Amanda

2 1 -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ -1 2
Babe, tomorrows so far- a—way—–
1 -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ -3 3 2
Theres something I just have to say
2 3 -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ -3 1 1 1 1
I dont think I- can hide what Im feelin inside
1 -2 -2 -2 2 -2″ 2 2 -1
Another day, knowin I love you
1 2 1 -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ 3 3 -1 2
And I, Im getting too close a-gain–
-3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ 3 3 2
I– dont want to see it end
2 3 -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ -3 4 1 1 1
If I tell you tonight will you turn out the light
1 -2″ -2″ -2″ 2 -2″ 2 2 -2″ 2 -1
And walk a—way knowin I love— you?

-3 -3 -3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Im gonna take you by surprise and make you realize,
4 4 -3 -3
A-man–da
-3 -3 -3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Im gonna tell you right away, I cant wait another day,
4 4 -3 -3
A-man–da
-3 -3 -3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Im gonna say it like a man and make you understand
4 4 -3 -3
A-man–da
3 -3 4 -3 -3″
I love— you

2 1 -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ 3 3 -1 2
And I feel like todays the day—
1 -3″ -3″ -3″ 3 -3″ 3 3 2
Im lookin for the words to say
2 3 -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ -3 -4 1 1 1
Do you wanna- be- free, are you ready for me
1 -1 2 -2″ -2″
To feel this way
-2″ 2 -2″ 2 2 -1
I– dont wanna lose ya
2 1 -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ 3 3 -1 2
So, it may be- too soon, I know–
1 -3″ -3″ -3″ 3 -3″ -3 -3″ 3
The feeling takes so long to grow-
2 3 -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ -3 4 1 1 1
If I tell you today– will you turn me away
1 -2″ -2″ 3 -2″
And let me- go—?
-3″ -3″ -3″ 3 -3″ -3 -3″ 3 3 -3″
I– dont wanna lose——– you–

-3 -3 -3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Im gonna take you by surprise and make you realize,
4 4 -3 -3
A-man–da
-3 -3 -3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Im gonna tell you right away, I cant wait another day,
4 4 -3 -3
A-man–da
-3 -3 -3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Im gonna say it like a man and make you understand
4 4 -3 -3
A-man–da
5 4 -4 5
Oh-, girl

-4′ -4 -4′
You and i
-1 -4 5 -4 -4′ -4
I- know that we cant wait
-3″ -3 -4′ 2 5 -4 5 -4 5 -4 -4′ -4′
And I- swear, I swear its not a lie—– girl
2 -4 -4 5 -4 -4′ -4 -4′ -4 -4′ -3
Tomorrow may be too late————
4 4 -3″ -4 -4
You, you and I girl
4 -4 5 -5 5 -4 -4 4
We can share a life together
3 5 -4 -4 4
Its now or never
-3″ 4 -4 -4 -4 4 4 -4 -3 -3″ 3
And tomorow may be too late——-

4 -4 5 -5 -4
Oh———-
2 -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ 3 3 -1 2
And, feelin the way I do—-
2 3 -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ -3″ -3 3 2
I dont wanna wait my- whole life through
1 -2″ 2 -2″ 2 1 -1
To say Im in love with you




Amazed

-4 -4 -4 -4 4 -5
Ev-ery time our eyes meet
<-2 <-2 <-2 <-2 3 -3
This feel-ing in -side me
3 3 -3 -4 -3 3 2 3
Is al-most more than I can take
-4 -4 -4 -4 4 -5
Ba-by when you touch me
-1 <-2 <-2 <-2 <-2 <-2 3 -3
I can feel how much you love me
3 3 -3 -4 -3 3 2 3
And it just blows_ me away
<-3 <-3 <-3 -5 5 5 -3 5 5 -3 -2 5 5 -3
I’ve ne – ver been this close to an yone or anything
<-3 <-3 <-3 <-3 -5
I can hear your thoughts
<-5 <-5 <-5 <-5 5 <-3
I can see your dreams

3 6 6 6 6 6 -5 5 -5
I don’t know how you do what you do
3 -5 -5 6 -6 6
I’m so in love with you
-3 6 -5 5 -3 -5 5
It just keeps get-ting bet-ter
3 6 6 6 6 6 -5 5 -5
I want to spend the rest of my life
3 -5 6 -6 6
With you by my side
-3 6 -5 5 -5 5
For-ev-er and ev-er
<-5 <-5 <-5 <-5 <-5 -5 5 5
Ev – ery lit – tle thing that you do
-3 5 5 -3 -5 5 5
Bab-y, I’m am-azed by you

-4 -4 -4 4 -5
The smell of your skin
<-2 <-2 <-2 3 -3
The taste of your kiss
3 3 -3 -4 -3 3 2 3
The way you whis-per in the dark
4 -4 -4 -4 4 -5
Your hair all ar-ound me
-1 <-2 <-2 <-2 3 -3
Ba – by you sur-round me
3 3 -3 -4 -3 3 2 3
You touch ev-ery place in my heart
<-3 <-3 <-3 -5 5 5 -3 5 5 -3
Oh, it feels like the first time, every time
<-3 <-3 <-3 <-3 -5 <-5 <-5 <-5 <-5 5
I want to spend the whole night in your eyes

Chorus

Solo

3 6 6 6 6 6 -5 5 -5
Every little thing that you do
3 -5 -5 6 -6 6
I’m so in love with you
-3 6 -5 5 -3 -5 5
It just keeps get-ting bet-ter
3 6 6 6 6 6 -5 5 -5
I want to spend the rest of my life
3 -5 6 -6 6
With you by my side
-3 6 -5 5 -5 5
For-ev-er and ev-er
<-5 <-5 <-5 <-5 <-5 -5 5 5
Ev – ery lit – tle thing that you do
-3 5 5 -3 -5 5 3
Ba -by, I’m am-azed by you




Amazed (Chrom C)

5 5 5 5 5* -5*
Every time our eyes meet
-1* 3 3 3 3* -3*
This feeling inside me
-2 3* -3* 5 -3* 3* -2 3*____
Is almost more than I can take
5 5 5 5 5* -5*
Baby when you touch me
3 3 3 3 3 3 3* -3*
I can feel how much you love me
-2 3* -3* 5 -3* 3* -2 3*____
And it just blows me away
-4 -4 -4 -5* 5* 5* -4 -4 5* 5* -3* -2* 5* 5* -3*
I’ve never been this close to anyone, or anything
-4 -4 -4 -4 -5* 6 6 6 6 5* -4
I can hear your thoughts, I can see your dreams

Chorus:
3* -5* -6 -6 -6 -6 -5* -5* -5*
I don’t know how you do what you do
3* -5* -5* -6 -6* -6
I’m so in love with you
-2 -6 -5* 5* -3* -5* 5*___
It just keeps getting better
3* -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -5* -5* -5*__
I want to spend the rest of my life,
3* -5* -6 -6* -6__
with you by my side
-2 -6 -5* 5* -5* 5*____
Forever and ever
6 6 6 6 6 -5* 5* 5*
Every little thing that you do,
5* 5* 5* -4 -5* 5* 5* 5
Baby I’m amazed by you.
(Repeat)

-5* -6 -6 -6 -6 -5* -5* -5*__
3* 7* -6* -6* -6 -6__
-2 -6 -5* 5* -3* -5* -6 -6* 7*
-6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -5* -5* -5*__
3* -5* -6 -6* -6__
-2 -6 -5* 5* -3* -5* -6_____
6 6 6 6 6 -5* 5* 5*__
-5* 6 -5* 5* 6 6 6 6 7* -6* 5* -4 5*
5* 5* 5* -4 -5* 5* 5* 5 5

The smell of your skin,
The taste of your kiss,
The way you whisper in the dark.
Your hair all around me,
Baby you surround me
Touch every place in my heart
And it feels like the first time every time.
I want to spend the whole night
In your eyes

Every little thing that you do,
I’m so in love with you
It just keeps getting better
I want to spend the rest of my life,
with you by my side
Forever and ever
Every little thing that you do,
Oh, every little thing that you do,
Baby I’m amazed by you.

This song plays with karaoke music run time 3:54




Amazed!

AMAZED LONESTAR

Hey Y�all its Tin Man again giving you another
big Country Hit

YOUR GONNA NEED an A HARP TO PLAY THIS!

DON�T FORGET TO VOTE AND ADD TO FAVOURITES!

4 5 5 5 -5 6
Ev-�ry-time our eyes meet

-2 -3 -3 -3 4 4
This feel-in in-side me

-3b 4 -4 5 -4 4 -3b 4
Is al-most more than I can take

4 5 5 5 -5 6
Ba-by when you touch me

-3 -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 4 -4
I can feel how much you love me

-3b 4 -4 5 -4 4 4
And it just blows me a-way

5 5 5 6 -5 -5 5 -5 -5 -4
Ive nev-er been this close to an-y-one

-3 -5 -5 -4
or an-y-thing

5 5 5 5 6
I can hear your thoughts

-6 -6 -6 -5b -5
I can see your dreams

(CHORUS)

4 6 -6 -6 -6 -6 6 6 6
I don�t know how you do what you do

4 6 6 -6 7 -6
Im so in love with you

-3b -6 6 -5 -4 6 -5
It just keeps get-tin bet-ter

4 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 6 6 6
I wan-na spend the rest of my life

4 6 -6 7 -6 -3b -6 6 -5 6 -6
With you by my side for-ev-er and ev-er

-6 -6 -6 -6 -6 6 -5 -5
Ev-ry lit-tle thing that you do

-5 -5 -5 5 6 -5 5
Ba-by im a-mazed by you

(VERSE 2)

4 5 5 -5 6
The smell of your skin

-2 -3 -3 4 4
The taste of your kiss

-3b 4 -4 5 -4 4 -3b 4
The way you whis-per in the dark

4 5 5 5 -5 6
Your hair all a-round me

-3 -3 -3 -3 4 -4
Ba-by you sur-round me

-3b 4 4 -4 5 -4 4 4
You touch ev-�ry place in my heart

5 5 6 -5 -5 -5 -4 -5 -5 -4
Oh it feels like the first time ev-�ry time

5 5 5 5 5 6 -5 -6 -6 -5
I wan-na spend the whole night in your eyes

(CHORUS twice to end)

ENJOY!!!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!




Amigos Para Siempre-Barcelona Olympics

Brightly!
5 -4 5 -5 6 5 -4 4 5
You, can look in-to my eyes and see,
-4 5 -5 6 5 -4 4 -4 -4 -4 5 3
The way I feel and how the world is treat-ing me,
-4 -4 -4 5 3 3 3 3 5
May-be, I have known you for-ev-er.
7 7 7 7 -7 -7 -6 -6
A-mi-gos Pa-ra Si-em-pre,
6 6 -5 -5 -6 -6
You’ll al-ways be my friend,
7 7 6 6 -5 -5 5 5
A love, that real-ly can-not end,
-6 -6 -6 6 6 -5 -5 5 -5
Friends for life, in sum-mer and in spring,
-3-3 -3 -3 4 -3 4-3 3
A-mi-gos Pa-ra Si-em-p-re.




And So It Goes

4 5 6 -6 6 -6 6 5
In ev-‘ry heart there is a room,

-4 5 -4 5 6 6 5 -4
A sanc-tu-ar-y safe and strong.

4 5 6 -6 6 -6 6 5
To heal the wounds from lov-ers past,

-4 5 6 6 5 4 4 4
un-til a new one comes a-long.

4 5 6 -6 6 -6 6 5
I spoke to you in cau-tious tones;

-4 5 -4 5 6 6 5 -4
You an-swered me with no pre-tense.

4 5 6 -6 6 -6 6 5
And still I feel I said too much.

-4 5 6 6 5 4 4 4
My si-lence is my self de-fense.

4 5 6 7 -6 6 -5 6
And ev-‘ry time I’ve held a rose

-5 5 -6 -6 5 -4 4 4
It seems I on-ly felt the thorns.

4 5 6 7 -6 6 -5 6
And so it goes, and so it goes.

-5 5 -6 -7 7 -7 -6 6
and so will you soon I sup-pose.

4 5 6 -6 6 -6 6 5
But if my si-lence made you leave,

-4 5 -4 5 6 6 5 -4
then that would be my worst mis-take.

4 5 6 -6 6 -6 6 5
So I will share this room with you.

-4 5 6 6 5 -4 4 4 4
And you can have this heart to break.

4 5 6 7 -6 6 -5 6
And this is why my eyes are closed,

-5 5 -6 -6 5 -4 4 -4
It’s just as well for all I’ve seen.

4 5 6 7 -6 6 -5 6
And so it goes, and so it goes

-5 5 -6 -7 7 -7 -6 6
and you’re the on-ly one who knows.

4 5 6 -6 6 -6 6 5
So I would choose to be with you.

-4 5 -4 5 -6 6 5 -4
That’s if the choice were mine to make.

4 5 6 -6 6 -6 6 5
But you can make de-ci-sions, too.

-4 5 6 6 5 -4 4 4 4
And you can have this heart to break.

4 5 6 7 -6 6 -5 6
And so it goes, and so it goes,

-5 5 6 6 5 -4 4 4 4
and you’re the on-ly o-ne who knows.




And So It Goes (Chromatic)

AND SO IT GOES chrom
Billy Joel
Key: C
Time: 3/4

1 2 3 -3 3 -3 3 2
In ev-‘ry heart there is a room,
-1 2 -1 2 3 3 2 -1
A sanc-tu-ar-y safe and strong.
1 2 3 -3 3 -3 3 2
To heal the wounds from lov-ers past,
-1 2 3 3 2 1 1 1
un-til a new one comes a-long.
1 2 3 -3 3 -3 3 2
I spoke to you in cau-tious tones;
-1 2 -1 2 3 3 2 -1
You an-swered me with no pre-tense.
1 2 3 -3 3 -3 3 2
And still I feel I said too much.
-1 2 3 3 2 1 1 1
My si-lence is my self de-fense.
1 2 3 4 -3 3 -2 3
And ev-‘ry time I’ve held a rose
-2 2 -3 -3 2 -1 1 -1
It seems I on-ly felt the thorns.
1 2 3 4 -3 3 -2 3
And so it goes, and so it goes.
-2 2 -3 -4 4 -4 -3 3
and so will you soon I sup-pose.
1 2 3 -3 3 -3 3 2
But if my si-lence made you leave,
-1 2 -1 2 3 3 2 -1
then that would be my worst mis-take.
1 2 3 -3 3 -3 3 2
So I will share this room with you.
-1 2 3 3 2 -1 1 1 1
And you can have this heart to break.
67-7 7-776 -5677655
-1 2 3 4 -3 3 -2 3
And this is why my eyes are closed,
-2 2 -3 -3 2 -1 1 -1
It’s just as well for all I’ve seen.
1 2 3 4 -3 3 -2 3
And so it goes, and so it goes
-2 2 -3 -4 4 -4 -3 3
and you’re the on-ly one who knows.
1 2 3 -3 3 -3 3 2
So I would choose to be with you.
-1 2 -1 2 -3 3 2 -1
That’s if the choice were mine to make.
1 2 3 -3 3 -3 3 2
But you can make de-ci-sions, too.
-1 2 3 3 2 -1 1 1 1
And you can have this heart to break.
67-7 7-776 -56-56776
1 2 3 4 -3 3 -2 3
And so it goes, and so it goes,
-2 2 3 3 2-1 1 1 1
and you’re the on-ly one who knows.




