First let me say I bought myself the 1847 powerbender tuning in A and it’s my favorite harp that I have. I haven’t put it down in favor of the richter one time. Let me preface this by saying I’m only 4 months into learning harp but this tuning is almost like a cheat code imho. It’s so intuitive and makes sense in my Mind. Even without having the Scale degrees of each hole committed to memory I was making music right away on this harp. And I’m talking about playing actual melodies with ease. All the draw bends are very easy for me except holes 9&10. O couldn’t get them to bend at all initially but I talked to the Seydel rep for the USA and he told me to give it about a week before I messed with the gapping at all. These holes actually will need less air pressure rather than more and also he said I may want to back off some, meaning my embouchure so to not have the harp as far I. My mouth as with the other holes. After a couple days working I’m bending those holes as well. I still need better control but I can do it. These harps are smooth as silk, responsive and the tone is amazing. Easy as any to bend too. Liam I wonder if you might put up a couple lessons on the tuning??!! Maybe teaching a couple pieces of the harmonica vocabulary or some well known phrases or licks??! I’d appreciate it.
Nice job, Liam ! I find the PowerBender to be my favorite because of the 5 draw: you can bend it a half step and that is really useful. You get, for example, a complete chromatic octave from +2 (E on a C harp) to -5 without any overblows !! By adding a valve to the 7 draw you can add the +7' and get chromaticism on up to -8 (a valve on 9 draw and you have +9' possible as well). Amazing, incredible and loads of fun !!
That's great ! Good job Brendan ! I had seen the interview... so much fun... definitely a bit of a mad scientist, incredibly passionate and deeply committed to the instrument and music in general. He's come up with many interesting things but this seems very promising. Might be worth mentioning that he's added another full chord, right ? The IV. Thanks for sharing
So all things being equal if you were just starting to learn today, would you go to the PowerBender or stick with Richter tuning? I’m only a couple months in and I’m curious if I should get a powerbender or stick with richter only
I think it depends if you want easy access to instructional stuff that can guide you, or are happier going it alone and working out your own path. The PowerBender gives you more potential but you'll have to work a lot of it out yourself - or take lessons with Brendan!
Hiya Liam, could you please do a video comparing the differences between PowerBender, PowerDraw and Wilde tunings. I'd like your input as it would apply to a beginner wanting to explore....Cheers!
@@docsharmonicablues Seeing the tunings doesn't mean much to someone who doesn't fully understand what they're looking at....that's why I stated "beginner"
@@TheWingnut58 I appreciate that, Rick. But if you don't start learning these things then it will be a more difficult task to fully appreciate the differences between these harps. If you have the cash, then the quick way to getting started is to simply buy one and start playing it. With the PowerDraw there is *NO* difference for holes 1-6 when compared to the Richter tuned blues harp. And for the beginner that makes the PowerDraw the easiest to learn.
@@docsharmonicablues Trying to get a grasp on what tunings are about is an overall very good advice. Regarding this specific harmonica, I think it's easier to learn if you want to play blues. From what I understood, it's mainly designed for improving blues playing. Not sure about country or folk where you might want that full chord blow all the way up the harmonica and you'll also be missing the 4th note of the major scale without bend on the higher octave (ok not a huge deal). And maybe other things to consider that I don't have the required knowledge to foresee.
Is this the tuning Alan Wilson harp player for canned heat used? Not perticularly in "On the road again" But for most of his songs that use a harp, like the song "Huautla".
nope, alan wilson's tuning just changed one note, which was raising the 6 draw up a half step to get the minor third in second position. powerbender was invented well after alan passed and changes 60% of the layout
is the Lucky13 power bender the exact same harmonica but with two more notes down deeper?? They sound different but are described as the same ? I am confused about the Luck13 series... what are the benefits and are they same but only with two added lower tones? thanks for anyone that can explain..
The Lucky 13 is like a standard Richter-tuned harmonica with an extra three holes at the bottom. The extra holes are an octave down from the 'normal' notes.
The scales they are based on. This harp is still a diatonic one, which means that it's based on the major scale. With this harp, the notes you get without bends are all in the major scale (in the key of the harmonica) and you can play all the major scale without needing bends (it contains all the notes of the major scale). So if you want to play the blues scale for instance you're going to need to use bends and to play in 2nd position. The pentaharp is based on the blues scale. Which means that the notes you get without bends are all from the blues scale and that it contains all the blues scale. You can play other notes with bends. It's easier to play blues stuff on the pentaharp but less expressive basically because you're going to use less bends, because of where the bends are situated. You can't really play anything else than blues with it. Also you can't play any full chords on a pentaharp, whereas you can play 4 full chords with this one and 3 with the Richter (normal) tuning. I'm pretty sure I've got this right but someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
I am an old, retired fart who decided to try the PowerBender and the PowerDraw tunings -- and it was so easy to change to them that I can only say: go for it. That upper end is no different than what you have down at the low end (with the exception of -- on a C harp -- the Ab), so you can play all of your favorite lower end riffs up in the high range (if that interests you). I find the only "problem" being that the upper end notes are quite shrill and require perhaps less "power" than you expect in order to avoid this shrillness. If in doubt, buy a lower tuned harp, such as an A or G -- the upper end is then not so shrill. But with practice and restraint, even a C harp sounds good up there !!
