Q: What is overblowing and why may I want to do it?

A: With bends you can lower the pitch of the draw notes in holes 1-6 and the blow notes in holes 7-10. With overblows you can raise the pitch of the blow notes in holes 1-6 and of the draw notes in holes 7-10. These latter are actually called 'overdraws'. Overblows and overdraws are much harder to achieve then bends, but can give you the accidentals and chromatic notes not usually available on a diatonic. A good way to practice is to take of the covers of your harmonica, blow through hole and stop the *blow* reed from moving with your finger. Now try to make the draw reed sound. This gives you an idea of how an overblow should feel. Now try to achieve the same without your finger. The other approach to chromatic scales on a diatonic is to valve the draw reeds in holes 1-6 and the blow reeds in holes 7-10. This way you can bend the otherwise un-bendable notes, while you can also still make the ordinary bends. Note that playing on a valved diatonic might seem easier than learning overblows, but it is said to be almost as hard to get good tone and control in that way -- BB/HAA

(FMI: "OVERBLOW BASICS" 19 Oct 93 WY)
(FMI: "More Overblow Basics" 23 Oct 93 WY)
(FMI: "Overblows and how to do it!!" 16Jun 94 CM)
(FMI: "Re; Overblows and how to do them" 17 Jun 94 SJ)
(FMI: "Embouchure Survey" 24 May 95 WY)