Androgyny

ANDROGYNY
By: Duke Erikson, Shirley Ann Manson,
Steve Marker, Butch Vig
Garbage
Key: C, Eb

-3 -3 6 6 -3 6 -6 -6
When ev-�ry-thing is go-ing wrong
3 3 3 -5 -5 -5 3 -5 6 6
And you can’t see the point in go-ing on
-3 6 6 6 -3 6 -6 -6
Noth-ing in life is set in stone
3 3 -5 -5 -5 3 -6 6-56-6-55
There’s noth-ing that can’t be turned a-round

-3 6 6 6 -3 6 -6 -6
No-bod-y wants to feel a-lone
-2 -5 -5 -5 -5 3 -5 6 -56-55
Ev-�ry-bod-y wants to love some-one
-3 6 6 6 -3 6 -6 -6
Out of the tree go pick a plum
3 -5 -5 -5 3 -5 6 -56-56-55
Why can’t we all just get a- long

-56-55-5
Oh
Boys
-4 -3 3 -3 3
boys in the girl’s room
Girls
-4 -3 3 -3 3
Girls in the men’s room
-4 -3 3 -3 3 2 3 -4 -5 -4
You free your mind in your an-drog-y-ny

Boys
-4 -3 3 -3 3
Boys in the par-lor
Girls
-4 -3 3 -3 3
They’re get-ting hard-er
-4 -3 3 -3 3 2 3 -4 -5 -4
I’ll free your mind and you�re an-drog-y-ny

6 -3 6 6 6 -3 6 -6 -6
No sweet-er a taste that you could find
3 3 -5 -5 -5 3 -5 6 6
Than fruit hang-ing ripe up-on the vine
-3 -3 6 6 6 6 -3 6 -6 -6
There’s nev-er been an oys-ter so di-vine
3 3 -5 -5 3 -5 6 6 -56-55
A riv-er deep that nev-er runs dry
-5 -5 -5
What-cha need (11 X)

3 -3 6 6 6 3 6 -6 -6
The birds and the bees they hum a-long
3 3 -5 -5 -5 3 -5 6 6
Like treas-ure they twin-kle in the sun
-3 6 6 6 7 -6 -6
Get on board and have some fun
3 -5 -5 -5 3 -5 6 -56-56-55
Take what you need to turn you on

-56-55-5
Oh
Boys
-4 -3 3 -3 3
boys in the girl’s room
Girls
-4 -3 3 -3 3
Girls in the men’s room
-4 -3 3 -3 3 2 3 -4 -5 -4
You free your mind in your an-drog-y-ny

Boys
-4 -3 3 -3 3
Boys in the par-lor
Girls
-4 -3 3 -3 3
They’re get-ting hard-er

-4 -3 3 -3
I’ll free your mind
-4 -3 3 -3
I’ll free your mind
-4 -3 3 -3
I’ll free your mind
-4 -3 3
I’ll free your

Boys
Key: Eb Bridge

-5* -6 7 7-7* 7* 7 -6 77*7
Be-hind closed doors and un-der stars

Girls

-5* -6 7 7-7* 7* -6*-5*-5* 7
It does-n’t mat-ter where you are

Boys

-5* -6 7 7 -7* 7* 7 -6 77*7
Col-lect-ing jew-els that catch your eyes

Girls

-5* -6 7 7*-7* 7* -6*-5*-5* -5*
Don’t let a soul-mate pass you by

Key: C

-4 -3 3 -3 3
Boys in the girl’s room
-4 -3 3 -3 3
Girls in the men’s room
-4 -3 3 -3 3 2 3 3 -4 -5 -4
You free your mind in you�re an-drog-y-ny

-4 -3 3 -3 3
Boys in the par-lor
-4 -3 3 -3 3
They’re get-ting hard-er
-4 -3 3 -3
I’ll free your mind
-4 -3 3 -3
I’ll free your mind

-4 -3 3 -3 3
Boys in the girl’s room
-4 -3 3 -3 3
Girls in the men’s room
-4 -3 3 -3 3 2 3 3 -4 -5 -4
You free your mind in you�re an-drog-y-ny

-4 -3 3 -3 3
Boys in the par-lor
-4 -3 3 -3 3
They’re get-ting hard-er
-4 -3 3 -3
I’ll free your mind
-4 -3 3 -3
I’ll free your mind

-4 -3 3 -3
I’ll free your mind
-4 -3 3 -3
I’ll free your mind
-4 -3 3 -3
I’ll free your mind
-4 -3 3
I’ll free your

Boys
Girls
Boys
Girls




Angel!

ANGEL SARAH McLACHLAN

KEY OF C

-2 5 -4 4 4 -4
Spend all your time wait-ing

4 4 -4 4 -2
For that sec-ond chance

-2 -2 5 5 5 5 -4 4 -4
For a break that would make it o-kay

-2 -2 -2b 4 4 -4
There’s al-ways some rea-son

-2 5 -4 4 4 -2
To feel not good e-nough

5 -5b -5 -5 -5 -6b -5 5 5
And it’s hard at the end of the day

-2 5 5 5 -4 -4
I need some dis-trac-tion

5 -4 -2 4 4 -2
Oh beau-ti-ful re-lease

5 5 5 5 -4 -4 -4
Mem-o-ry seeps from my veins

-4 5 -5 -6b -6b
Let me be emp-ty

-6b -6b -6b -5 5 -4 4
Oh, and weight-less and may-be

-3b 4 4 -4 -4 -2
I’ll find some peace to-night

(CHORUS)

4 -4 5 5 5 5 4
In the arms of the an-gel

5 -5 -5 5 -5
Fly a-way from here

4 4 -6b -6b -6b -6b -5
From this dark cold ho-tel room

-5 -5b 5 5 5 -4 4 5
And the end-less-ness that you fear

4 -4 5 5 5 5 4
You are pulled from the wreck-age

5 -5 -6b -5 -5 5 5
Of your si-lent rev-er-ie

4 4 4 -6b -6 -6b -6b -5
You’re in the arms of the an-gel

4 -4 5 5 -4 4 4
May you find some com-fort here

VERSE 2 SAME AS ONE

5 5 -4 4 -5 4 -4
Your�re so tired of the straight line

(for that second chance)
And ev-�ry-where you turn
There’s vul-tures and thieves at your back
And the storm keeps on twis-ting
You keep on build-ing the lie
That you make up for all that you lack
It don’t make no dif-ference
Es-cap-ing one last time
It’s ea-sier to be-lieve in this sweet mad-ness oh This glor-i-ous
sad-ness that brings me to my knees

(REPEAT CHORUS TO END)

ENJOY!!!




Angel.

ANGEL LEONA LEWIS

KEY OF D

5 4 4 5 4 4
I feel it, you feel it

-3b 4 -3 -3b -3 4
That this was meant to be.

5 4 4 5 4 4
I know it, you know it

4 -4 -4 -4 4 5
That you were made for me.

5 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 -3b
We can�t de-ny, this an-y lon-ger

4 4 4 -4 -5b 5 -4 4
Day by day it�s get-ting strong-er.

5 4 -4 5 4 4
I want it, you want it

-3 -3 4 -4 -4 -4 4 5
It’s what the peo-ple want to see.

4 4 5 5 -5b -4 4 4 -4
We’re like Ro-me-o and Ju-li-et

5 5 4 4 -4 5
Fam-�lies can’t di-vide us

4 4 5 5 -5b 5 -4 4 -4 5 -4
Like the tall-est moun-tain or the wild-est sea

-5b -5b -5b -5b -5b 5 -5b 5
Noth-ing’s big e-nough to hide us.

(CHORUS)

4 -5 4 4 -5 4 4 -4 5
When we make love it’s o-ver-whelm-ing

-5b 5 -4 4 -4 5
I just touch the hea-vens

5 4 -4 5 5 4 -4 5
You’re an an-gel, you’re an an-gel

4 4 -5 4 -5 4
I said this world, this world.

4 -4 -4 -4 4 5
Could leave us an-y-day

4 -5 4 -3b -5 4 -3 4 4 4 -4 -4
But my love for you, it will nev-er go a-way.

4 4 5 -5 -5 4 4 -5
And I don’t wan-na go to sleep

4 -5 -5 -5b 5 5
Cause you are like a dream

-4 -4 5 -5b 5 -4 -3 -4
For ev-�ry night I say a prayer

-4 -4 -5b 5 -4 -3 -4 4
Well I swear you are the an-swer

5 4 -4 5 5 4 -4 5
You’re an an-gel, you’re an an-gel,

5 4 -4 5
you’re an an-gel.

VERSE 2 same as 1

So we take it and each
moment our love grows
I see it, you see it,
What we have is made of gold
We’re so filled with meaning,
Nothing can make us shallow.
So I hold it, and you hold it
The promise of tomorrow.
When we make love it’s overwhelming
I just touch the heavens.
You’re an angel, you’re an angel

(CHORUS)

-6b -6b -6b -5 -5 -6b
I don’t need three wish-es

5 -6b -5 5 5
Well, I just need one

-5 -5 -6b 7 -5 -5 -5 -6b
For us to nev-er be fi-nished

5 5 -5b -5 -5 5 -4
For us to nev-er be done

-5b -5b -5b 5 -5b -5b
When they say it’s o-ver

-5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -6b
We’ll just say I love you

-5 -6b -6b -6b -6b -6b -6b
And when they say it’s fin-ished

-6 -6 -6 -6 7 -6
We’ll just keep on build-ing.

(CHORUS)

5 4 -4 5 5 4 -4 5
You’re an an-gel, you’re an an-gel

ENJOY!!!




Angie Baby

ANGIE BABY
By Alan O�Day
Key:Bb

You live your life in the songs you hear
-5 -6 7 7 -5 -5 -6 7 7
on the rock and roll ra-di- o
-5 -5 7 7 -6 -5 -3* 4-3*
and when a young girl
-5 -6 -6 7 7
does-n’t have an-y friends
-5 -5 -6 7 7 7
that�s a real-ly nice place to go
-5 -5 7 7 -6 -5 -3* 4-3*3
folks hop-in� you’d turn out cool
7 7 -6 -5 -6 -6 7
but they had to take you out of school
-5 -6 -6 -5 -6 -5 -6 7 -3*
you’re a lit-tle touched you know
3 3 3 -5 -5 5 -5
Ang-ie ba-by
-3* 4 3 3
lov-ers ap-pear in your room each night
-6 -6 7 7 -5 -5 -6 7 7
and they whirl you �cross the floor
-5 -5 7 -6 -5 -3* 4 -3*
but they al-ways seem to fade a-way
-5 -5 -6 7 7 -5 -6 7 7
when your dad-dy taps on your door
-5 -5 7 7 -6 -5 -3* 4-3*3
An-gie girl are you al-right?
7 -6 7 -5 -6 -6 7
tell the ra-di- o good-night
-5 -6 -6 -6 -6 7 -3*
all a-lone once more An-gie ba-by
3 -5 -5 5 -5 5 -3* 4 3 3

Chorus
An- gie ba-by
7-6 -6 5 -5
you’re a spec-ial la-dy
3 -2 7 -6 5 -5
liv-ing in a world of make be-lieve
7 7 7 7 -7 -7 -7 -7* -7*
well may- be
5 5-3* 3

Stop-pin� at her house
-6 7 7 -6 7
is a neigh-bor boy
-5 -5 -6 7 7
with e-vil on his mind
-5 7 -6 -5 -3* 4-3*
�cause he’s been peek-in� in An-gie’s room
-5 -6 7 7 -6 -5 -6 7 7
at night through her win-dow blind
-5 7 -6 -6 -5 -3* 4-3*3
I see your folks have gone a-way
3 7 7 7 -5 -6 -6 7
would you dance with me to-day
-5 -6 -6 -5 -6 7 -3*
I’ll show you how to have a good time
-3* -5 5 -5 5 -5 5 -5 -5 5
An-gie ba- by
-3* 4 -3*3 3

when he walks in her room
-5 -5 -6 7 -6 7
he feels con-fused
-5 -6 7 7
like he walked in-to a play
-5 -5 7 -6 -5 -3* 4-3*
and the mus-ic’s so loud
-5 -5 -6 -6 7 7
it spins him a-round
-5 -6 7 7 7
till his soul has lost it’s way
-5 -5 7 -6 -5 -3* 4-3*3
and as she turns the vol-ume down
-5 7 -6 7 -6 -7* 7 7
he’s get-ting small-er with the sound
-6 7 -6 7 -6 7 -6 7
it seems to pull him off the ground
-6 7 -6 7 -6 7 -6 7
toward the ra-di-o he’s bound
7 -6 7 -6 7 -6 7
nev-er to be found
-6 7 7 -6 7
the head-lines read that a boy dis-a-peared
-5 -6 7 7 -5 -5 -6 7 7 7
and ev-�ry-one thinks he died
-5 7 7 -6 -5 -3* 4-3*
�cept a craz-y girl with a sec-ret lov-er
-5 -5 -6 -6 7 -5 -5 -6 7 7 -6
who keeps her sat-is- fied
-5 7 -6 -5 -3* 4-3*3
it’s so nice to be in-sane
7 -6 7 -5 -6 -6 7
no one asks you to ex-plain
-5 -6 -6 -6 -6 7 -3*
ra-di-o by your side
3 -5-5 -5 -5* -5 5
An-gie ba- by
-3* 4 -3*3 3

Chorus
An- gie ba-by
7-6 -6 5 -5
you’re a spec-ial la-dy
3 -2 7 -6 5 -5
liv-ing in a world of make be-lieve
7 7 7 7 -7 -7 -7 -7* -7*
well may- be
5 5-3* 3
well may- be
5 5-3* 3
well may- be
5 5-3* 3
well may- be
5 5-3* 3




Another Grey Morning

7* -8   8* -8   -8   7* 7* -6* -6* 6   6

When I feel as though my love is sink-ing down

-5   6   6   6   6 -7 -6*6

The sun does-n’t want to shine

6   7* -8  8* -8   -8   7* 7* -6* -6* 6

When it feels like she won’t face a-noth-er day

6 -5 6   6   6    6 -6* -6* -6*

Life is un-kind, she’s fro-zen in time

 

-4   6   -6* 7 7 -6* -5   -3   -4

And here comes a-noth-er grey morn-ing

-4 7 -6* -5   -3 -4   -4 -3 -4

A not so good morn-ing aft-er all

6   -6*     7 -6* 6 -5 -3 -4 -4

She says, “what am I to do to-day

-3   -3 -5   -5   -5 -5* -5* 6 -6*

With too much time and so much sor-row”?

 

 

6   -6*   7 -7 -6* -6* 6 -5   6   -4

She hears the ba-by wak-ing up down-stairs

6   -6*   7   7   -6*   6   -5 -3 -4   -4   -3   -4

She hears the fog-horn call-ing out a-cross the sound

-4 6 -6* 7-6* 6 -5   -3 -4 -4

Re-pe-ti-tion in the morn-ing air,

-3 -3   -5 -5 -3 -6* -3 -5* -5* 6   -6* 8*

Is just too much to bear and no one seems to care.

 

 

8 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8   -8   -8 -8 -8 -8 -8-8   -8 -8

If a-noth-er day goes creep-ing by emp-ty and a-sham-ed

7   -7 -8 -8 -8 -8 -8   -8 -3 -6* -7 -6*   -8

Like an old un-want-ed mem-‘ry that no one will claim

3    6     7   7     7   -7 -8   -6*

The clouds with their heads on the ground,

-3   -5 6 -6* 6   6   6

She’s gon-na have to come down.

 

 

7* -8     8* -8   8* 7* -4   7* -8 -8   8*

She said, “move me, move me, I’m locked up in-side”

-5 -6* -7 -7 -7 -7   -7 -8    5   6   7   6  -7

Well, I did-nt un-der-stand her though God knows I tried

7* -8     8* -8 8* 7* 6   7* -8 10 8*

She said, “make me ang-ry but just make me cry

5 -6* 7   -7 -7 -8 5   6   7 -7 -8 -8

But no more grey morn-ing I think I’d rath-er die”.




The Harp Reference: Notation

Tab Action Notation

Tab is short for tablature and is the term you’ll usually see. Tab
is a shortcut notation that indicates how to play which hole
on the harmonica.
  This is different from standard musical
notation, which indicates what note to play, including its relative
duration.  The difference is between
how to play a hole
and what note to play.  How to play a note on the harmonica
is specified by several things:

  • which hole to play,
  • whether you are inhaling (i.e. drawing) or exhaling (i.e. blowing), and
  • what alteration to apply,
    • be it a bend,
    • overblow,
    • other harp specific effect.

Of course, how to play a note on a harp is equivalent to what note pitch
gets played, so tab is a kind of shortcut or aid to standard musical notation. 
What tab doesn’t show well is timing and rhythm, which is why standard
notation is better for really communicating just how something is supposed
to sound.  Ways to show timing for tab include providing the lyrics,
when possible, or indicating the measures (bars) and the beats.  Tab
can also be used in conjunction with standard musical notation to augument
the standard notation with harmonica-specific techniques and effects.

I have considered several important factors for good tab notation conventions,
including:

  • Using standard ASCII characters (instead of arrows or other special graphic
    characters, as is seen so often) so the tab can be easily typed on a standard
    keyboard and e-mailed or posted on web pages, etc.
  • Keeping all the characters for a note or chord on the same line, for ease
    of reading
  • Not using letters like B, D, b, etc., which can be confused with note names
  • Selecting characters that maximize “white space”, which makes the tab easier
    to scan
  • Minimizing the number of characters needed to specify the way a hole is
    played
  • Making it as obvious as possible.

Here is the notation I use for describing how to play a hole:

 

 

Notation Convention Example Meaning
A number name by itself means a draw
note
3 3 draw
A number followed by a greater than sign “>” means
a blow note
3> 3 blow
each apostrophe ‘ means
a 1/2 step bend
3′

3”

8>’
3 draw half step bend

3 draw whole step bend

8 blow bend
a sharp sign “#” after a number means overbend 6>#

7#
6 overblow

7 overdraw
a tilde “~” before a number means a dip
bend
~4 smooth bend from 4′ to 4
an ampersand “&” between numbers means play
them at the
same time
1&4

1>&2>&3>
octave on 1 and 4 draw

chord on 1, 2, and 3 blow
a slash / between numbers means a slur 2/3 2 draw with a little 3 draw
a percent % before a number means “tongue
slap
” the note
%4 slap the 4 draw
2 percents %% between two numbers means “flutter
tongue
” 
2%%5 draw 2, 5; flutter on 3, 4
an equal sign = between two numbers means a two
hole shake
4=5 shake between 4 and 5 draw
a vertical bar “|” separates measures 2 3 | 3 2 1st bar: 2 3, 2nd bar: 3 2
a lower case “v” after a number means add
vibrato

to the note
3>v 3 blow with vibrato
Tab Notation Conventions

Here is an example of some tab.

  • Blue Midnight as by Charlie McCoy in his
    “Tribute to Little Walter”
  • Listen
    to my version in Real Audio.

“Misty”

Lyrics by Johnny Burke, Music by Erroll Garner

Listen to my version in Real Audio.

verse:

Look at me,

 ~4    3   2’…

I’m as helpless as a  kitten  up a tree,

1   2> 2″    5>.. 5> 6> 5> 4.. 3 
2 2>…


And I feel like I’m clinging to a cloud;

1>   1 2>  2     3     
4  4    4   4′ 4..


