Reply To: Tuning and Gapping Hammond Bass melodica

#5427
Lowboy
Participant

But I retract my own statement due to a recent discovery. Under normal circumstances with a typical melodica, the notes in the highest register do not bend more than a couple of cents (barely noticeable), and I would welcome hearing a recording of anyone executing a high note bend of any appreciable depth. (Though Quetscher seems to have found a special technique using his Vibrandoneon to bend some notes in the middle-to-higher registers if I remember the recording correctly.)

However, several weeks ago I discovered a way to bend the highest notes on a HM-27. The bending is not quite as deep as in the lower notes, but it definitely is a musical sounding bend much deeper than just a few cents.

It is a difficult technique to execute, particularly at playing speed when you are playing melodies. The stars must aligned properly and you must chant certain incantations, but I am able to do it, inconsistently.

I am still working to get a recording together showing the expressiveness that I am wringing out of my Hohners, but each day I find new discoveries and keep trying to perfect them before making the definitive recording. Plus life has been very busy. My acoustic trio performed last Friday, will perform this coming Friday, and has several gigs booked for the summer, so I should have some field reports coming along.

Hopefully I will get to a recording soon.

Lowboy

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