Some brands of harmonicas are made with a less exacting design or inferior quality materials and will have air leakage and poor reed response. These leaky harmonicas require a player to use a lot of air to get the reeds to respond. Lee Oskar Harmonicas are designed and manufactured to be very airtight using a plastic comb and high quality materials that provide reeds with very responsive action. However, because our reeds are so sensitive, sometimes even an experienced player may encounter problems because they are constricting the air too much, out of habit.
This is especially common if they have been playing other brands of harmonicas that are less airtight. Embouchure is the actual method of applying your lips, tongue and mouth on the harmonica.
Many beginners may have playing difficulties which can be attributed to incorrect embouchure. Incorrect Embouchure. You are bending a note unintentionally by sucking the air through the harmonica in a constricted way. The tongue and mouth in this position will cause too much suction and constrict your air flow. Comment: Lee Oskar Harmonicas are very air tight. These reeds are very sensitive and if you are not focused on playing with a large warm embouchure, you can easily bend or distort these reeds.
Correct Embouchure. Learn to unbend notes, by drawing the air through the harmonica in a more relaxed way. Your jaw should drop way down and your tongue should be on the bottom of your mouth between your lower set of teeth.
In this position you will have a nice, clear air passage. To avoid sucking in too hard, also try to breath partly in through your nose, taking some of the pressure off the reed.
Think of yawning; play with a yawn-like mouth cavity when drawing in air. Pucker higher than wide; the inner part of your lips should cover a large area of the cover plates for a nice tight seal. Click here for our system of mastery for all skill level blues harmonica students.
Hi Kinya I have a Special 20 harmonica in Bb. When I bend the three draw, I get a high-pitched squeal, almost all the time. What do you think is causing this and how do you think I can remedy it. Are you comfortable with disassembling your harmonica, and attaching to this forum, close up photos of both your 3 blow and draw reeds? I would like to see the offset gap and profile side view of these two reeds.
Remember, I need to see clear photos of the offset gap and side profiles of both the blow and draw reeds. Most digital cameras have a "macro" setting for close up shots. If you have an iPhone, there are attachment macro lens that will allow you to take close up shots. Okay, I have taken some pictures using a Canon 35 mm camera with a mm lens. It seems the file sizes are too large for me to upload.
Can I email them to you, or is there a way for me to insert them into the forum? Looks like I had some luck. Here are the two reed plates, before I did anything. I have a reed wrench, so I wiggled both the blow and the draw reeds a little bit and there seems to have been a large improvement. Not sure what I did, but, the squeal has been largely minimized. We accept major credit cards and PayPal. But what should I be working on? Any thoughts would be great. Thank you! FreeWilly posts Aug 23, PM.
I have the same problem, and I've been playing quite a lot longer. Especially on high harps and on 2 double bends. It only sets in if you hold the bend for a while on the same pitch. It helps to open up emboussure? Todd Parrott posts Aug 23, PM. I have the same problem, which is why Lee Oskar harps have never been a good option for me. I can understand the need for the use of nail polish on techniques which are more radical, such as overblows and overdraws, but not on something as common as bends.
It doesn't take much to make a Lee Oskar squeal, so don't let this discourage you or make you feel like this is due to your technique. Last Edited by on Aug 23, PM. ReedSqueal posts Aug 23, PM. Someone call my name? I am just wondering when the squeal occurs? Is it during a sustained bend? If so, I've heard of a phenomenon called sympathetic resonance.
If I have the term correct anyways. As I understand it another reed that is not supposed to be directly involved somehow does become involved. I had a squeal problem early on in my upper register playing, but it went away over time. Keep playing, your embouchure and muscle memory will evolve and the squeal will disappear. Note: I may be off base with the sympathetic resonance so someone feel free to chime in. Some samples from the F harp which is the worse offender.
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