I can’t un-der-stand, I get misty just holding your hand. (repeat for
2nd)

4> 3   4>  4      2     
3″ 3  4> 2> 2>  2′   2     
3″     2


Bridge:

You can say that you’re leading me on

2       3″   3    
4      5>     5    
5     5   5…


But it’s just what I want you to do.

5>   5   ~6    6>  4 
5>   5>  6> 5>


Don’t you notice how hopelessly  I’m lost,

6>       6    7 
8      8>    9>’ 9>’ 9>’ 8> 9>’…


That’s why I’m foll-ow-ing you. (DS for 3rd verse)

9>’       9>’ 8> 10>” 9>’ 8> 8 (fill
for turnaround)

I just wanted to add a couple comments about Jerry Portnoy’s rendition
of Misty. I heard him do it at SPAH 97, and–despite not being that
fond of the song before hand–I was blown away by how great a job that
Jerry did. He was so attentive to the details.. rhythmic, pitch–especially
on the embarrassingly exposed intermediate bends (3 draw whole step (3″)
and 2 draw half step (2′) bend), and tone (see note with pitch). It’s a
piece where “the slow” is definitely in evidence, less is more. His tone
on the bends was just killer.. very horn like I thought. It’s great practice
for those intermediate bends because 1)the melody is so well known, you’re
familiar with what the note must sound like, and 2)the bends are right
out there on important sustained notes.. you’ve got to get them clean and
strong and pure. There is also some good work on the top end. The 9 blow
bend (9>’) is the key note of the melody on the bridge.. you have it hit
it without ever getting the unbent 9 blow.. same with the 10 blow whole
step bend (10>”).. but you go from 9>’ to and from 8>, so you’ve got to
keep hitting the 9>’ plain, without bending into or out of it.

How to Make Your Own Harp Tab

Here’s a great way to easily make your own harp tab.

 

  1. Get the shareware program, Melody Assistant, from http://www.myriad-online.com
  2. Available in several languages for Mac or PC.

    (1a. If you like it and use it, send them the $15 registration
    fee. Unbelievably reasonable price.)

  3. Search the web for any MIDI song you like, and download it.
  4. There are thousands of MIDI files out there for just about any music
    style you could want, including blues, jazz, classical, pop, rock, country,
    hymns, etc.

  5. Open the MIDI file in Melody Assistant, select the part with the melody,
    and give the “Edit Tab” command.

Melody Assistant offers 3 different harp tab styles (as well as guitar
tab), and will optionally optimize for breath direction and show overblows.
You can specify the key of the harp, so you can get the tab for any position
you want.  Plus, it supports all the standard commercial special tunings,
or you can define your own tuning!

Presto! That’s it! Now you’ve got tab for any song you can find in MIDI,
in any position, for any tuning of harp!

You can even play the MIDI and follow the tab along with the melody
as the song plays. This is a  great way to learn new songs. 
There are even options that allow you to color the notes, say making blow
notes, draw notes, and bends a different color, making the music easier
to read.

AND, you can learn to a*sociate standard notation with the harp tab! 
This is a super way to learn how to read standard notation, since the harp
tab’s right there with the music notation.  It’s also nice because
you can get the timing and rhythm information from the standard notation,
and use the tab to get the right pitch.

If you don’t find the MIDI song you want, you can always go buy a book
of sheet music, quickly enter in the melody, then use Melody Assistant
to generate the harp tab.




Diatonic Bending

Bending is a basic diatonic harmonica playing technique used to produce notes not otherwise available in the standard tuning of the harp, and to provide various sliding-note effects.  Bends are, in large part, what give the diatonic harp its unique character, and are intimately related to the blues tradition.

Bends, whether draw bends or blow bends, produce notes lower in pitch than the natural, unbent note.  I think that part of the “trick” to bending is knowing what note will result, and unconsciously anticipating that sound. If you think about singing for a second, paying attention to your vocal tract, when you sing a low note versus a high note your body sort-of automatically adjusts according to the pitch of the note.

You get the note in your “mind’s ear” and your body tends to adjust without thinking about what you’re doing. Try to feel how there are more physical actions than merely your vocal cords buzzing at a different frequency. You tend to “sink” lower and open up “bigger” for singing low notes as opposed to high notes, and it’s similar for harp. What is happening is that your body is naturally adjusting to a shape that is more suitable to the pitch you know ahead of time you want to sing.

Bending notes on the harp is much the same way. You have to adjust your vocal tract shape—the position of your mouth, tongue, jaw, throat, and soft palette, to be suitable for the pitch of the bent note. It’s easier to do that if you have a mental idea of what the note will sound like ahead of time. If you’ve never done bends before, that can be tough!

How do you know what the note will sound like? It helps to play the note on another instrument, like a piano or guitar, to get it in your ear while you are working on trying to bend. Various computer programs can play different pitches, so that’s another way to try to get the pitch in your ear if you don’t have any other instruments available.

It helps to play the note on another instrument, like a piano or guitar, to get it in your ear while you are working on trying to bend. Various computer programs can play different pitches, so that’s another way to try to get the pitch in your ear if you don’t have any other instruments available.

The amount you can bend a note depends on the pitches of the two reeds
in the hole.  The higher pitch note in the hole can
be bent down to just above the lower pitch note in the hole

For example, the notes on a C harp in hole 2 are: blow-E, draw-G. 
The higher G note can be bent down to Gb and F–and just a little lower. 
It is best to only bend down to the desired note, and not further, in order
to minimize stress on the reeds.  When you practice your bends, it
is good to use a piano, guitar, pitch pipe, electronic tuner or whatever
to check that you’re hitting the correct pitch.

Bending is not something that is easy to describe how to do—and it is
difficult to show because all the movements are hidden inside the mouth
and throat.  It takes practice to be able to do bends at all, and
lots
more practice to do them well
.  Bends are the first major hurdle
in playing the harp, and you should not expect to “get it” in a few minutes.
It may take months. That’s okay. Don’t be in a hurry, and don’t get discouraged.
If you keep at it, you’ll get it. You’re learning new control of your breath
and your mouth, your breathing and your body’s resonance, your tongue and
throat, and of your focus. Bends are something you’ll keep working on,
probably for as long as you play the harp. Bends aren’t hard, but like
anything else you have to get familiar with how to do it. You have to get
familiar with how the harp responds to different vocal tract positions,
and if you’re just starting you’re not yet familiar with how to set your
mouth, tongue, and throat in different positions, much less particular
positions needed to modify the air stream to produce different pitches.
If you’re not “getting it” don’t get down on yourself! You just haven’t
put in the practice to get familiar with what your need to do yet.

There are draw bends available on holes 1 through 6, and
blow bends available on holes 7 through 10
, each of which require
different playing techniques.  To make matters more interesting, different
key harps require different bending techniques, depending on the pitch
range of the harp.  Lower key harps (e.g. A, Ab, G, and low F) require
more mouth/throat/tongue (or simply “vocal tract”) movement than the same
holes on higher key harps (e.g. C, D, E, and F). Learning your bends not
only gives you more notes and effects, it gives you more control over your
notes, air stream, resonance, and tone.

So, celebrate when you finally get your first bends!  But remember–that’s
only just the beginning.

Draw Bends

Draw bends are available on holes 1 through 6–but hole 5 will not bend
as much as a full half step.  (Don’t try to bend lower than the note
will go or you risk damaging the reeds.)

Here are some tips for getting your first draw bends. Remember these
are tips to help you get started with bending since I can’t show you what’s
going on in my mouth (and if probably wouldn’t help if I could, since you
can’t see what’s happening inside your mouth!) These are things
to help you get the right feel, to help get your mouth, tongue, and throat
in the right bending position.

Like Pulling On Springs

Draw bends feel like pulling down on a spring that’s pulling back. You
can yank it all the way down till it won’t stretch any more, it pulling
back as long as you hold it there; or you can slowly pull it down, starting
at the top (or somewhere in between), and stopping at the bottom (or any
in between place); or you can yank it down then slowly let it back up.
The harp, or more properly the air stream, is going to act like a piece
of exercise equipment for your vocal tract, your mouth, tongue, throat,
and diaphragm.

Think of pulling down on an exercise spring.

As you get used to the feel of the device you learn just how hard you
have to pull it to get it just to the bottom; how much strength you have
to use to just hold it down all the way; how you can use your leverage
and balance to gently let it up to the top, without it jerking it’s way
up because your strength wasn’t enough to control it at some point, and
how to pull it smoothly down the same way. As you work out with the machine
your muscles get stronger, your balance gets better, and your coordination
improves to give you better and better control of the spring. Eventually
you become strong enough and familiar enough with the feel of the equipment
be able to quickly pull the spring right down into any intermediate point
you want. You can pull it down and let it up smoothly, quickly, in rapid
succession, as fast or slow as you want (vibrato). You can pull it part
way down and work it up or down from there, or pull it all the way down
and work it up and down to the bottom. You can apply just the right amount
of force to where the spring won’t quite move down, but it’s right on the
edge, ready to move down at the slightest increase of pressure, under your
full control.

This is bending on the diatonic harp. There are a row of these springs
hanging side by side, and they each pull differently, with different strengths
and depths. You first have to select one spring and hold it firmly before
you try to stretch it. If it’s swinging or bumping into neighboring springs
you don’t have a firm enough grip to try to stretch it.

At first you probably won’t be able to budge the spring. It’s not that
it’s difficult, it’s just that you haven’t learned which muscles to use
and how to coordinate them to pull hard enough on the spring. After a while
you’ll finally budge the spring and it will pull down a short way before
pulling back away from you. After a while longer you’ll pull it farther
down, and a little farther until finally you snap it all the way down to
the bottom. Or you may find the right muscles and coordination right off
the bat and quickly be able to yank to spring all the way to the bottom.
You may move to a different spring and not be able to budge that one at
first. But your experience with the other spring helps you learn how to
control the current one. As you practice and exercise you become familiar
with each of the different springs, and can quickly move among them, pulling
each one just the way you want as quickly as you move. Somewhere in the
process you’ll change equipment and add more sets of springs that don’t
quite act like the ones you’re used to. Some of these new set-ups have
springs that you can’t handle yet, so you have to work with them and figure
them out too.

Requires Strong Single Notes

First, be sure you can get a good, clean, pure, loud,
single note before going any further!

Don’t even worry about bends if you can’t get a consistent pure single note. One good approach to strong single notes is to use the “lip blockembouchure. It helps you relax and get your mouth open, which helps improve your resonance and makes bending easier.

Open your mouth wide enough to cover about 3 holes, with your upper
lip coming about 2/3 the way back over the top cover. Tilt the harp up
in back at around 45 degrees, and let the holes nestle into your lower
lip. Relax. Breathe slowly in and out, deeply. First, empty your lungs
and as slowly as you can, breathe in, with the harp settled onto your bottom
lip. With a little fiddling with the harp position, not trying to force
anything
, you should be able to easily get a clean single note. Once
you’ve mastered that, try your bending from this mouth position embouchure.

Set Mouth Shape from Speaking Articulations

While breathing in slowly from your diaphragm, shape your mouth and vocal tract as if you were making a long “eeee” sound followed by a long “oh” sound. Notice how your jaw drops on the “oh” sound, and pay attention to the feeling of “opening up” in your throat. Feel the “oh” drop down as deep in the back of your throat as you can. The bend happens when you change your vocal tract shape from the “eee” position to the “oh” position. Try holes 2, 3, and 4 for your first bends.  You can also try holes 1 and 6.

The “Oh” articulation should feel like you’re singing a deep full low
note. Try saying “Orange”, and exaggerate your mouth movement and enunciation. 
Your throat should feel like the first “Or” part.   Whisper
it
.  Orange.  Whisper it louder.  Whisper it breathing
in.  Try bending with the mouth/throat position of the “Or” part.

Go back to the “eee” position. Feel how much tighter your throat is.
Say “sweet orange” over and over. Concentrate on your throat. Feel how
it closes and opens. Accentuate the opening, and drop the pitch on the
word “orange”. Sing “sweet orange” while breathing in.

Now, play a strong clear draw note on hole 4 with your mouth in the
“eee” shape. Very slowly change to the whispered “orange”. The pitch not
the note should bend down when you articulate the “or” part of orange,
and bend smoothly back up as you articulate the “an” part. The final “ge”
sound isn’t part of the bend, but the word orange seems to open up the
throat more than the name “Orin”. (It might depend on what part of the
country you’re from…)

Another thing to do is try articulating the word “TOE” to bend and clear
draw note on hole 2, 3 or 4. Start with a nice pure single draw note, then
suddenly say a deep pitched TOE, still breathing in.
The “T” in toe gets your tongue tip in action, and this ticking the top
of your mouth with your tongue just as you go to the deep “Oh” mouth/throat/tongue
positioning can help get the bend started. Draw with “eee”, then pronounce
“toe”.

Say NO! as if giving a command to your dog. Bark
it out there, as if the dog was about to chew up your expensive sofa, or
was ready to snatch your favorite harp off the coffee table. Notice how
your voice naturally gets lower and deeper in pitch when you’re giving
a command? Use that feeling from your diaphragm, the strong breath, the
drop in pitch to command your bend to work. Start playing a clean steady
single draw note on hole 2, 3, or 4, and then just say No! as if commanding
your dog, while still breathing in. If you don’t have a dog, pretend it’s
your child doing something wrong, or the neighbor’s kid about ready to
pluck your favorite flower from your garden, or steal your newspaper.

Whistle Practice

Whistle a little bit. Now try whistling while breathing in.  Now bend
the pitch of your whistled note down.  That’s what it feels like to
do draw bends. Practice bending notes while whistling breathing in. Focus
on your mouth and jaw position. Match the pitch of your whistle to the
pitch of the natural unbent note you’re practicing bending, then bend the
pitch of your whistle note down (while breathing in!). Now go back to working
on your harmonica bend, while applying the feelings and vocal tract changes
you used to bend your whistle down.

Don’t Pinch Your Lips

Don’t let the whistle practice fool you into thinking you have to pucker
up or pinch your lips. You don’t, and you shouldn’t. The danger is that
you can actually get a note to bend a little by pinching your lips, but
that’s usually not the right way to play a bend. If you find yourself pinching
your lips to get your bends, stop it. You’re only learning something wrong
that you’ll eventually have to unlearn. The sooner you stop, the easier
it’ll be.

No Air Leaks

Make sure NO AIR leaks in through your nose.

  This is very important, and a very common cause
of problems.  If air leaks in through your nose it essentially prevents
a bend from being able to occur. Try gently pinching your nostrils closed.
Does it make any difference to your normal draw note? If air is coming
in while you play, you need to work on controlling that air leak before
you proceed with trying to bend. Focus your awareness on your nose, and
practice breathing just through your mouth from your diaphragm. Control
of your breathing, and of your venting of air in or out while you play
is a basic requirement of playing the harp, so any practice time you put
in now working on those muscles, that focus and control, is not wasted
time, but valuable practice.

Also, make sure you have an air tight seal of your mouth on the harp. 
Any air leaks get in the way of bends, whatever their cause.

Air Direction

Hold the harp in your left hand and put it in playing position. Hold out
the index finger of your right hand like you’re making the number 1 sign,
then point to the left so your finger is parallel to the back of the harp.
Put your pointing index finger a few inches behind the harp, parallel to
it.

Now, hold your head up, look straight ahead, draw a natural note and
visualize that you are pulling the air straight from your finger. When
you do a draw bend, visualize that you are pulling the air from underneath
your finger. The farther below your finger you draw from, the lower the
pitch of the bend. Visualize pulling the air from 45 degrees below your
finger, then from 30 degrees, 15 degrees, and so on.

Bending All the Way Down Should Feel Effortless


Don’t try to force it.

  Bending doesn’t require
force, or loud hard play.  If your mouth/throat/tongue shape are right
the bend will naturally happen. 


Think about holding
an egg in your mouth during a bend

.  Keep playing with
the shape of your mouth and your tongue position.  Very minor changes
in mouth/throat/tongue position make all the difference. Higher notes use
smaller eggs, or even yolks. Low holes on special low harp tunings need
ostrich eggs…

Still having problems?

The tongue is the key (for beginners). Start with it flat and forward in
your mouth. While drawing in with the “eee” mouth shape,


slowly

pull your tongue back, keeping the front low and flat in the mouth, and
humping it gradually more and more in the back as your tongue pulls in.
At some point the sound should begin to choke a little. That’s the crucial
spot. Treat it like the “friction point” on a clutch car… if you move
too fast you’ll stall the car—or in our case miss the bend.  At that
crucial spot, adjust your mouth position from “eee” to “oh”, or say orange
or toe or no (still breathing in).  At first, it may help to increase
the air pressure a little. But,


you don’t have
to play loud or hard to get bends.

You can bend notes playing quite
softly.

Breathe in while making a hard “K” sound, as in Coke. Notice where you
make that sound in your throat. That’s one place in your vocal tract from
which you can get a draw bend. Focus on that spot, and articulate the “Co”
part of Coke, or cocoa. The hard K articulation, like the T articulation
discussed with saying “toe” above, can help kick-start the bend into action.

Breathe from deep within your body–from
your diaphragm
.
  Feel your stomach push out a little bit.
This will help your resonance and make bending easier.  Lie on your
back and slowly breathe in.  Put your hand on your stomach and notice
how it moves up and down–that’s the location of your diaphragm. 
Draw in your air from there. Try playing the harp while lying on your back,
and get the feel of your diaphragm in action.

