Overblow - Harmonica

This is overblow.com, the objective of this site is to collect as much information on the diatonic harmonica technique called overblow or overbend, in one place. We hope to be able to clear up misunderstandings and teach people how to play overblows with ease and confidence.
Overblow.com is also the home of the chord and scalefinder for all harmonicas and custom tunings.

The latest addition to this site is Ludo Beckers page of soundsamples. Ludo plays some weirdly tuned harmonicas and uses a lot of overblows.

If you have any suggestions for the content of this site or might have material you would like to share please feel free to send us a message:
info@overblow.com

Tinus has been accepted to the Royal Conservatory of The Hague where he is now studying jazz on the diatonic harmonica.
Read all about the entrance exam on Tenhole.com

This is overblow.com, the objective of this site is to collect as much information on the diatonic harmonica technique called overblow or overbend, as possible. We hope to be able to clear up misunderstandings and teach people how to play overblows with ease and confidence.

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As of september 2007 Tinus will be teaching a harmonica course at the cultural center of the Technical University in Delft. For details about the course see the site of the TU Delft cultural center.

A while back I made a text only version of this site and also a version of the harmonica scalefinder that works with talking computers .

18-10-2009 11:43

Tinus

site

Audio examples would be a lot of work but the other thing I have been working on. Havent found a practicle method yet.

18-10-2009 03:42

Jazmaan

Thanks Tinus! Here's another suggestion but probably a little harder to implement. It sure would be great to have mp3 audio examples of each scale. Even better would be the ability to click on a note in the scalefinder and hear it.

14-10-2009 12:10

I added the bebop dominant. No Idea why it wasn't in there in the first place.

14-10-2009 02:48

jazmaan

I was using your scalefinder today to practice bebop 8-note scales on my Fourkey Chromatic. I noticed that the only 8-note bebop scales in the scalefinder are the Bebop Major and Bebop Minor Scales. Do you think it would be possible to add the 8-note Bebop Dominant Scale too? Thanks!

18-06-2009 20:31

You don't have to adjust the reeds but it does make it easier to play on most harps. However the harmonica bussiness is evolving and harmonicas are getting much better for playing overblows.

18-06-2009 19:55

Alex

I just wanted to say that your site is just simply awesome with so much information and tips and so much to learn about, thank you, I picked up an harmonica and always wanted to play jazz with it, and didn't know about the overblowing technique to get all the notes!.
I am gonna practice my arse off , cheers mate. oh just one question, do you essentially need to set up the reeds of the harp to get all the overblow bends and stuff?. I hope not, since I am all thumbs and fingers..

23-05-2009 23:45

Thanks for the quick response! And how very cool it is that you now have a direct link to the Seydel Harp Configurator. You are making it so easy for people to experiment with altered tunings, there should be no excuses for people not to investigate for themselves.

17-05-2009 20:22

You are welcome. I added the tuning you requested.

16-05-2009 20:56

I just want to thank you for the Scalefinder! It is a truly wonderful educational tool and has been incredibly helpful to me as I explore alternate tunings such as the XB-Melody, Fourkey and Bebop.

I have a request: Could you please add to Scalefinder the Major 6th variant on chromatic bebop tuning? This is the tuning preferred by William Gallison which is shown here: http://www.angelfire.com/music/harmonica/beboplayouts.html#C6Bebop

Thanks again!

07-05-2009 00:06

osmar j. assis

im from brazil and dont englhis well! my question is how to over draw
thank so !!!!

15-03-2009 12:34

@ RJ: no you are right. Hmm, I'm not very good at tabs, maybe a few errors like that will encourage people to start learning standard notation :)
Thanks for the tip.

15-03-2009 07:51

RJ Harman

Hey just wanted to say or maybe I'm wrong but on your tenhole site, I think you have a wrong tab on your triads. It says 2d 3d 5d? Let me know, sorry if I'm wrong.

29-11-2008 10:27

Lip blocking works best. Pucker is okay. Tongblocking is usefull but not necesary.

29-11-2008 04:05

Michael

Is it essential to learn tongue blocking to be proficient ... or will the pucker method work?

06-11-2008 16:42

For bending and other techniques on the bluesharp try this site: http://www.angelfire.com/tx/myquill/

06-11-2008 15:29

Frano

Is there a similar site about bending? Thanks, Frano

15-07-2008 23:51

Can you please update the downloadable scalefinder to include the Fourkey diatonic? It's already in the online version but missing from the download. Thanks for a great learning aid!

11-04-2008 02:12

翼

Thanks a lot for so much helpful information in your site .Whenever you come to china I'll be there

11-03-2008 12:34

Pat Williams

I enjoyed your site.

