Alternate tunings for beginners...
Hi everyone, I just joined as a newbie harp player (came from blues guitar) and have a quick question I want to think about before I really jump in with standard Richter tuning... I know it's best that I learn to play along with these lessons (and other lessons as well) using standard Richter tuning, but I can't help thinking in the back of my head I might want to change to a more personal, customised tuning soon... I have also played minor key harps, and love the 'blues' sound I get from them much than a major scale harp, but I am also thinking of custom designing my own tuning and my question is "when is the best time to 'jump ship' from Richter tuning?"
I know I shouldn't even be asking this as a beginner, but I feel like I might end up on some 'alternate' tuning like this, and am wondering if I should be experimenting with them as soon as possible to find what 'feels' best for me, so that once I have my basic technique down, I can swap to 'my tuning' as soon as possible so I don't get 'used' to standard Richer tuning that doesn't really do what I want, so I was wondering if any more experienced players can give me some advice - especially if you have done the same thing and created your own 'special' personalised tuning...? Thanks!
Thanks, Winslow... Yes, that is basically my dilemma - do I just dive in head-first into the standard tuning and blindly devote myself to it, or act on my gut-feeling hunch that I might need some kind of alternate tuning that speaks more to me personally - if that makes sense? I am very willing to give standard more than a fair go, but I just wondered at what point I should 'jump ship' so as to not make it harder to actually learn and possibly make my alternate tuning become "my little corner of infinity" :) Thanks again for you advice... cheers, Dan
I don't see this as an either-or question.
I've given my reaons for knowing standard tuning.
Every different tuning gives you something new but takes something else away. It's worth asking just what is being gained and lost with each tuning. And what do you discover when you go deeper into each tuning?
... and the visual arts.
If you want to learn to paint you spend years copying the masters at the Louvre BEFORE you branch off into your own expressions. Picasso (and all the other great moderns) could paint realistically and copy anyone.
When I trained on the violin I copied the greats playing the the standard repertoire EXACTLY. That created a lot of choices that I could then put together differently using the perfect springboard for my own expression once I had my technique down pat. Now, moving onto blues, bluegrass, 5 string etc. I have rock solid timing, form, pitch and technique that puts me so far ahead of most fiddlers in those brand new genres I'm branching out into right from the start. It also gives me such a massive advantage in learning any new instrument - like the harmonica.
David teaches like a teacher of the classics does. That's what's so amazing here. You go step by step and get a solid foundation in the basics. I've never seen anyone teach any other instrument other than the classical instruments like the strings and piano etc. this way... but it's the BEST way.
I can tune my violin differently now and still use everything ELSE I learned to play but if I had tried to have my violin tuned differently when taking my first lessons, that would have been a disaster.
If David just had the music match the sound by putting up recrodings on the C harmonica I would match him note by note, step by step all the way. If you don't already read music and are using sound then matching his every note on the A harmonica (the same one he is using in the same tuning) all the way through seems to me like a truly golden opportunity to get a form of classical music training from which you can take anywhere or do with anything you would like to when you are done.
At least it won't take you 20 years to get through the training like it does with the violin. ;)
You've seen my other answers on Facebook. I'll go into more detail here.
If you're going to relate to the rest of the harmonica world and learn from what others have done, have a common point of reference in the existing literature, or just understand the richness of what can be done with a system that was never designed to do what it does, and yet has had a profound influence on the development of the blues language, then learning standard tuning is invaluable.
Dyed-in-the-wool blues harmonica players are the least likely to use alternate tunings because they're not part of the tradition. And yet the same is true for some of the most out-there virtuosos like Howard Levy. Howard can play anything in any key on any harp. And yet he refuses to explore alternate tunings. He refers to standard tuning as "my little corner of infinity."
Am I against alternate tunings? No. I use some of them myself (country tuning and lately, quartal pentatonic) and have even invented one that others have adopted (though I seldom use it myself). But I use them along with standard tuning.
One danger with alternate tunings is that you can skim the surface of various tunings without ever digging into any of them deep enough to develop an understanding and vocabulary that does more than grab the low hanging fruit. You can end up sounding shallow and gimmicky.
Another very practical consideration is that you can get confused by too many alternate tunings.