Try different key harps.  The mouth position is different for different
pitch notes, and if you’re having trouble with one key harp, another key
might work better; might be a better fit to the particular degree of mouth
changes you’re doing.  For example, if you can’t seem to get it on
a C harp, try an A harp or a D harp.

It ain’t as easy as it looks! Don’t give up! It can take a while to
get it, and you just have to practice, practice, practice.  And remember,
don’t try bending unless you can get consistent pure clean single notes—you
have to master that first.

Exercises

Practice smooth dip bends here, and work on your speed for this exercise.
You also need to be able to hit each bend cleanly, without bending the
pitch to get to the note.


4~4’~4 5 4~4’ 3’ 3~3″~3’ 4 3’ 3″ 2
2~2″~2 3’ 2~2″ 1 2″~2 3’  2



Draw Dip-Bend Exercise

Intermediate Bends

The intermediate draw bends (2’, 3’, and 3″) are more advanced techniques
because it is difficult to hit them cleanly on pitch with good tone. It
takes good diaphragm support, resonance, and control of your playing pressure.
You need to develop your ear so you know the correct pitches and can easily
recognize the note relationships. Repeat these patterns over and over,
paying attention to distinguishing the bends in the same hole from each
other.


It’s good to use a tuner or a piano to check
that your are hitting each note on pitch

.


1 2 1 2’ 1 2’’ 1 2’



Exercise for Hole 2 Bends


2 3 2 3’ 2 3’’ 2 3’’’ 2 3’’ 2 3’



Exercise for Hole 3 Bends


1 2″ 2 3′” 3″ 3′” 2 2″ 1



Exercise for Hole 2 and 3 Bends

It is extremely valuable to play simple little tunes you are well familiar
with utilizing the intermediate bends, because you know how each note should
sound before you play it. For example, try it with “Mary Had a Little
Lamb”
, and try to make it sound good. Don’t forget that part, making
it sound good. Don’t just stumble through the exercise quickly. Take your
time with this or some other simple tune, and work to make it sound right,
and good. Come back to practice like this from time to time, and see how
well you’re doing. Don’t expect to get it sounding good right away, and
don’t get discouraged because is “should” be so simple. It’s not easy to
play simple things and make them sound good. It’s a major goal.

 


3 3″ 3> 3″ 3 3 3_3 3″ 3″ 3″_3″ 3 4 4_4
3 3″ 3> 3″ 3 3 3 3  3″ 3″ 3 3″ 3>



Draw Bend Exercise – “Mary Had a Little Lamb”

Here’s something a little blusier. As you get better at it, double up
on each note and swing the beat. Repeat these each over and over, don’t
just play it once and go on.

 


1>
2> 3> 3″
3’ 3″ 3> 2> 1>
2> 3> 3″
3’ 3″ 3> 2>



Exercise for Hole 3 Intermediate Bends


2″ 3″ 4> 4 5 4 4> 3″



Exercise for Whole Step Bends

Blow Bends

Blow bends are normally learned after draw bends, because the low end of
the harp (holes 1 through 6) are used more, especially by beginners, than
the top end of the harp, holes 7 through 10, where the blow bends are available. 
Note that hole 7 will not bend as much as a full half step, so don’t try
to force it or you could damage the reed.

Blow bends are done by constricting the air stream by


tiny
movements toward the front of the tongue

. Smooth downward bends
can also be controlled with a very slight tightening at the back of the
throat. Sometimes the blow bends have a tendency to “snap” into place,
with little indication that a smooth bend is lurking there. A well set
up air tight harp helps, and remember, the tongue movements are very slow
and very tiny indeed.

Start the natural blow note with your tongue flat in the bottom of your
mouth.  Slowly, keeping the tongue flat, lift the tongue toward the
roof of the mouth.  Keep the air stream constant, and where you feel
the note start to choke–that’s the crucial spot.  Very tiny changes
to your tongue position cause the note to transition from the natural note
to the bent note.  You have to experiment and remember your exact
mouth position.  The vocal tract is more constricted in the mouth
and throat for blow bends than for draw bends.

Try whistling a note and bending the pitch upwards.  A similar
tongue movement happens when doing blow bends on the harp.

Exercises

The blow bends are easier on lower key harps, so I suggest practicing them
at first with an A or a G harp. After you can play them on the low keys,
then move to higher key harps like C and D. I show smooth dip bends in
this exercise. You almost must be able to play each bend cleanly, without
sliding down to the bent note.


9>~9>’~9> 8>~8>’~8> 9>~9>’~9> 10



Exercise for Blow Bends


7>
8> 9> 10
10>’ 10 9> 8> 7> 8> 9> 10 10>’ 10 9> 8>



Exercise for Hole 10 Whole Step Bend

How Bends Work

In a normal bend on a diatonic harmonica, both reeds can participate in
making the sound.  Consider a draw bend (blow bends work the same
only the reeds are the other way around).  At first, the draw reed
is doing most of the speaking.  As the bend gets lower the blow reed
starts taking over, and at the bottom of the bend the blow reed is producing
almost all of the sound.

Bending lowers the pitch of the natural note of the highest reed in
the hole.  However, since both reeds participate in producing the
bent note, the natural note of the lower pitch reed in the hole actually
raises while the higher pitch reed lowers in pitch.  For example,
for a draw bend the pitch of the draw reed gets lower while the pitch of
the blow reed gets higher.

The note in a hole can be bent down to about a semitone
higher than the lower pitched reed in the cell.

This is the best I’ve been able to determine on the physics of how bends
work on a diatonic harp.

  1. The blow/draw air flow contains a broad spectrum of air compression wave
    frequencies.
  2. Each reed has a range of vibration frequencies to which it will respond.
  3. Resonance adds energy to a frequency because of reinforcing wave forms.
  4. The range of frequencies to which a reed will respond overlaps for both
    reeds in a cell.
  5. By adjusting the resonant frequency of the “playing tract” (tongue, mouth,
    throat, and other airways) we alter the frequency that has the most energy.
  6. This frequency with the most energy will dominate the random broad spectrum
    of frequencies produced by the blow/draw air flow.
  7. The reed will respond to the driving compression wave frequency with the
    highest energy.
  8. Both reeds in a 2-reed cell will respond to the same driving frequency
    because that driving frequency falls in the range of frequencies to with
    each reed will respond, that is, where the response frequencies overlap
    for the two reeds.
  9. So the note that sounds depends on the resonant frequency of the airway
    tract, subject to the mechanical response characteristics of the reed pair.

Thus, bends are induced by changing resonance characteristics in the vocal
tract, and the reed vibration rate is coupled to the playing tract.

If one uses only mouth adjustments to the resonance chamber,
the range of resonant frequencies is smaller than if adjustments to other
parts of the airway are included.  When the other airways in the vocal
tract, e.g. the throat and below, are tuned to the same resonant frequency
as the mouth, this will accentuate the frequency energy advantage, and
the bending range and tone of the note will improve.  This is why
it is best to play “from the diaphragm”, using as much of the vocal tract
as possible.

One of the few scientific papers on the physics of harmonicas is at:

http://www.bs.monash.edu.au/staff/johno/acust2.html

Also, see the section on “Harp Physics” in the chapter on “How a Diatonic
Harp Works” for some interesting experimental results.




The Diatonic Harp Reference: Getting Good Tone

Tone is a frequent topic among harp players, but it is not a simple concept that is well defined.  Tone is the Holy Grail of harmonica.  It is related to the musical timbre of the instrument, but most often encompasses other playing elements as well.

Tone is about 
Notes 
That sound: good. 
Notes 
That sound: Clean and full and Big and fat and 
Round and warm and Sweet and clear.  or 
Notes that sound: 
Bitter and shrill or Light and airy or Bright and piercing or 
Powerful and edgy… 
Notes: 
That aren’t weak and wimpy or tentative, but that 
Speak out and Sing, 
Confidently, with 
Your voice
Or softly whisper 
Your secrets
Notes: 
That rip through you and 
Grab your insides and 
Tear the emotions out of you. 
That’s good tone.

Tone production relates to the whole of playing a note: how it is attacked, how it is sustained, what (loudness variation) dynamics are applied, how it ends: abruptly or smoothly or tailing off, and what effects are used on it when, such as vibratos and/or tremolos, or slurs or other combinations with other notes.  A player with good tone uses many different techniques, timbres, effects, and varieties of note shaping to produce his/her notes.  Notes shouldn’t just happen.  Notes should be willfully created.  All of them.

Phrasing relates to how notes are played in succession, whether smoothly with legato or abruptly with degrees of pizzicato or staccato, how dynamics and musical space are used to frame notes and passages and set them apart from other phrases in the music.  In grammar, a phrase is a related set of words formed to express an idea.  In music, a phrase is a related set of notes used to express a musical idea.  Phrasing, while distinct from tone, is not unrelated to it.  In much improvised play, it is the musical idea that is maintained from instance to instance of a song, not the precise notes and timing.  Just like when you have an opinion or idea to express in words, you don’t always say it the same way, using the same words in the same order with the same emphasis–so it goes with musical ideas too.  Musical ideas can be replicated in phrases using different notes and timings, so long as the feel remains consistent.  What has this got to do with tone?  Well, if you take away specific note sequences and timings for the basis of a musical idea, you have reduced the number of musical elements left to worry about.  Tone (strictly timbre) is one of those remaining musical elements.  Rhythm is another that is partially left.. the groove–the underlying beat pattern and beat emphasis is normally kept consistent to maintain the feel of a phrase, even if the rhythmic patterns of the note durations is not kept the same.  The vibrato element of tone is one element that can be used in setting the feel to a phrase.  The tone of the notes should be appropriate for the phrase being played–the tone should augment the musical expression.  The tone can work together with the other phrasing elements–including dynamics, note durations, and rests–to enhance the musical statement that is a phrase.

Tone comes from the entire musical system that produces the note, from the instrument to the player to the setting to the amplification.  Of this sound production system, the player is by far the largest most dominant factor when it comes to tone.  Through out these pages I talk about techniques that enhance your ability to make different sounds with the harp, and provide a basis for overall good tone.  Here are some elements to pay particular attention to, to pick up on when you see them a*sociated with other topics and techniques:

Common Elements of Good Tone

  • Good harmonica tone sounds good with the rest of the music, and changes according to the demands of the musical expression.
  • Clean single notes.  Sloppy play is an enemy of good tone.
  • Playing in tune.  This includes draw bends, blow bends, intermediate bends, and overbends–all the note types.
    • Also, the tuning system used, such as equal temperament or just intonation or some compromise between the two, affects the tonal characteristics of passages and chords.
  • Breathing from the diaphragm helps produce a big fat full tone.
  • Resonance works with breathing to produce a loud or complex full bodied tone.
  • Effective use of vibrato works with the rhythm of the music to add variety and life to the sound of a note.  Consistency of vibrato through the different note types can be a key to maintaining a cohesive tone through a passage, and mask the playing techniques used to create the note.
  • Consistency among note types in a passage contributes to the sense of a controlled and motivated tone.
  • Draws
  • Blows
  • Draw Bends
  • Blow Bends
  • Full bends
  • Intermediate bends
  • Overblows
  • Overdraws
  • Single-reed “valve” style closing reed bends.
  • Open airways, including the mouth and throat help get the thick round tone.  Pinching of the air stream makes a note weaker and thinner and less confident.
  • Effective hand cupping techniques add resonance and variety and shape to the note.  For amplified play, a tight hand cup fattens up the sound, makes the note louder, adds compression, and contributes to a powerful, edgy distortion.  A leaky seal makes the note thinner, softer, more shrill, less biting.  A poor cup around the harp and mic can be like playing an electric guitar with the amp turned off.  A good tight cup is like turning the amp on.
  • Proper equipment for amplification enhances the sound production system–but the player is still the key.  If you have poor acoustic tone, expect to have poor amplified tone as well.  If you have good acoustic tone you have a chance to get good amplified tone, but you have to master those additional amplified tonal elements as well.
  • Proper amplification and electronic effects to work with the player’s tone to enhance the intended feel of the music.  For example, if you’re going for a big fat full tone, don’t use amplification that emphasizes high notes and brittle or piercing sound.  If you want to sound like a distorted electric guitar, don’t play through a clean rig like an SM57 through the PA.  If you want a clean acoustic sound, don’t hold a bullet mic cupped tight and play through an overdriven guitar amp using effects pedals.
  • Even, consistent, and controlled volume (loudness) for all note types, blown, drawn, bent, or overbent.  If your notes are not consistent or controlled as to how loud they are relative to each other, the result will sound chunky, choppy, and strained, and the sense of good tone will be greatly diminished.
  • Good use of dynamics consistently for all note types contributes to an overall sense of good tone.  Dynamics is about controlling loudness, softness, and pulsing of volume, and about changes to the loudness–gradually, or suddenly, playing louder or softer, while keeping any pulsing heartbeat intact.
  • Good phrase-related tone adds a sense of cohesiveness and consistency to each phrase and to the music as a whole.
  • Effective use of variety, especially among musical phrases, to add interest, add spice, add color, and convey different feelings works together with the effective use of consistencywithin musical passages to become the work of musical art painted by the tonal palette and different tonal colors.  If you can’t maintain tonal consistency within a passage, you cannot paint a smooth red stroke; if you can’t add variety to your tone, you can only paint in blue.
  • Effective use of the strengths of the differences among the note types–their individual voices and character adds variety and provides expressive capabilities.  Elements you may wish to downplay for the sake of consistency sometimes, you may want to emphasize for the sake of expression or variety at other times.
  • Attention to the details of note attack, formation, sustain, and shaping is the key to controlling your tone.
  • Tongue slaps for note articulation can help thicken up the sound with brief chords and add punch to the rhythmic heartbeat of the music.
  • Controlled use of slurs to let in small amounts of air and sound from adjacent holes can thicken up the sound and add tension.
  • Effective use and control of difference tones generated with double-stops (2 notes at a time) can add to the overall sense of musical harmony or dissonance, and thicken up the sound with these created, extra notes.  This is an advanced technique that requires very precise control over the bends of both notes when two notes are played at once to “tune” a third note that is automatically generated as a function of the frequencies of the notes being played.  Control over difference tones is especially important for amplified play, where the created difference tones are much louder than during acoustic play.
  • Good musicianship in general contributes to the overall sense of good tone.

Effect Combinations

Though the elements of tone are described individually, they are often used in combination to produce the final sound.  Just because they are discussed separately doesn’t mean they are used in isolation.  There are lots of examples of effects used in combination.. here are a few:

  • Note articulations (including slaps) start a note, but don’t impact the use of dynamics or vibrato.
  • Hand “wahs” are often used in conjunction with bends that are released, which emphasizes the “wah” effect.
  • Tremolos and vibratos can be merged, or transformed into one another.
  • The depth of tremolos and vibratos can be a*sociated with dynamic changes to the loudness of a note.  As a couple of examples, a note could start out soft and straight (no vibrato), increase in volume adding a tremolo wavering of the volume, and end with a loud, pitch-wavering vibrato; or a note could start loud and straight, then fade out with a little vibrato.
  • Dynamic pulsing of the volume of vibrato oscillations can work with phrasing, rhythm, timing, the groove, and legato passages to enhance and emphasize them.
  • Hand tremolo can be combined with throat vibrato and diaphram tremolo to produce a tone wavering volume wavering pitch wavering note.
  • Other examples are left as an exercise for the dedicated student.

Practicing Tone

Practicing tone means practicing all the elements that go into tone production, some of which are mentioned above.  It does not mean playing lots of notes.  It means playing each note for a long time, manipulating it with your mouth and hands and tongue and breath to try to make it sound as good as you can, in as many different ways as you can.  Practicing and playing with good tone is not hurrying to the next note, it is lingering on each note to show the details.

Practicing tone means listening to the sound of each note, and being aware of the details.  The more you know, the more you will notice, the more details you will hear.  You can actually practice tone by learning what different playing techniques sound like, and listening to identify what techniques of note formation and shaping are being used.  The songs Misty and Stormy Sea II are full of examples you can try to identify and analyze to see how the techniques contribute to the tone and the music.  The section on diatonic techniques includes sound samples (in Real Audio format) to help you learn to identify and understand what the player is doing.  Once you can hear and know and think about what can be done, only then can you try to do it.

What the player is doing.  Is doing.  Try to do it.  Doing.  Do.  Something active, not passive.  Good tone is active.  It is willfully produced, it is not something that just happens because of the harp you use or the amplification equipment you play through.  Tone is something the player puts in the note. Something the player does, actively, willfully, by exercising control over him/herself, his breathing, her playing, their music.

But the timbre of different instruments, amps, and mics does vary.  The degree or possibility of certain kinds of tonal manipulations can be different on different equipment and under different conditions.  But remember, good tone is not passive, not just something that happens.  Good tone is control over notes that is done by the player.

Practice playing one note for a long time, listening to its sound, its voice, its nuances.  Change it subtly, change it dramatically, play it soft, play it loud, play it gradually softer and softer, play it gradually louder and louder.  Play it straight, play it with vibrato, change the depth of the vibrato, waver the pitch, oscillate the volume, let it fade out, make it end abruptly.  Hold it for a long time.

