first note, and i sound totally off key... check the
harp, yep its the right key.. double check, yep its very much the
right key. ok maybe that harp is pooped. next song, another key.. that
harp sounds out of key aswell!! wtf! now my confidence is down the
drain.
third song, new key.. this sounds allright actually, but i still play
like a turd ;)

First off, don't be too harsh on yourself IF it indeed was you. Everyone has
a bad night, maybe this one was yours. Even experienced players blow a clam
now and then too. When that happens, pretend it was a passing note and play
on.
What you MIGHT have encountered was a jam band that was tuned down a
half step ( ala Stevie Ray Vaughan) and they failed to tell you before hand.

Your last two points on holes that bend further than the two half steps, and
the difficulty in bending the low notes on a low tuned harp are simply that
some
reeds are more pliable than others and will either bend more or less. I find
even
some brands will differ in how the reeds respond. I can't overblow on Oskars
but can do it with Hohners. But look at the reeds and the sizes, they're
vastly
different between the two.

bill

[Fat Sam]

Post by Mr Nilsson
Went to the jam as usual the other day, had the feeling i was gonna do
pretty well...
get on, blow the first note, and i sound totally off key... check the
harp, yep its the right key.. double check, yep its very much the
right key. ok maybe that harp is pooped. next song, another key.. that
harp sounds out of key aswell!! wtf! now my confidence is down the
drain.
third song, new key.. this sounds allright actually, but i still play
like a turd ;)
next day i sit down at home with my harps and check em.. they sound
allright..
so i take my geetar tuner and hook my microphone to it.. wow... what
an eyeopener.
* harmonicas are a LOT more sensitive to how you breathe and shape
your mouth than i ever thought....
* some notes i can only hit right if i simultaneously breathe through
my nose.
* holes that are supposed to only bend two half steps (ie 4 draw)
actually goes a bit further
* (for me) its impossible to bend really low notes (like on a low F
draw 1+2) all the way... maybe my mouth is just too small

I was in a band once where the guitarist insisted that he and the bass
player tune their guitars from my harmonicas instead of from a tuner,
because he felt that the harmonica tuning might be slightly different to the
electronic tuning.
I always thought he was being far too fussy, as I've played and jammed with
loads of bands and never had a problem with tuning.
But having read your post, I'm starting to think that there might have been
some logic in his madness.