Brendan Power & Alternative Harmonicas Forum

Correct Jason :-) Half-valved PowerChromatic is used exclusively on a couple of my albums in Swing/Hot Club jazz style: BP and the Swingfellas http://www.brendan-power.com/Swingfellas.php Back to Back with PT Gazell http://www.brendan-power.com/BackToBack.php Great for that stuff, as the extensive u...

OK, I understand now. Yes, if you drill a small hole for the spring on the opposite side you can flip the slide over. Of course all notes will go down when you push the button, but I guess that's what you want? You can test it by playing with the slide held in and releasing to get the other notes, t...

Often the new tunings come about because I'm trying to play something in a way I hear it on another instrument and I can't. It could be an Irish fiddle decoration, or the way a Chinese Erhu can bend a long way on every note. I figure out what's missing, scribble down on a piece of paper a tuning or ...

Thanks Winslow and Triona, I've emailed Harland with both those contacts. * * * I alluded above to a couple of subsequently-discovered happy accidents in harps I created. One was in the AsiaBend, an all-draw X-Reed harmonica. A bit of background first: X-Reed types are ones where there is an extra '...

I show it there, except the Bb is called an A#.

Richard: nice to see you here. You make a great point: harmonica reeds were never designed for overbending, just good normal playing. Maybe dedicated research might discover some optimal alternative reed shape (forked end, rounded end, taper out or in etc) or width-to-length ratio that makes reeds o...

You can of course play in every key in half-valved PowerChromatic. It's actually easier than on fully valved Solo, as there are so many bend-enharmonics: bent notes that are the same as the slide notes. This gives lots of extra options for playing tricky phrases, and a more legato feel than you get ...

Thanks for the info Patrice. You do so many good things for the French harmonica scene

I'm glad people are thinking of alt tunings for the AsiaBend. I already have a few myself, including Pentatonic and Arabic. It's not hard to retune, and Bebop would be easy. When retuning the X-Reeds (blow reeds set with no gap), you need to open the gap (raise the tip of the reed) so they sound, an...

I ddn't quite understand what you mean - can you describe in more detail what you'd like to see?