I think it is good to practice tone–especially a big fat full round horn-like tone–on lower key (pitch range) harps (say, key of A or lower is better).  The lower notes require a larger resonance chamber, and you have to open up and get big on the inside more for low key harps than on higher key harps (say key of C and higher).  I even suggest working on extended-range low key harps, like a low D or even a “tenor” C like a Hohner 365.  Bends and vibratos on low harps require a tighter grip on the air stream, and larger mouth and muscle movements–and maybe I just like their sound.  Since different key harps have their own character, it is good to practice tone on a full range of keys, including low, medium, and high harps (say, D and higher).  Work on higher key harps requires smaller movements and more subtle control of the muscles.  You can’t really get a big fat horn-like sound out of a high key harp, and it’s harder to get a bright, brittle, piercing, or flute-like sound on a low harp.

Whenever you play, whatever you play, give each note its due.




Anticipation

-4 5  4  -5 5   -4  4 -4   4  -4 5 -4  5
We– can never know about the days to come
-4 5 4   -5   -5 5   4   -4 5 -4 -3 3
But- we think about them any–way—-
-4  4 -4  5  -5  5   -4 4   -4   5   5
And I wonder if I’m really with you now
4   4     4 -3″ 4 -3″  5   -5 5 5  5 -4 4
Or just chasing after some fin–er day—.

6 -5 5 -5 -4  6 5 6 6 -5 5
Anticipation, Anticipation
6   -5 5  4   -4
Is making me late
3   -5  5  -5 5 -4 4 -3 4 -4
Is keeping me waiting——-

3 -4 4  -4   5   4  -5 5 -4  4  -4   4  -4 5  -4   5
And- I tell you how easy— it feels to be– with you
3  -4    5    4    -5  5  4 -4  5  -4 -3 3
And how right your arms feel around me—–.
-4 4 -4  4   5  -5     5    -4    4    -4   5     5
But- I-, I rehearsed those words just late last night
4   4  4    4  -3″ 4 -3″  5   -5    5  5     5   5 -4 4
When I was thinking about how right tonight might be—-.

6 -5 5 -5 -4  6 5 6 6 -5 5
Anticipation, Anticipation
6   -5 5  4   -4
Is making me late
3   -5  5  -5 5 -4 4 -3 4 -4
Is keeping me waiting——-

3 -4  4 -4  5 4   -5    5 -4 4 -4 4 -4 5 -4 5
And- tomorrow we might not be—- together—
6  -4  -4  5   4  -5   5  4  -4  5  -4 -3 3
I’m no prophet, I don’t know natures way—-
-4  4   -4 5 4 5 -5  5 -4  4    -4    5    5
So I’ll try- and see into your eyes right now
4   4    -3″  4 -3″    5    -5   -5   5   -5   5   4
And stay right here, ’cause these are the good old days.
-3″  4   -4  5  4      -3″   -5   -5   6   6    6  5 -4 4
And stay right here, ’cause these are the good old days–.
6    -5  -4  5    5   5
These are the good old days
6    -5  -4  5    5   5
These are the good old days
6    -5  -4  5    5   5
These are the good old days
6   -5 7  5   -5   5   4
These are- the good old days




Anything But Ordinary

ANYTHING BUT ORDINARY AVRIL LAVIGNE

KEY OF C

-4 5 -4 5 -4 5
Some-times I get so weird

-4 5 -4 5 -5 5 -4
I ev-en freak my-self out

5 5 -4 4 -4 -3b
I laugh my-self to sleep

5 5 -3b -3b 5 5
It’s my to lul-la-by

-4 5 -4 5 -4 5
Some-times I drive so fast

5 -4 5 -5 5 -4
Just to feel the dan-ger

5 5 -4 4
I wan-na scream

-4 -3b 5 5 -5b -4
It makes me feel a-live

(CHORUS)

5 -5b -5 7 5 -5b
Is it e-nough to love

5 -5b -5 -8 7 -7
Is it e-nough to breath

5 -5b -5 -7 5 -5b 5
Some-bo-dy rip my heart out

5 -4 5 -4 5 -4
And leave me here to bleed

5 -5b -5 -7 5 -5b
Is it e-nough to die

5 -5b -5 8 -5 -7
Some-bo-dy save my life

5 5 -5b -5 -6 -6 -6b -6b -5 -5 -6b -6b 5
I’d rath-er be an-y-thing but or-din-a-ry please

VERSE 2 SAME AS 1
To walk within the lines
Would make my life so boring
I want to know that I
Have been to the extreme
So knock me off my feet
Come on now give it to me
Anything to make me feel alive

(CHORUS)

5 5 5 5 5 -4
Let down your de-fenc-es

-5 -5 -5 -5 -5
Use no com-mon sense

-6b -6b -6b 5 -6b -5
If you look you will see

-5 -5 -6b -5 -4 -7 -6 -5
that this world is a beau-ti-ful

-7 -6 -5 -7 -6 -5 -7 -6 -5
ac-cid-ent tur-bu-lent suc-cu-lent

-7 -6 -5 -7 -6 -5
op-pul-ent per-ma-nent

-7 -6 -4 -4 5 5 -5
No way I wan-na taste it

-4 -4 -4 5 -5 -6b -6b
Dont wan-na waste it a-way

(REPEAT VERSE 1)

(CHORUS TWICE TO END)

 




Anything For You

5 -6 6  -6   6     5      -5    8    7
Anything for you, though you’re not there
5    -5   6    -6      6     6   -9    8    7
Since you said we’re through, it seems like years
7    -8    8  -8   -8  7  7
Time keeps dragging on and on
-6   7  -8 -8    7   7   7
And for ever’s been and gone
-6   7  -8    8-8    -8   7    -6
Still I can’t figure what went wrong
7   6    -6  5 -6 6  -6   6     5  -5   -8    6
I’d still do anything for you, I’ll play your game
6    5   -6    -6    6    -6
You hurt me through and through
6   6   6   -9   8   -8
But you can have your way
7  -8  7  8    -8   -8  7  7  -8
I can pretend each time I see you
-6   7  -8    8   -8  -8  7    7   -8
That I don’t care and I don’t need you
-6     7     -8   8 -8   8  7   7 -8
And though you’ll never see me crying
7     7  -8 8 -8  -8   7   -6 6
You know inside I feel like dying
7  6   -6  5 -5 6  -6   6
And I’d do anything for you
5   -5   -8  7  6
In spite of it all
6      5    -5  6   -6    6
I’ve learned so much from you
6    -9  8    -8
You made me strong
-6    7   -8 7   8    -8  -8  7     7  -8
Don’t you ever think that I don’t love you
-6    7  -8  8 -8  -8  7 7   -8
That for one minute I forgot you
-6    7  -8      8   -8     -8   7    7
But sometimes things don’t work out right
-6   7   -8   8   8   9   8   -9
And you just have to say good bye
7  -8   7   8    -8 -8  7    7    -8
I hope you find someone to please you
-6  7    -8     8   -8   8 7   7    -8
Someone who’ll care and never leave you
-6  7  -8    8 -8   -8 7  7    -8
But if that someone ever hurts you
-8   7    -8     8 -8   -8   7  -6   6
You just might need a friend to turn to
7   6   -6 5 -5  6  -6  6
And I’d do anything for you
5   -5   -8  7
I’ll give you up
6    5     -5  6   -6   6  6   -9   8  -8 7
If that’s what I should do to make you happy
7 -8   7  8   -8    -8  7  7  -8
I can pretend each time I see you
-6   7  -8    8   -8  -8  7    7   -8
That I don’t care and I don’t need you
-6    7     -8 8 -8  -8    7   7 -8
And though Inside I feel like dying
-6   7  –  8     8 8   9  8  -8 7
You know you’ll never see me crying
-6     7  -8 8   8    -8 -8  7      7  -8
Don’t you ever think that I don’t love you
-6   7  -8   8 -8 -8  7 7   -8
That for one minute I forgot you
-6    7  -8     8    -8     -8   7    7
But sometimes things don’t work out right
-6   7   -8   8    8  9   8   -8
And you just have to say good bye…..




Anything For You (Chromatic Version)

ANYTHING FOR YOU
By: Gloria M. Estefan
Key: G

(3)    (3)   (-5) (-5)
|-3-1-43 -13-4|7357-6*-3-5-6*|
(5) (-4)   (-3)
|635-5 3-57|7-357-6*-54-1|

-4 5   -5   6  -5     -4     5    -7  -6*
An-y-thing for you, though you’re not here
-4   5   -5    6      -5
Since you said we’re through,
-5   8    -8   -6*
it seems like years
7    -7   -8   -7  -7  7  7
Time keeps drag-ging on and on
6   7  -8  -7   -7   7    7
And for ev-er’s been and gone
6   7   -7  -8  -7   -7    7   -5
Still I can’t fig-ure what went wrong

7   -6*  6  -4 5   -5   6  -5
I’d still do an-y-thing for you,
-4   5    -7   -6*
I’ll play your game
-6*  -4  5   -5   6   -5
You hurt me thru and thru
-5  -5  -5    8   -8  -7
But you can have your way
-7 7  -7   -8   -7   -7  7  7   7
I can pre-tend each time I see you
6  6   7    -8  -7 -7   7     7   7
That I don’t care and I don’t need you
6     7     -7   -8  -7 -7  7   7  -7
And though you’ll nev-er see me cry-ing
7    7  -7  -8 -7  -7    7  6  -5
You know in-side I feel like dy-ing

7  -6* 6  -4 5   -5   6  -5
And I’d do an-y-thing for you
-4   5   -7 -6*-6*
In spite of it all
-5     -4   5   -5    6  -5
I’ve learned so much from you
-5    8  -8   -7
You made me strong
6    7  -7  7   -8   -7 -7   7     7  -7
Don’t you ev-er think that I don’t love you
6   7  -7  -8  -7 -7  7   7  -7
That for one min-ute I for-got you
6   7     -7    -8    -7    -7   7    7
But some-times things don’t work out right
6   7   -7   -8  -8 -9   -8  -7
And you just have to say good bye
7  -7   7   -8   -7  -7  7    7    -7
I hope you find some-one to please you
6   7    -7    -8  -7  -7   7   7   -7
Some-one who’ll care and nev-er leave you
6  7   -7   -8  -7  -7  7   7   -7
But if that some-one ev-er hurts you
6    7    -7   -8 -7   -7   7    6  -5
You just might need a friend to turn to

7  -6* 6  -4 5   -5   6  -5
And I’d do an-y-thing for you
-4    5  -7 -6*
I’ll give you up
-5   -4    5  -5    6   -5 -5   8  -8  -7  -7
If that’s what I should do to make you hap-py
7 -7   7   -8   -7   -7  7  7  -7
I can pre-tend each time I see you
6  7   -7   -8  -7 -7   7     7  -7
That I don’t care and I don’t need you
6     7   -7  -8 -7  -7    7    7
And though in-side I feel like dying
6    7    -7   -8  -8 -9  -8   -7
You know you’ll nev-er see me crying
7    7  -7  7   -8   -7 -7   7     7  -7
Don’t you ev-er think that I don’t love you
6   7  -7  -8  -7 -7  7   7  -7
That for one min-ute I for-got you
6    7    -7    -8    -7    -7   7   7-7
But some-times things don’t work out right
6   7   -7   -8  -8 -9   -8  -7
And you just have to say good bye.

(5) (6)  (-4)(-5) (-5)(-5)
|7357 357|7357 357|7357-6*35-6*|11-87-5-43…|

{11-87-5-43) The song ends on a G chord
so experiment with 3 or 7 or 11 or
3—7 or 7—11 octave splits, if you don’t care
for the arpeggio.

For the intro and outro play in a finger-picking
style. The number in () is the base of the chord.
This should leave room for a bit of creativity.




Ape Man

6  -6    6  7  7  7  7  6
I think I’m sophisticated
-6   6   7  7  7   7    -6  6  -7  -7 -7 -6 -6 6
‘Cos I’m living my life like a good homosapien—
6   7   7  7  6   -6 6 7 7    7  7 -6  6
But all around me everybody’s multiplying
-6    6     -7  -7    -7   -7   -6    6
And they’re walking round like flies man
7  -9  -9 -9  7   -8   7 -9 -9 -9  -9  7  -8   7   8  8
So I’m no better than the animals sitting in their cages
8   8   7   7
In the zoo man
6    6   7  7   7   -6  6  -6   6    7    7   7    6
‘Cos compared to the flowers and the birds and the trees
-9 -8 -8 -7   7
I- am an ape man

6   -6   6  7  7 7 7 6   -6  6  7   7  7  6
I think I’m so educated and I’m so civilized
6  -6  6   -7   -7 -7 -6 -6 6
‘Cos I’m a strict vegetarian—
6   -6   6  7 7  7  7 -6  6 -6   6  7  7   7    7 -6  6
And with the over-population and inflation and starvation
-6   6  -7 -7 -7 -7 -6 -7 6
And the crazy politicians–

7  -9    -9   -9  7   7     -9  -9 -10
I don’t feel safe in this world no more
-9   8    8   8   8  7  7  8 8 8   9
I- don’t want to die in a nuclear war
7  8   8   8   8  8 7  7  8  8     9    8   -9   -8  -8 -7   7
I want to sail away to a distant shore and make like an ape man

7  7   7   7   -6  6   7   7   6   6  -6  6  -7   6
I’m an ape man, I’m an ape ape man, oh I’m an ape man
6  6  7    7    6  -6   7  7   6   6
I’m a King Kong man I’m voodoo man, oh
-6  6  -7   6
I’m an ape man

7   7  -9   -9 -9  -9   7    -9  -9 -9  -10
‘Cos compared to the sun that sits in the sky
-9  8   8   8    8    7   8    8   9
Compared to the clouds as they roll by
7  8   8   8   8    7   7   8  8    8    9
Compared to the bugs and the spiders and flies
-9 -8 -8 -7   7
I- am an ape man
-9 -9 -9 -9 -9 8  9  -9 -8 -8 7
la la la la la la la la la la la

(Spoken)
In man’s evolution he has created the cities and
The motor traffic rumble, but give me half a chance
And I’d be taking off my clothes and living in the jungle

7   7  -9 -9  -9   7  -9  -9  -9 -10
But the only- time that I feel at ease
-9   8  8   8   8   8   7  7  8 8 8   9
Is swinging up and down in a coconut tree
8   8   8  8   7   8 8 9 8  -9  -8  -8 -7   7
Oh what a life of luxury to be like an ape man

7  7   7   7   -6  6   7   7   6   6  -6  6  -7   6
I’m an ape man, I’m an ape ape man, oh I’m an ape man
6  6  7    7    6  -6   7  7   6   6
I’m a King Kong man I’m voodoo man, oh
-6  6  -7   6
I’m an ape man

7  -9  -9  -9  -9 -9    7  7  -9   -9  -9  -10
I look out the window, but I can’t see the sky
-9   8   8  8  8  7  7  8   8  8  8   9
‘Cos air pollution is a fogging up my eyes
7  8   8   8   8  8   7   8  8  8 9
I want to get out of this city alive
8   -9   -8  -8 -7   7
And make like an ape man
-9 -9 -9 -9 -9 8  9  -9 -8 -8 7
la la la la la la la la la la la

9   9   9   -9  -8  6  6   9  -9   8
Come on and love me, be my ape man girl
6    9   9  8  -9 -8 6  6   8  -8    7
And we’ll be so happy in my ape man world

7  7   7   7   -6  6   7   7   6   6  -6  6  -7   6
I’m an ape man, I’m an ape ape man, oh I’m an ape man
6  6  7    7    6  -6   7  7   6   6
I’m a King Kong man I’m voodoo man, oh
-6  6  -7   6
I’m an ape man

-9  -9  -9  -9  8    -9    -9 -9 -10
I’ll be your Tarzan, you’ll be my Jane
8    8    8   8    7    8     8   8   9
I’ll keep you warm and you’ll keep me sane
7    8  8   8    8    7   7  7  8  8  8   9
We’ll sit in the trees and eat bananas all day
-9   -8  -8 -7   7
Just like an ape man

7  7   7   7   -6  6   7   7   6   6  -6  6  -7   6
I’m an ape man, I’m an ape ape man, oh I’m an ape man
6  6  7    7    6  -6   7  7   6   6
I’m a King Kong man I’m voodoo man, oh
-6  6  -7   6
I’m an ape man

7  -9    -9   -9  7   7    -9   -9 -10
I don’t feel safe in this world no more
-9  8    8   8   8  7  7  8 8 8   9
I don’t want to die in a nuclear war
7  8   8   8   8  8 7  7  8    8     9
I want to sail away to a diff’rent shore
8   -9   -8  -8 -7   7
And make like an ape man.
-9 -9 -9 -9 -9 8  -9
la la la la la la la
-9 -8 -8 7
La La La la




April In Paris (Chromatic Version)

APRIL IN PARIS
W: E.Y. Harburg
M: Vernon Duke
Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday
Key: C

6   -6   6  -3  -4
A-pril’s in the air
5   6   7  -7  -8
But here in Par-is
9  -9    8  -6  7    7     -5
A-pril wears a dif-f’rent gown
8  -9   8  -6    7    7
You can see her waltz-ing
-5   7   -5*
Down the street
7   -7  -8  6
The tang of wine
-6 6  -3  -4
Is in the air
5    6    7   -7  -8   9  -9  8
I’m drunk with all the hap-pi-ness
-6    7     7   -5
That Spring can give
-5  6    -6*   7*  -6*  6
Nev-er dreamed it could be
-5  6 -6* -8  -7  -9
So ex-cit-ing to live