11-03-2008 01:55

start on the next page and keep reading :)

09-03-2008 02:13

Thanks for your speedy reply. I am using an A harp, trying to hit the 1/2 step higher than 10 blow. It's no wonder I can't hit it by blowing! Please point me in the right direction to learn to play this "overdraw".

08-03-2008 17:25

Yes you can play an overdraw on hole 10. That would give you a note a half step up from the 10 blow and you can bend that up to get higher than that. The bending is pretty difficult on a high pitched harp though.

08-03-2008 06:19

There is one song I am trying to learn that requires a higher pitched note than the 10 blow. Is this done with an overblow? Is this possible? I have been trying for a few days and can't get it.

02-03-2008 13:44

I started playing overblows some six months after I started playing so that would have been in the summer of 95.

01-03-2008 14:35

beki lenn

by the way when did you start learning to overblow, tinus?

01-03-2008 14:27

wow, I guess I have some practice to do

01-03-2008 12:48

The overblows are as natural to me as blow and draw notes. The bent notes are a little more difficult.

01-03-2008 04:20

Hi, I have a question for all you overblow masters out there. Do overblows ever get to a point where you can kind of play them without thinking about it, like bending, or is it always sort of a chore to get a good clean, strong, exact sound?

12-02-2008 13:14

If you learn to bend down the blow read untill it chokes and you learn to remeber the position of the mouth that does that you can then play the overblow without playing the blownote first. Yes you can play two overblows at the same time, but the resonance needed for that is very complex and usually not very reliable. It is very easy to loose one of the chokes and then you are playing 3 notes wich becomes very messy

12-02-2008 00:50

Cary V

Yes, thank you. Since I posted that my technique has improved to where I really don't have that particular problem anymore. My question now, is there a particular technique to choke the blow reed without first playing it normally? For instance, if you want to get the hole 5 overblow without playing the normal hole 5 blow, or is it once again a matter of practice alone? Also, is it possible to overblow two or more notes at once?

24-01-2008 17:05

a blowbend bends down, an overblow goes up in pitch.

24-01-2008 17:04

If you have trouble with the overblows sounding dirty or warbled you need to work on your technique to better choke the blowreed. Also adjusting the reed gap, arc and tolerance will help.

18-12-2007 07:45

Thank you. Sorry to have confused the terms overblow and blowbend (hope I am not confusing them again). What makes the difference between the two? I am a relatively new player and just trying to understand the principles. I have been able to achieve overblows on holes 4,5,6 but it produces a warbling sort of sound, unsmooth at best. Is there a specific way that this maybe overcome or is it just a matter of practice? Thank you again.

18-12-2007 01:11

There are no overblows above hole 6, the blownotes in hole 7 to 10 can bend. Hole 7 can not bent very far though, that is why it isn't listed in the scalefinder. It is indeed a '1/4 note' bend as you say.

17-12-2007 07:57

First thank you for your wonderful site, I find it very useful and it has helped me greatly. My question - on the scalefinder why is the 7 hole blow overblow not listed? Am I confused about this, is it a 1/4 step change similar to the 5 hole draw?

28-09-2007 11:14

Gusharp M�laga

Thank you for your dedication and work. Is really useful for the beginers like me.
Gustavo Herrera from M�laga (spain)

17-09-2007 08:23

Sally Kraus

I like your site.

04-05-2007 19:26

Otavio Castro

wonderful website! congratulations man!!! all the best from Brazil!

26-02-2007 09:46

Jim Dobson

Cool SIte.

05-02-2007 16:59

Aleksej Dolin�ek

What a wonderful educating site! I`m harmonica beginner but with help of this instructions I have managed to play my first hole 3 overblow!!!

Thank you and keep on good work!

Best regards form Slovenia
Aleksej Dolin�ek

03-02-2007 14:08

According to Ludo I should have heard of Blues Birdhead, if only I would have read Pat Missin's site better.

02-02-2007 18:59

:) thanks and thanks for the info, I didn't know about mr Birdshead. I'll have to do a page about him and other early overblowers.

02-02-2007 18:24

paul linden

you'd make ol' blues birdhead - the inventor of the overblow in the 1920's - proud.

10-01-2007 10:13

cool site.

10-01-2007 01:30

Gou Sasia

a great harmonica web site.

05-10-2006 08:19

your site is very useful.

27-09-2006 14:04

Because all reeds are different in size, weight and function there is not one gap that works for all reeds. The reed gap is determined by how far you want the reed to bend before it chokes. So in a blow reed that you overblow you might want the reed to bend a quarter tone before it chokes. But for a drawreed in hole 3 you would probably like the reed to bend further so you can play the 3 bend notes smoothly. I try to get the draw 3 reed to bend to between the halfstep and whole step bend, aprox. three quarter tones.

26-09-2006 03:19

Arnie

Hello Tinus,
I just sent an E-mail to Ludo after finding your web-site and I have to thank you very much for all the good information. It is very helpful and you are filling a great need, regarding the chromatic expansion of the diatonic harmonica.I asked Ludo for more info about gapping the reeds. That is the only part of your info that I thought something was missing; at least to me. How do I determine the distance from reed to plate? I know there are people who use machinist feeler gauges to get it right. Help! Keep up the good work.
Arnie.

14-09-2006 21:10

Jack Wartell

I consider it a minor miracle to have discovered your site...we appreciate it greatly!!! Jack W.

20-08-2006 20:43

leandro chiussi

i come from argentina, sorry, i dont speak english very well, but i want to say 'thank you' beucause your webpage help me to make the harp modifications to get the overbends. this webpage is one of the most importants harmonica's webpage of the world.
leandro chiussi
http://www.leandrochiussi.aablues.com.ar

08-06-2006 03:38

youssef lamant

hello realy good site and im verry i like harmonica exactly steel blues but in maroco we have not harmonica blues like 10 holes we have just a bad harmonica plz help me i need a harmonica blues when i can make a harmonica blues and thx u verry mutsh spider15000@hotmail.com

10-05-2006 01:22

Pablo could it be you are confusing overblows and blowbends? Blowbends are indeed fairly easy to learn, although playing them with accurate intonation for most people isn't a matter of weeks.
The principle of playing overblows can be learned in a very short period of time. Understanding how it works doesn't take much time at all. Learning to play them fast, in tune and with a timbre equal to that of the other notes takes years rather than weeks.

09-05-2006 04:43

PABLO BARREA

hello I hope you are doing well :Im not really a big hamonic player ,I just know some of music ;I use to recibe harmonica news from the nice guy all eicher who is gone,is when I sow overblows in a turston rule,maybe im not modest I know I will never will be as good as i would like.but Im sorry but I do not know overdraws ,but overblows just take acuple of houers to learn ,not weeks and weeks as you said.sorry just an opinion.

29-04-2006 18:34

Kelo

Thanks for a phenomenal site. Kelo

19-03-2006 22:13

Today I have made some changes to the site. Mostly changes to the CMS which will make it easier for me to update the content of the site. hopfully I will find the time to write some new articles every now and then.

For the users of this site the most obviuos new feature is the search box in the right hand upper corner. This will help you find the articles that you need.

26-02-2006 00:06

michael

I am learning diatonic harp (C) on a Tombo aero reed. Usualy whilst driving. Not that safe but get a least an hour a day this way.

Love the web site, do you still play jazz, and where and how do I use your site to help do this.

Cheers mate

Mike

16-12-2005 12:38

The hole 7 overdraw is possibly the trickiest note on the harp. I still wreck many hole 7 blowreeds because of it and am working on improving on it. I found that for me the best way to practice it is to play it as softly as possible. Make sure that if it sounds it is because you have found the perfect position of the mouth and not because you force the reed into playing.
You might not believe it now, but it is possible to play that hole 7 overdraw as soft as a whisper, almost inaudible.

11-12-2005 08:56

Jon

Hey tinus, I heard that you only use a C harp no matter what key, due to my economic situation, i am playing only with a c as well. my question is, when playing bebop speed phrases, say an Eb7, how do you deal with the # 7 overdraw, no matter how i adjust it, i still get a slight delay, all i really do to modify my harps is nail polish and gapping, this seems to be sufficient for all the other notes. i'm just wondering if you have had the same difficulty. any input would be great thanks jon

27-08-2005 19:08

I have added pictures to the harp modification items. I hope these will help you in performing the modifications yourself.

09-08-2005 21:48

Pablo Basso

Hello Tinus. Thanks for this site and tenhole.com! I´ve been trying to do overblows for about 2 months without any satisfactory results, but with the information on this sites in two days i heard clearly my first 4,5 and 6 hole overblows!
Thanks Tinus for the making of your sites and for your job to make the harmonica a more advanced musical instrument.

Pablo from Argentina

Sorry my english.

02-08-2005 21:07

The thread follow funtion of the comment scripts is finished.
You can now choose to have an email send to you whenever somebody adds a comment to a topic you have commented on.

Try it, its fun :-)

Tinus

02-08-2005 16:11

It looks like the comment scrip is working again. Pleas don't be afraid to leave questions or remarks in the comments for they will all help expanding the knowledge we are trying to amass here on this site.

(I'm still working on that threadfollower :-) )

22-07-2005 23:22

37 days before I start school. I can't wait till that day comes. In the mean time I am trying to keep my mind off things updating this site. I have recorded a number of example scales.

major scales: http://overblow.com/?menuid=199

blues scales: http://overblow.com/?menuid=200