-6 -6  -6 -5* 6    -6    -6  -6  -5*  6
A-pril in Par-is, chest-nuts in blos-som
-5 -5 -5  -4   5  6   7  -8   -9
Hol-i-day tab-les un-der the trees
-9 -9  -9 -8  9    -9  -9 -9 -8   8
A-pril in Par-is, this is a feel-ing
8   8   8  -7 -8  9  10
No one can ev-er re-prise

10 -9 -7* -8  -9    9   9    9
I nev-er knew the charm of Spring
-9 -7* -8  -9  9   9   9
Nev-er met it face to face
10 -9 -7* -8  -9   8     8    8
I nev-er knew my heart could sing
8  7*   -7   8  -8  -8  7*    7
Nev-er missed a warm em-brace till
-6 -6  -6 -5* 6
A-pril in Par-is
-7* -7*-7* 7* -7
Whom can I run to
-9   -9  -9   -8  9  -9   9
What have you done to my heart




April In Paris (For Walt)

APRIL IN PARIS

DORIS DAY,ELLA FITZGERALD,BILLIE HOLIDAY

KEY C

5  -5b   5   4   4
A-pril’s in the air

4   5    6  -6b -6
But here in Par-is

7  -7    7   -5b 6   6    -4
A-pril wears a dif-frent gown

7    -7  7  -5b   6    6
You can see her waltz-ing

4     6    5
Down the street

6    -6b -6   5
The tang of wine

-5b 5  4   4
Is in the air

4    5    6   -6b  -6  7  -7   7
I’m drunk with all the hap-pi-ness

-5b    6     6   -4
That Spring can give

-4   5    -5b  6    -5b  5
Nev-er dreamed it could be

-4  5 -5b  -6  -6b -7
So ex-cit-ing to live

REFRAIN

-5b-5b -5b -4 5    -5b   -5b -5b -4   5
A-pril in Par-is, chest-nuts in blos-som

-4 -4 -4  4   4   5   6   -6   -7
Hol-i-day ta-bles un-der the trees

-7 -7  -7 -6  -7   -7  -7 -7 -6  7
A-pril in Par-is, this is a feel-ing

7   7   7  -6b -6 7  8
No one can ev-er re-prise

8  -7 -6  -6   -7   7    7   7
I nev-er knew the charm of Spring

-7  -6 -6  -7   7   7   7
Nev-er met it face to face

8 -7  -6  -6 -7   7    7     7
I nev-er new my heart could sing

7   6 -6b  7  -6  -6  6  6
Nev-er mis-sed a warm em-brace

6  -5b -5b -5b -4  5
Till A-pril in Par-is

-6    -6 -6 6  -6b
Whom can I run to

-7   -7   -7  -6   7  -7  7
What have you done to my heart




Aqualung

tabed for C Tenor

-5 3 <-3 4 <4 4
-5 3 <-3 4 <4 4

-9  7  <-7 8  <8    8
Sitting on a park bench
<-9 <-9 <-9 <-9 <-9  <-7   8  <8  8
eyeing little girls with bad intent.
-9  <-7  8   <8  <8   8
Snot running down his nose
<-9 <-9 <-9 <-7  <-7  8   8 <8  8 <-9 -10
greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes–.
-9  7 <-7  8  <8 8  8
Drying in the cold sun
<8 <-9 <-9 <-9 <-9 <-9 <-9 -10 -10 <-9 -10 <-9 9 <-9
Watching as the frilly- pant—-ies run————-.
-9  7  <-7  8 <8 8  8
Feeling like a dead duck
<-9  <-9 <-9 <-9 8 <-9 <-9
spitting out pieces of his
<-9 -10 -10 <-9 -10 <-9 8
brok—-en- luck———.
8 -9   8  <-7  8 <-7
Sun- streaking cold-
<-7  8  <-7  -9  8    <-7  7
an- old man wandering lonely.
<-7 <-7 <-7 8 <-7
Taking- time—–
<-7 -7 7 7 -5 -5  -6
the only way- he knows.
8 -9  8 <-7  8 <-7
Leg- hurting bad–,
8 <-7  8   <-7 8 -9 8 <-7  7
as he bends to pick a dog-end
-7 <-7  <-7  8  <-7 -7
he goes down to the bog
7  7 -5  -5   -6
and warms his feet.

-9  8   <-7 <-7 8 <-7
Feeling a—lone—–
<-7 8 <-7  -9 8 -9 <-7 3
the army’s up the- road-
<-7 <-7 <-7 <-7 8 <-7 -7 7
salvation– a—- la- mode
7  7  7  -5 -6
and a cup of tea.
-9 -9 8 <-7  8 <-7
Aqualung my friend
8 <-7   8   <-7 <-7 -9 8 8 <-7 7
don’t start a—way—– uneasy-
<-7 <-7  <-7 <-7 8  <-7 -7    7   7 -5 -6
you poor old sod–, you see, it’s only me.
7   7   <-7  -9 -9  8
Do you still remember
<-7 8 <-7  8 <-7   -9
December’s foggy freeze
7    7   7   7
when the ice that
<-7   8 -9 -9  8   8 <-7
clings on– to your beard
<-7   8 <-7   -9 <-7 7 -6
was screaming agony——.
-9  -9    7     7   <-7 8 -9  -9     8
And you snatch your rattling last breaths
<-7   8   <-7 8 <-7 <-7 <-7  8 -9
with deep sea d—–i—ver sounds,
7  -7  <-7 <-7  <-7  <-7 8
and the flowers bloom like-
8 <-7 <-7 <-7 8 -9 8 <-7 8
mad—ness in the- spring.




The Harp Reference: Throat Vibrato

Vibrato

Vibrato and Tremolo

Vibrato and tremolo and two terms that are often used, misused, and interchanged, and different people have different ideas about the distinctions and similarities between the two terms, techniques, and effects.  I have decided to take the essence of my definitions from the “Schaum Dictionary of Musical Terms”.  These are my definitions:

Tremolo is pulsations of air pressure that cause a wavering effect to the loudness of the sound.

Vibrato is slight fluctuations of pitch produced by a slight wavering movement of part of the embouchure affecting the air stream.

The effective difference between the two terms is that tremolo refers to loudness and vibrato refers to pitch.  Tremolo is oscillations in volume and tone, vibrato is oscillations of pitch.

In practice, however, both vibrato and tremolo can be applied to the same note at the same time.  Then what do you call it?  I call it vibrato.  In my experience, the term vibrato is used more than the term tremolo for the harmonica to describe both of these techniques (whether used at the same time or not).   I’ll use “vibrato” whenever a pitch change is present, and tremolo when only volume oscillations are present, the pitch staying constant.

In addition, on the harmonica it is possible to produce oscillations of tone or timbre as well as volume and pitch by manipulating, principally the hands and tongue.  This effect can affect volume in addition to timbre, and so becomes more difficult to properly classify.  For example, hand effect “wah wah”s are commonly heard on the diatonic.  Each “wah” is an opening of the hands, which results in a louder note with a different timbre, but essentially the same pitch.  Since there is no pitch change present, I classify this effect as a tremolo.

Effective utilization of vibrato and tremolo is one of the most crucial elements of good tone.

Diaphragm Tremolo

Diaphragm tremolo, as the name says, is a wavering of a note caused by playing pressure fluctuations created by gently pulsing the diaphragm to produce volume oscillations.

If you gently say “ha ha ha” you can feel a pulsing of your diaphragm.  It is this motion that drives the diaphragm tremolo.

If you say “ha ha ha” while breathing in you may feel a tugging or pulsing at the back of your throat.  To keep the tremolo without pitch variations, open up your throat to keep the air stream from being pinched.  If you pinch your throat to fluctuate the air stream, you are probably adding some pitch wavering, which means you are using a throat vibrato.

Throat Vibrato

Throat vibrato is one of the most important diatonic harmonica techniques to master.  It adds color and variety to your notes in the same way that it does for a singer, and it is intimately a*sociated with good tone.   Throat vibrato may be the most emotional of the vibratos and tremolos because it can engage the diaphragm to make use of both pitch changes as well as volume changes.

Throat vibrato is primarily a*sociated with draw notes on holes 1-7.  The diaphragm is used to provide the playing pressure, the throat is used to smoothly pulse the air stream, and the throat works with the tongue to control the note pitch and the depth of the pitch oscillations.

The key to throat vibrato is a smooth oscillation of pitch and volume.  Done poorly throat vibrato can sound chunky, and not smooth.  Done well it sounds smooth and natural and wonderful.  Strive for a sine-wave type continuous smoothness, with consistent pitch and volume changes.  Rhythm is an important part of the vibrato. You can do vibrato at different speeds, so you should choose a speed that fits with the rhythm and feel of the music.  The pulses of the vibrato should be made to divide the notes into even intervals to add to the rhythmic content of the music.

The classic way to get throat vibrato is to imitate a rapid fire machine gun (eh eh eh eh eh), like when you were a kid. Then do it inhaling instead of exhaling.  It’s the same throat motion that gets the throat vibrato. Work on it until all the chunkiness is gone, and it sounds as natural in your play as it does in a singer’s voice.  There is a tendency for throat noise to be heard during aggressive throat vibrato, especially when a mic is used and the sound is amplified.  You should record yourself and listen to determine if the throat noise is audible or intrusive, and seek to minimize it.

A good way to get the feel of throat vibrato is to try put vibrato or even tremolo on the 3 draw 1/2 step (or even less) bend. Your throat is involved getting the bend initially, so there’s some feel there before you go for the vibrato.  Breathing from the diaphragm will help control the vibrato.  There’s always an interaction between the throat and diaphragm when doing a vibrato, since each is involved in controlling the air stream.  For throat vibrato, obviously the emphasis is on the throat–but you’ll probably notice some involvement of the diaphragm as well.  As you pulse the diaphragm for tremolo on this note, the change in playing pressure coupled with the throat pulling the bend will tend to add a pitch fluctuation vibrato to the diaphragm tremolo.

Try playing the 3 draw 1/2 step bend amplified, but play softly.  Practice very soft draw bends.  At some point you’ll notice what feels like a direct connection between your throat and the note.  Every little nuance of throat motion will be reflected in the sound.  Work on playing softly, with good note formation and support from your diaphragm.  Then put some vibrato on the note by pulsing the air stream with your throat.  The pitch will change up and down because you’ve got a hold of the bend with your throat.  Keep at it, it’s worth it!

How much should you use throat vibrato?  Different players like different things, so it all depends.  Often it is good to emulate what singers do, and start a note straight, then add vibrato toward the end of the note.  Some players think there’s no such thing as too much vibrato, they love it that much.  Other players like to use it more sparingly, to add variety and contrast.  I think you should use it a lot, but not all the time.  Throat vibrato is one of the best things you can do to improve your tone, your control over the notes you play, and your focus on the connection between your playing and the response of the reeds.

Vibrato on Draw Bends

Vibrato can be placed on draw bend notes, either full bends or intermediate bends.  Smooth control of this vibrato makes use of a subtle, coordinated interaction between the throat, tongue, and diaphragm.

The diaphragm provides the playing pressure support for the note, while the tongue and the throat work together to produce the desired pitch.  In the case of bent draw notes, given a stable embouchure mouth, tongue, and throat position, the pitch of the note can be changed by changing the playing pressure.  A gentle pulsing of the vocal tract below the throat can be caused by a nearly imperceptible pulsing of the diaphragm.  Any more than VERY gentle nearly imperceptible movement of the diaphragm can cause an unacceptably large chunky vibrato that isn’t smooth.

It is also possible to hit the bend using the throat and back part of the tongue to produce the pitch.  This leaves the front part of the tongue free to manipulate the air stream and produce a kind of tongue vibrato.  Articulations like “yo yo yo” and “oy oy oy” can help you identify the necessary tongue movements.  Sometimes repeated “biting” type motions of the jaw or mouth and jaw can also be used to get some vibrato and tremolo type effects on bent notes.

Blow Note Vibrato

Most commonly, blow notes will utilize tremolo instead of vibrato, especially on holes 1-6, because altering the pitch of these blow notes is fairly difficult.  However, on holes 7-10 you can do blow bends, so you can definitely use vibrato on these notes.  The diaphragm is used to hold the playing pressure steady, or produce slight pulsations in the volume.  The throat is also used to throttle the air stream, and the tongue position is used to interrupt the air stream and control any bends and how much pitch variation you get in the vibrato.

Practice smoothly bending the blow notes down and back up over their full range.  This will give you the feel of your tongue position, and how much small changes there affect the resulting pitch.

Make sure your notes are fully supported with your diaphragm so you don’t lose your tone during bends, or when you waver the pitch by pulsing your throat or manipulating your mouth/tongue position.

Practice blow bend vibrato on holes 2 and 3 by going from the hole 2 and hole 3 full draw bend (2″ and 3″‘) to blow vibrato for that hole.  Your control over the air stream for the full draw bends can be maintained for the blow note vibrato by merely changing the breathing direction.

Alternate practicing on holes 7-10 and holes 1-6.  Try to bring your tongue techniques from the upper hole blow bends down to your lower hole blow vibrato.  With some practice, you should be able to slightly bend the low notes down in pitch, if you have enough diaphragm support.  As you achieve some pitch variations on the low holes, bring that diaphragm support up to your high holes to add control to your smooth blow bends.

The high hole draw note vibrato poses a similar and symmetric difficulty to the low hole blow vibrato.  First, concentrate on getting a good smooth tremolo on the volume for those notes.  Gradually bring your throat and tongue into the tremolo and try to catch the critical pressure necessary to grab the reeds.  Tiny movements and subtle control of the high hole draw notes can add a small amount of bend to those notes, and enable a vibrato effect.

Draw and Blow Vibrato Consistency

Since the draw and blow notes in different cells on an unvalved harmonica like a diatonic bend different amounts for each note, you have to consciously adjust your technique to try to maintain a consistent vibrato for the various note types.

One way to practice this is to use hole 7.  Hole 7 seems to have some unique qualities.  First, you can blow bend it, but only about a quarter tone–less than a full 1/2 step.  This makes it a good candidate for blow vibrato, since some pitch variation room is there.  The draw note doesn’t really want to bend, but can be coaxed into moving a little bit easier than holes 8, 9, and 10.  Since the depth of the blow bend is limited with respect to holes 8-10, the two vibratos–blow and draw–can be made to sound very symmetric.  Practice getting a consistent, symmetric vibrato for the 7 blow and 7 draw, then move it up to the higher holes.

On the low holes (1-6)  the odds are you’ve practiced and used draw note vibrato much more than blow note vibrato.  Try to apply what you do with the draw note to your vibrato on the blow note.  Practice going back and forth between a strong and controlled and rhythmic draw note vibrato and a similar blow note vibrato.  Altering between the hole 2 draw and the hole 3 blow is effective for getting consistent vibrato because the pitch is the same.. go for the same tone as well.  Hold the notes for a long time.  Listen to how you shape the draw note–how the volume swells, when the vibrato begins, how the note pulses dynamically with the beat, how the sound trails off and whether the depth of the vibrato changes over the duration.  Try to make the blow note do the same thing.  The muscles, mouth position, and approach to the blow note will be quite different–pushing the pitch down instead of pulling it down–but try to make the adjustments so that the notes are symmetrical and consistent with each other, even if the playing isn’t.  I find that when I’m supporting the tiny blow bend on the low holes hard with my diaphragm, the tension makes it easy to produce a fast vibrato.  So the speed doesn’t naturally follow or flow from the draw note to the blow note–it has to be controlled to a slower rate to maintain the pulse and pace set by the draw note.

As you go back and forth between the draw vibrato and the blow vibrato you may find that what you can do with the blow vibrato feeds back into what you do do with the draw vibrato.  You may make the pitch change depth more shallow, or you may change the vibrato rate to facilitate a consistent vibrato between the blow and draw.  You may decide to use different kinds of draw note vibrato at different times, for different reasons–one type perhaps for consistency of phrasing in certain passages, another type perhaps for trying to rip a very emotional note out of a phrase.

Vibrato on Overblows

If you have a good stable overblow note you can add vibrato to it.  Vibrato on overblows is a similar technique to vibrato on the high hole blow notes.  First practice and gain control of vibrato on the normal blow notes in holes 7-10.  Then work on hitting your overblows on pitch and sustaining them with good tone and diaphragm support.  Then, finally, combine the two techniques and work on a smooth stable overblow vibrato.  Note that overblows bend UP in pitch instead of down, so you have the opportunity to add some variety to your tonal palette.

Vibrato on overdraws are similar in technique to draw note throat vibrato.  First you have to have a good stable overdraw.  Then you have to have good subtle control over your throat vibrato.  Practice draw note vibrato on the high holes to gain the fine control over those muscles you’ll need for putting vibrato on the overdraw notes.

Vibrato with Valved Cells

Valved cells have one or more “windsaver” valves that prevent air used to play one reed from escaping through the slot of the opposite reed in the chamber.  Diatonics are sometimes partially valved to allow the normal draw and blow bends, but provide blow bends on the lower holes (1-6) and draw bends on the upper holes (7-10) in exchange for the capability to do overblows.  Chromatics normally have valves for all reeds, blow and draw.

Since both blow and draw bends are available in every cell, the use of valves provides a good mechanism for increasing the depth of pitch changes on notes that normally don’t bend much, and can aid in getting consistent symmetrical vibrato for blow and draw notes.

Single reed closing bends–those that are provided by valves–have a tendency to get weaker as the pitch is bent down.  Effective use of the diaphragm and resonance is needed to support the note and keep the volume and tone consistent during the bend, and during pitch oscillations used for vibrato.

What I Learnt at Buckeye, 1999

  “Brassy, you come up now and tell us what you learned at the Buckeye Harmonica Festival.” She pointed at him, and he stood reluctantly.

  “But Ms. Tery, there was too much!  Don’t the others haveta have time to give their reports too?”

  “Now Brassy, just think of something that stands out as important to you.” And hopefully might be of some interest to the class, she thought.  She motioned for him to come forward, and after a moment’s pause, he finally obeyed.

  “I learned that I haven’t been paying enough attention to my blow vibrato,” he said in the general direction of no one in particular, his eyes on his shoes.  “I used to work on it more, but I forgot about it while worrying about overblows and some other stuff.”

  “Which of the teachers told you that?” she asked.

  “I learned it from Joe Filisko.  But he didn’t tell me, he showed me.”

  “Oh, you mean you talked to him during one of the daily 3 hour teaching extravaganzas,” she figured.

  “No, it wasn’t like that.  I didn’t know enough to ask him about that when I had a chance.  He showed me up on stage, by playing his music.”

  “Well Brassy, don’t make me keep asking.  What did he show you?”  She was getting a bit exasperated by now.  Must be something in the air.

  “He showed me how good blow vibratos can sound when you have enough control of them to push the pitch down a little in addition to oscillating the volume.  That’s a basic technique of draw note vibrato, but not so common on blow notes.  It’s a vibrato that can be done very fast too, it seems, probably faster than a draw vibrato.”

  “What do you think his secret is?” Ms. Tery asked.

  “Well, the first thing you have to do is think about it and not ignore it,” because otherwise you wouldn’t even try to put it in, he thought.  “And I think you have to have powerful blow notes.  A lot of players work and spend so much time on the draws, the draw notes get very powerful, and the blows don’t keep up.  That’s where I think overblows come in.  The practicing of overblows–especially on harps not made by Joe!–helps develop very strong blows and control over the blow reed, which you have to “choke out” to let the draw reed sound the overblow note. I think it’s because of getting in touch with the critical pressure…” she cut him off.

  “Okay okay, never mind that.”  She sometimes grew weary of his long windedness.  “Why would anyone care?”

  “One of the side benefits of this overblow work is control over normal blow bends, of course, but another benefit is probably good power and control over blow note vibrato as well.”

  “Blow note vibrato isn’t that difficult,” she pointed out.

  “Blow note diaphragm-based tremolo–as if you were saying ‘ha ha ha’–the kind that oscillates volume only, and not pitch, is pretty easy.   But getting any pitch shifting on the blow vibrato to compliment the throat vibrato on draw notes–that’s more difficult.”

  “You can sit down now.” she told him.  He shuffled off back to his desk, and a part of him wished he was practicing instead of sitting in class.

  But he loved the other kids.




The Harp Reference: Breathing

Breathing

Playing the harp 
  Begins and ends 
With breathing.

Breathing in and out.

When you want.

As fast or slow as you want.

As hard or soft as you want.

For as long as you want.

Whenever you want.

From Your Diaphragm

Through out these pages you have heard (or will hear) me harp on breathing from the diaphragm.  Hopefully it has sunk in (or will sink in) that breathing from the diaphragm is important, worth paying attention to, worth working on, worth thinking about, considering, contemplating… and even practicing.

But what does it even mean?  Well, basically, we humans can breathe through our nose and/or mouth by using our lungs and/or our diaphragm to pump air in and out.  Our lungs are up in our chests, and our diaphragm is underneath, about the level of our stomachs.  Learn to isolate and separate the feelings of breathing from your lungs, both your lungs and diaphragm, and just your diaphragm.

The common advice on how to go about isolating your diaphragm breathing is to lie on the floor (hard surface helps) on your back and relax.  Put a book on your stomach and watch it move up and down.  Feel the weight of the book against your stomach and feel where your stomach pushes back against it.  Down there.  That’s your diaphragm.  Breathe from there.  Breathe all the way out and cough.  Feel the pounding of your diaphragm?

Get your lungs out of it.  If you feel your chest expanding you’re breathing from your lungs.  Chest equals lungs.  Stomach equals diaphragm.  Some guys say “play from your toes.”  From deep.  As deep as you can get.  If your shoulders are going up and down you’re breathing from your lungs.  Lungs are higher up.  Feelings caused by breathing that are high up in your body–your chest and your shoulders–are caused by breathing from your lungs.  Relax those muscles.  Stop expanding your chest and raising your shoulders.

Why?  You don’t like the answer that experience shows that breathing from the diaphragm works and sounds best?  You’re not happy with the thought that all the great players say the same things, and that the same wisdom is known by singers?  Okay, here’s another justification for you.

Resonance

Resonance is a reinforcing of sound wave echoes so that some frequencies in essence get amplified more than others.  Resonance is what breaks the crystal goblets when singers hit just the right note in just the right way.  Echoes are sound waves bouncing around, and since sound waves in air basically travel at the same speed, the affected (amplified) frequencies (how fast the sound waves jiggle the air, which jiggles our ear drums, which rate determines the pitch we hear) are determined by the size of the echo chamber; the distances of the walls from each other.  The lower the note, the longer the wave length, the bigger the chamber must be to affect that frequency.  This amplification of certain frequencies greatly influences the resulting tone and volume of the note being produced.

It turns out that our mouths are not quite big enough to provide an optimally sized resonant echo chamber for the sounds we produce either playing or singing, especially on lower notes.  The mouth is very important in manipulating the resonant chamber size (and shape) so we can tune it to the notes we are playing, reshaping the sound, but we need a little bigger chamber, something with more volume.  We add our hands, and this helps both in creating a larger chamber and providing a way to manipulate the chamber size to maximize the impact of each individual note.  But hands and mouth together are still not big enough.  The control comes from there, but the capacity–the size and volume of the chamber in which the sounds echo and resonate, benefits from use of the entire vocal tract, everything below the throat and back down into the lungs.  The lungs themselves are full of tissues and fluids, along with a myriad air sacks, so I don’t know how much the lungs themselves add to the resonance chamber–but, the airways that lead to the lungs are very important.  We need to relax the chest muscles that operate the lungs so we can control and expand the vocal tract resonance chamber.  Then we can still use the diaphragm to control the air flowing into and out of our lungs while maintaining control over the vocal tract that feeds the lungs.  We need to make ourselves big on the inside to take advantage of the resonant capabilities of our bodies.

Relax

You always hear people–musicians, athletes, and people skilled at just about any activity–talking about being relaxed or the importance of relaxation, don’t you?  The best ice skaters look perfectly comfortable and at ease, the best athletes seem to glide, float, and coast, the best performers seem relaxed and at home on their stage.  Even when they are heavily exerting themselves.  When they say “relax” they don’t mean relax all your muscles–they mean, relax all the muscles you don’t need to be using.  Don’t fight yourself.  Muscles work in pairs often times, and if you are tense, one muscle that you don’t need to be using may be fighting a muscle that you do need to be using.  To relax the proper muscles, you first have to become aware of what muscles you are using, and which ones you need to be using.  Then you have to control the ones you don’t need to be using so they remain relaxed.  Relaxation takes control over your muscles.  Relaxation is a form of control.  Adding relaxation is adding control.  If you don’t have enough control over some element of your play, try to isolate the muscles involved–the ones you need to use and the extra ones you’re using besides, and gain control by relaxing the muscles you don’t need to be using.

Through the Nose?

Most of us play the harp with our mouth most of the time.  Unfortunately, there are exceptions, but let’s try not to think about that.

What do you do if you run out of air, either breathing in or breathing out?  Well, pretty much you have to breathe out or in to compensate, if only a little.  If your mouth is on the harp and you change your breath direction, you change the note you’re playing as well, and if you don’t want to do that you have two choices: breathe through your nose or remove your mouth from playing position.

You can quickly take a bite of air, or let some go, by momentarily taking your lip off the cover plate and breathing through your mouth but not through the harp.  This feels much like a biting motion, where you’re biting at the harp.  This lip biting technique can be used to articulate notes, and the articulation can be combined with breath equalization.

More often, excess air is expelled through the nose while playing notes while breathing out.  Some players talk about almost always letting a little air out when they play blow notes because they know they’ll need the lung capacity later, since they play mostly draw notes.  Running out of air is seldom the problem.  Having too much air is often the problem, and this letting out of air during blow notes helps keep their lungs in equilibrium.

On the other hand, air leaking in through the nose during draw notes is usually not a good idea.  Control over draw bends and vibrato is greatly reduced or lost if air is allowed to come in the nose.  And besides, as I said above, too much air is usually the problem, and excess air coming in is not what you need.  If you have trouble holding notes for a long time, see if you are letting air enter or escape through your nose.  If you are, you need to learn to control that.  Don’t get discouraged if you can’t control it right away.  Like so many things, it’s something you have to work at and learn.  But once you get it you probably won’t even think about it again, unless you read something that reminds you…

Exercises

Whenever you do breathing exercises, use caution not to overdo it and make yourself dizzy or hurt yourself in any way.  You’re not trying to force your body to do something it doesn’t want to do, you’re trying to train it and teach it and condition it to want (or be able) to do more.  I’m no physician, so if you have any health problems that concern you–as always, check with a doctor first.

Anything that helps you gain relaxation control over your breathing should be beneficial to your harp playing.

Meditation in its various forms and guises tends to emphasize controlled, often slow and deep breathing, sometimes even with chanting.  Breathing exercises a*sociated with meditation practice can be applied to breathing for the harmonica.

Running, swimming, and other aerobic exercise can help strengthen your lungs and possibly improve your lung capacity, or at least allow you to more effectively utilize the lung capacity you have.

Most people breathe from only the top third or so of their lungs.  Most of the capacity lower in the lungs is not used, not well developed, and not contributing much to the person’s breathing.  Playing diatonic harp in cross harp position (2nd position) involves mostly breathing in.  When you “run out of air” it’s usually because you are getting too much air into your lungs.  We need to develop the lower parts of the lungs, breathing fully and deeply.

Breathe out slowly as far as you can.  Completely empty your lungs.  Squeeze out the last bits of air.  Got it all out?  Try coughing–see how much more there was?  Cough some more.  Get all that old deep stale air out of there.

Then slowly and willfully allow your lungs to begin filling.  This is a process of gradually relaxing the muscles that have been called into play to force the air out, up to a point.  After a while your lungs will be comfortably full of air, but keep slowly and gently filling them deeply.  Concentrate on using your diaphragm to take your slow deep breath.  It should feel like you are pushing out with your stomach.  Make sure your chest is not expanding and your shoulders aren’t rising.  Take several such long slow breaths, completely emptying your lungs first, then relaxing with control to slowly fill them back to neutral, then drawing with your diaphragm to fill them completely full.  Think you’ve got them all the way full?  Try a few quick inward pants just when you think you’re holding as much air as you can.  Picture the videos you’ve seen of pot smokers trying to inhale just a little bit more.

Pant like a dog.  Go on.  Feel the exercise your diaphragm is getting?  Open yourself up and go to it.  Let out all your air and pant.  Fill your lungs full and pant.  Keep panting while slowly breathing all the way in and all the way out.  That’s not as easy as it sounds, is it..  Keep at it, you’ll be gaining strength and control.

Practice rhythmic breathing.

Practice train songs.

Practice holding notes for a long time, both breathing in and breathing out.

While you’re holding notes, slowly vary the volume from soft to loud to soft.  Gain control of how much pressure you are using to generate the different dynamics.

Practice with the harp in your mouth, and play big full round smooth even chords.

Practice without the harp in your mouth when you can think about breathing, but can’t play your harp.

Playing the harp 
  Begins and ends 
With breathing.

Breathing in and out.

When you want.

As fast or slow as you want.

As hard or soft as you want.

For as long as you want.

Whenever you want.

Work on all those things.




As Good As I Once Was

The numbers without spaces between them are ran together, the words
with no numbers above them are just spoken.

5   5     5     5   -4 4   4   4  -2”
She said, I’ve seen you in here before
-3 -3    -3   -3   -3” 3  3   3   3
I said, I’ve been here a time or two.
5   5    5  5   -4  4   4   4 4  -4
She said, hello, my name is Bobby Jo.
-3  -3  -3   4 -4  -4  5  5
Meet my twin sister Betty Lou.
4   5     5    5 -5   6 6  6-5   -5 -6
And we’re both feelin kinda wild tonight.
-4    -4  -4  5 -5 -5  -5  6    -44
You’re the on-ly cowboy in this place.
4  5     5   5   -4 4 -4 -3” -3”
And if you’re up for a ro-de – o,
4     4  4  4  4  4   -3   -3  -3  -3”-2
We’ll put a big Texas smile on your face.

And I said, Girls
5  5    5   5   -4 4  4    -2”
I ain’t as good as I once was.
-3 -3  -3” -3”   3   3  2  -3”
I got  a  few years on me now.
5    5   -4  4  4    4   4  4   3
But there was a time back in my prime
4   4   4    4  -4  -4 5   5
When I could really lay it down.
4  5  -5   6    6   6-5  -5  -6
And if you need some love tonight,
-4 -4   5   -5    -5  6  -44
Then I might have just enough.
5  5    5    5  -4 4  4   -3”
I ain’t as good as I once was,
-3”  4   4  -3   -3  4 -4 -4 4   4
But I’m as good once as I ev-er was
5   5     5   5   -4  4   4      4   -2”
I still hang out with my best friend Dave;
-3    -3    -3   -3  -3” 3    3   3    3
I’ve known him since we were kids at school
5     5   5   5 -4  4   4
Last night he had a few shots,
-4  4 -3” 4     3     -3  4 -4  -4  5   5
Got in a tight spot, hustlin a game of pool
5   5  5 -5  6   6   -5   -6
With a couple of red neck boys,
-4   -4    5  -5  -5 6  -44
One great big bad biker man
4    5   5 -4  4   -4 -4  -3”  -3”
I heard David yell across the room,
4     4  4  4  4  4   -3 -3  -3”-2
Hey, buddy how bout a helpin hand?

And I said Dave,
5  5    5   5   -4 4  4    -2”
I ain’t as good as I once was
-3  -3  -3”  -3”   3     3
My, how the years have flown.
5    5   -4  4  4    4   4  4   3
But there was a time back in my prime
4   4   4    4  -4  -4  5   5
When I could really hold my own.
4  5  -5  6  6   6-5  -5  -6
But if you wanna fight tonight,
-4    -4    -4   5     -5   -5  6   -44
Guess those boys don’t look all that tough.
5  5    5    5  -4 4  4   -3”
I ain’t as good as I once was,
-3”  4   4  -3   -3  4 -4 -4 4   4
But I’m as good once as I ev-er was
4   5  -5 6  -7   -7  -76-5
I used to be hell on wheels
-5   -5 -5  6 -6 -6  6   6-55
Back when I was a younger man
5  5  5 -4  -44   -4  -4
Now my body says, you can’t do this boy
4  4    4     4   4   4    4   -44
But my pride says, Oh, yes you can
5  5    5    5  -4 4  4   -2”
I ain’t as good as I once was
-3     -3”  3    3   3     2
That’s just the cold hard truth.
5     5  -4  4   4
I still throw a few back,
4   4  4  3   3
talk a little smack
4    4   4  -4 -4 5    5
when I’m feelin bullet proof.
4     5 -5   6    6  -5 -6
So, don’t double-dog dare me now,
-4   -4   5   -5  -5   6    -44
Cause I’d have to call your bluff
5  5    5    5  -4 4  4   -3”
I ain’t as good as I once was,
-3”  4   4  -3   -3  4 -4 -4 4   4
But I’m as good once as I ev-er was
5   5  5  5   -4  4  4   -3”
May not be as good I once was,
4  4   4    4   -3  4 -4 -4  4  4
But I’m as good once as I ev-er was.




As Good As I Once Was (Tremolo Version)

This is tabbed for a 24 hole Echo Celeste tremolo

The numbers without spaces between them are ran together, the words
with no numbers above them are just spoken.

6   6     6     6   -5 5   5   5  -2
She said, I’ve seen you in here before
-4 -4    -4   -4   -3  4  4   4   4
I said, I’ve been here a time or two.
6   6    6  6   -5  5   5   5 5  -5
She said, hello, my name is Bobby Jo.
-4  -4  -4   5 -5  -5  6  6
Meet my twin sister Betty Lou.
5   6     6    6 -6   7 7  7-6   -6 -7
And we’re both feelin kinda wild tonight.
-5    -5  -5  6 -6 -6  -6  7    -55
You’re the on-ly cowboy in this place.
5  6     6   6   -5 5 -5 -3  -3
And if you’re up for a ro-de – o,
5     5  5  5  5  5   -4   -4  -4  -34
We’ll put a big Texas smile on your face.

And I said, Girls
6  6    6   6   -5 5  5    -2
I ain’t as good as I once was.
-4 -4  -3   -3   4   4  3  -3
I got  a  few years on me now.
6    6   -5  5  5    5   5  5   4
But there was a time back in my prime
5   5   5    5  -5  -5 6   6
When I could really lay it down.
5  6  -6   7    7   7-6  -6  -7
And if you need some love tonight,
-5 -5   6   -6    -6  7  -55
Then I might have just enough.
6  6    6    6  -5 5  5   -3
I ain’t as good as I once was,
-3   5   5  -4   -4  5 -5 -5 5   5
But I’m as good once as I ev-er was
6   6     6   6   -5  5   5      5   -2
I still hang out with my best friend Dave;
-4    -4    -4   -4  -3  4    4   4    4
I’ve known him since we were kids at school
6     6   6   6 -5  5   5
Last night he had a few shots,
-5  5 -3  5     4     -4  5 -5  -5  6   6
Got in a tight spot, hustlin a game of pool
6   6  6 -6  7   7   -6   -7
With a couple of red neck boys,
-5   -5    6  -6  -6 7  -55
One great big bad biker man
5    6   6 -5  5   -5 -5  -3   -3
I heard David yell across the room,
5     5  5  5   5   5 -4 -4  -34
Hey, buddy how bout a helpin hand?

And I said Dave,
6  6    6   6   -5 5  5    -2
I ain’t as good as I once was
-4  -4  -3   -3    4     4
My, how the years have flown.
6    6   -5  5  5    5   5  5   4
But there was a time back in my prime
5   5   5    5  -5  -5  6   6
When I could really hold my own.
5  6  -6  7  7   7-6  -6  -7
But if you wanna fight tonight,
-5    -5    -5   6     -6   -6  7   -55
Guess those boys don’t look all that tough.
6  6    6    6  -5 5  5   -3
I ain’t as good as I once was,
-3   5   5  -4   -4  5 -5 -5 5   5
But I’m as good once as I ev-er was
5   6  -6 7  -8   -8  -87-6
I used to be hell on wheels
-6   -6 -6  7 -7 -7  7   7-66
Back when I was a younger man
6  6  6 -5  -55   -5  -5
Now my body says, you can’t do this boy
5  5    5     5   5   5    5   -55
But my pride says, Oh, yes you can
6  6    6    6  -5 5  5   -2
I ain’t as good as I once was
-4     -3   4    4   4     3
That’s just the cold hard truth.
6     6  -5  5   5
I still throw a few back,
5   5  5  4   4
talk a little smack
5    5   5  -5 -5 6    6
when I’m feelin bullet proof.
5     6 -6   7    7  -6 -7
So, don’t double-dog dare me now,
-5   -5   6   -6  -6   7    -55
Cause I’d have to call your bluff
6  6    6    6  -5 5  5   -3
I ain’t as good as I once was,
-3   5   5  -4   -4  5 -5 -5 5   5
But I’m as good once as I ev-er was
6   6  6  6   -5  5  5   -3
May not be as good I once was,
5  5   5    5   -4  5 -5 -5  5  5
But I’m as good once as I ev-er was.




Ashes Of Eden

4   4    6    5    5   -4 -4  4

Will the faithful be rewarded

4      4    6 -6   5  -4    5

When we come to the end

4   4   6     5   5 -4   -4   4

Will I miss the final warning

4     4  -4   -4 -4   5      -4

From the lie that I have lived

4    4    6  5  5 -4  -4  4

Is there anybody calling

4  4     6    -6    5    -4  5

I can see the soul within

4  -4 -4    5    -4  4

And I am not worthy

3 -4    5    -4  4   -3   4

I am not worthy of this

 

7     7    -7     6   6 5  -6

Are you with me after all

7      7   7   -8    8

Why can’t I hear you

7     7     -7   6       6      5 -6-7-6 6

Are you with me through it all

6      7      7   7  -8    8

Then why can’t I feel you

 

-9      8    -7     -7    7  -6    6

Stay with me, don’t let me go

4      6       6       -6    6    4  -4  4

Because there’s nothing left at all

-9     8     -7     -7    7  -6    6-6-5

Stay with me, don’t let me go

4  6   6    -6  6   4   4 -4   4

Until the Ashes of Eden fall

 

4    4      6    5     5   -4 -4   4

Will the darkness fall upon me

4      4   6  -6    5  -4      5

When the air is growing thin

4    4     6     5  5  -4  -4   4

Will the light begin to pull me

4   4   -4 -4 -4 5   -4

To its everlasting will

4  4      6    5     5 -4      -4  4

I can hear the voices haunting

4     4   6  -6     5  -4    5

There is nothing left to fear

4  4 -4    5    -4  4

And I am still calling

3 -4   5     -4  4  -4   4

I am still calling to you

 

7     7    -7    6    6 5  -6

Are you with me after all

7      7    7   -8    8

Why can’t I hear you

7     7     -7    6       6      5 -6-7-6 6

Are you with me through it all

6       7      7   7  -8    8

Then why can’t I feel you

 

-9     8     -7     -7    7  -6    6

Stay with me, don’t let me go

4      6        6      -6    6    4  -4  4

Because there’s nothing left at all

-9     8     -7     -7    7  -6    6-6-5

Stay with me, don’t let me go

4  6   6    -6  6   4   4 -4   4

Until the Ashes of Eden fall

 

4     -6  6    -4    -6   6     -4    -6   6

Don’t let go, don’t let go, don’t let go

 

7      7    7  -8     8

Why can’t I hear you

 

-9     8     -7     -7    7  -6    6

Stay with me, don’t let me go

4      6        6      -6    6    4  -4  4

Because there’s nothing left at all

-9     8     -7     -7    7  -8    6-65

Stay with me, don’t let me go

4  6   6    -6  6   4   4 -4   4

Until the Ashes of Eden fall

 

7    7    7 -8     8       7    -7    7

Heaven above me, take my hand

7     7 7      7        -9  8   -8    8    7

Shine until there’s nothing left but you

7    7    7 -8     8      7    -7     7-7-6

Heaven above me, take my hand

7     7 7      7        -9  8    -8    8    7

Shine until there’s nothing left but you




The Harp Reference: Motivated Note

Motivated Notes

A “motivated note” is a note that is played for a reason.  All notes are motivated to a certain extent, but the degree of motivation is a big part of how well the note will work in the music.. how good it will sound.

What motivates the selection of the next note to be played?  Why do you pick that particular pitch at that particular time, and why do you hold it as long as you do?  That depends on what motivates you.. what your reasons are.  What motivates you depends fairly heavily on what you know about, as well as your attitudes, and even what you don’t know. Learning new things can enhance your motivation, giving  you better reasons for playing a particular note a certain way.  One new idea can take your improvisations in new and interesting directions.

Many times we are unaware of our actual reasons for what we play.  We are normally at a different level of awareness and have difficulty peering deep down into the underlying and overriding motivations that meld into our judgments and determine our decisions.  This is particularly true when improvising.  Playing by ear, we say.  Just going with the flow and playing what works, what sounds good.  We get an aural image of the music, look around, and see where we want to go.  But what do we see?  How do we think about what we see, and how do we decide which way to go?

There is a vast array of different notes and note combinations that can be played at any given time, in various combinations, different ways.  The context of the music provides a probabilistic limiting to what things will work, musically.  You’re probably not going to play a classical motif while performing Chicago Blues.  Certain notes in certain contexts can be practically guaranteed not to offend the ear.  Certain notes in certain contexts will be almost guaranteed not to work.  Most notes fit in between, with varying degrees of “working”, consonance, dissonance, and not working with the rest of the music.  To understand how to use notes, we have to understand what they are.

note is:

  • a particular pitch
  • played at a certain moment
  • for a particular duration of time
  • with a certain timbre
  • at a certain volume
  • that changes over time in a certain way.

So a single note has many aspects.  Each of these aspects has to be considered as to how it fits in the context of the music.

phrase is:

  • A related sequence of musically motivated notes and silences with an a*sociated
  • Sequence of note time-value relationships and rests that constitute the melodic rhythm.

melody is a sequence of musical phrases.

The musical context is an evolving “state” of the music that depends on three basic things:

  1. What has come before (the past)
    • Meter and rhythm
    • The groove
    • Melody
    • Harmony
    • Timbre
    • Motifs
    • Themes
      • Verse
      • Chorus
    • Phrases
    • Chord progressions
    • The melodic rhythm of note-value phrases
  2. What is going on now (the present)
    • Current harmony (underlying chord)
    • Nearby notes and silences
    • Whether on or off the beat
    • Which beat you are on
    • Where you are in the music’s chord progression, motif, melody, phrase, or theme
  3. What will come later (the future)
    • [same elements as what has come before]

Music is built with these patterns upon patterns upon patterns of notes and silences.  The musical context sets the framework for these patterns–a pattern cannot be fully realized if the whole pattern has not been exposed–played yet.  For example, the pattern of patterns that is a song or piece of music is not complete until the piece has finished.

The meter is perhaps the most fundamental pattern associated with a musical theme.  The time signature defines a repeating pattern of note-value (time duration) relationships that often remains inviolate through out a piece–the most common example is 4 beats per measure.  No matter which pitches you choose, you have to make them fit in a 4 beats per measure pattern (though often the end of one measure will extend through the beginning of the next).  The most elementary motif is normally no shorter than one measure, one bar.

The number of 4 beat note-value combinations (melodic rhythms) in one bar is not extremely high.  Considering that the sixteenth note is usually the smallest time value extensively used, basically only a half dozen different note values are available (sixteenth, eighth, quarter, half, whole, triplet).  The number of patterns available from combinations of these time values in a beat pattern like 4 beats-per-measure-quarter-note-gets-one-beat is reasonably manageable.  However, as the number of bars increases, the number of combinations increases exponentially.  Patterns of bars emerge, and patterns of bar-patterns are built on top.  These can be phrases or sub-phrase patterns, motifs, themes, verses, choruses, A-sections, B-sections, songs, or symphonies…  The development of patterns and adhering to them are fundamental motivations for playing particular notes.

Chord progressions are repeating sets of bars with a defined pattern of chords a*sociated with each bar.  For example, the blues format is a pattern of 12 bars with the I, IV, V chords played for 4, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1 bars.  Within this pattern there is obviously another pattern lurking.. it is divided into 3 groups of 4 bars.  In the first group the chord does not change.  In the second group of 4 bars, the chord changes once.  In the third group of 4 bars the chord changes 3 times.  The frequency of chord changes is a “superimposed pattern” that gives the music a sense of motion.  In the 12 bar blues form, the music starts out still, starts moving faster in the middle, and moves even faster at the end.  With this faster motion comes a feeling of “something happening” that is over and above the rhythm and the melody of the music.  When the blues progression repeats, there is another cycle of relative stillness giving the feeling that what was happening is over and something new has started, followed by the increasing motion again and a new sense of something happening.  So, another pattern is built out of repeating verses, a pattern of chord change frequency (even if the chords were different each verse, as in modulation to a new key).

What are possible reasons for picking a note?  What motivations are there?  How do we know which note to play (next)?

  • It has been composed and is predefined.
  • It works with the groove
  • ONE two THREE four ONE two THREE four
  • one TWO three FOUR one TWO three FOUR
  • ONE two three four ONE two three four
  • ONE two three ONE two three
  • ONE two ONE two ONE two three ONE two ONE two ONE two three
  • It fits with the selected musical style
  • It works with or establishes some musical theme of a song, like a
    • phrase
    • verse
    • chorus
    • bass line
    • chord progression
  • It works with or establishes some melodic rhythm pattern (note-value phrase)
  • It contributes to the musical feel
  • It comes from the harmony
  • It comes from the scale and mode
  • It borrows from a related harmony, scale, or mode
    • Chord substitutions
    • Mode/scale substitutions
  • It follows from the melody
  • It leads to upcoming harmony (chords)
  • It comes from the ear, motivated by the sound
  • It comes from the mind, motivated by the intellect
  • It comes from the body, motivated by playing technique
  • It comes from the instrument, motivated by its mechanical characteristics
  • It comes from memory
  • What has sounded good before
  • What has sounded bad before (so you don’t do it again in that context)
  • What theoretical relationships have worked before (in addition to what new relationships may work now)
  • What physical actions have been practiced before
    • Lick – A set series of physical actions (consisting of blows, draws, bends, overbends, and other effects) that result in a memorable pattern of notes with an action-associated note-value phrase (melodic rhythm) over a set of holes.  One lick can be played in different physical places, or on different key or tuning harps, to produce different melodic phrases with the samemelodic rhythm.  While the original musical phrase may have had “well motivated” notes, when captured as a physical action pattern of play rather than a musical statement the notes can become less well motivated.
    • Riff – The term “riff” is not used consistently by players.  Many players consider a riff to be the same thing as a lick.. two words with different origins that mean the same thing.  Other players think of a riff as a short repeated “lick” used in some thematic way, such as a song’s “hook”.  Some people think of a “riff” as something behind the solo, and a “lick” as something used in a solo, and others think something else altogether.  It’s good to make clear from the context just what you mean when you say “riff” to avoid confusion. Another definition for “riff” is: a physical-action based ornamentation of a note, or transition between notes or phrases.  As with a lick, the motivation of the resulting notes of an ornamentation riff is primarily due to the physical action, and not to play notes of particular pitches.
  • It is an accident; a mistake of the ear, mind, or technique
  • It tries to meet expectations
  • It tries to be unexpected
  • It acts in a phrase of related notes to contribute to a musical statement
  • Patterns upon patterns upon patterns of notes and silences form an integrated tapestry that is the music.

Turning Licks Into Phrases

As discussed above, licks are playing patterns that generate a melodic rhythm and a*sociated pitches based on the physical characteristics of the instrument.  Phrases are a*sociated musically motivated notes and silences with a corresponding note-value pattern, which is the melodic rhythm of the phrase.  So, licks generate musical phrases, but they aren’t themselves musical phrases.

One way to help turn a physical playing pattern into a musically motivated phrase is to use the melodic rhythm as a recurring theme or motif in your song.  As with most things, good taste includes not overdoing it.

To really turn the results of a lick into a musical phrase, you should be able to play the same notes wherever they occur on the harp.  In other words, if you play a lick on the bottom of the harp, be able to play those notes in the middle and top of the harp too.  Be able to play them in different positions so you learn the musical relationships, not just the physical actions you use when playing the lick in one place on one harp.  This will help your ear and mind get control of the musical phrase and help you minimize the reliance on muscle memory.  It helps your music break free of your technique, by extending your techniques to enable the music you want to play.  It helps improve your musical vision, and can help enhance your internal image “mind’s eye” view of the harp.




The Harp Reference: Basic Chords on the Diatonic

To figure out the chords, you first have to know the “interval relationships” of the notes.  Lets look at the notes again.

Holes:      1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 
Blow notes: C E G C E G C E G C 
Draw notes: D G B D F A B D F A

So, for blow holes 1, 2, and 3 you have C, E, and G, which is a C Major chord (major 3rd interval on “bottom”, i.e. C & E, and minor 3rd interval on “top”, i.e. E & G).  Notice that holes 4, 5, and 6 are also C, E, G, which is another C Major chord, as are holes 7, 8, and 9.  In 1st position the C Major chord is the tonic or root or I chord of the C scale.  In 2nd position the C Major chord is the sub-dominant or IV chord of the G scale, which is part of the I, IV, V blues progression.

For draw holes 1, 2, and 3 you get D, G, and B. This is a G Major chord, 2nd inversion (which just means the root note is in the middle–that is, a G Major chord is G, B, D, but if you play the D as the lowest note you get D, G, B–but it is still a G Major chord).  Notice that  the 4 draw is the same as the 1 draw, a D note.  Doubling a note does not change the chord, so drawing holes 1-4 also produces a G Major chord.  For 1st position the G Major chord is the dominant or V chord of the C scale.  For 2nd position the G Major chord is the root or I chord.

Drawing on holes 2, 3, 4, and 5 have notes G, B, D, F, which is a G7 chord.  The dominant 7th note adds color to the major chord and is used very often in blues, rock, and country music.  Once again you can double the D by adding the 1 draw and you still have the G7 chord.

Drawing on holes 4, 5, and 6, or 8, 9, and 10 produces the notes D, F, A, which is a D minor chord (notationally Dm).

The four note chords in draw 3-6 and 7-10 are B, D, F, A, which is a Bm7b5 chord.  Note that this chord is the same as the D minor chord with the 6th added (called Dm6), but in a different inversion–that is, instead of the 6th note (the B) being the high note in the chord it is the low note.

The diatonic harp can play only those relatively few chords.  Many times, players will play “partial chords” or double stops consisting of only 2 notes, since the full chord is not available.

For example, the Em chord, notes E G B, is not on a C harp.  But, looking at the figure above you can see that blow holes 2&3, 5&6, and 8&9 have the notes E&G, the first two notes of the Em chord.  Similarly, the F chord is F A C, and doesn’t fall on the harp–but the F&A notes are there as draw notes in holes 5&6 and 9&10.

Here’s an important point to remember.  The 3rd scale degree (the middle note in root position triads) controls whether the chord sounds Major or Minor, and sets the tonal color.  Sometimes the 3rd is left out, which results in a sort of haunting or eerie effect, since the listener does not hear the major or minor sound.  However, often times there are other instruments playing, like a guitar, bass, or keyboard, and those instruments set the overall feel of the music, so the harp can get away with not playing all the notes in a chord.

Another technique that can be used to simulate chords that aren’t on the harp is to play them broken apart.  Using the above example for Em, the player could play 5 blow & 6 blow to get the E&G, then follow that with the 7 draw to get the B note.  Many such combinations are possible.

Finally, broken chords can be played one note at a time, which are called arpeggios.