Best Harp key choice method for a song ?
Hi,
I have been wanting for some time to accompany my wife singing Bang, Bang My baby shot me down from Sonny Bono.
The main guitar chords of the song are (from the most used to the least used in the song) :
- Fm (8 times)
- C (8 times)
- Eb (5 times)
- Bbm/F (4 times)
- Eaug (twice)
- Fm/Eb (twice)
- Fm/D (once), skipped in the analysis
- Db (once), skipped in the analysis
I have the following harps :
- G
- A
- Bb
- C
- D
- F
My first questions were :
- what harps should I use for this song ?
- what harps can I switch to if my wife wants to sing in another key ?
After a LOT of analysis I came to the following answers :
- I need at least two harps
- I can use one harp to play Fm,Bbm,Eb and Db (that harp should be Ab/G# which I don't have) and have to use another one for C
- The closest pair would be (Bb,D) and my wife would have to sing in Gm instead of Fm.
- Another possibility is wife in Em instead of Fm lowering down all the chords one half step, then I use harp in G (for Em, E, C#, Bm) and a harp in C which allows me to play in B.
Now my questions are :
- Are theses answers correct ?
- Is there any kind of software to do these computations for me (I had to write my own to get some intermediate results) ?
- Is there a methodology used by other players to find fast answers ?
- How do you minimize the number of harps to play from?
Thanks :)
Thank you for these very insightful comments.
It took me a few days to diggest them.
What I like with harmonicas is that they are small and fit in a pocket. I now understand that in order to have some flexibility, it might be needed to buy a flight case to put all these babies together.
In my case, as you pointed out, F harmonic minor might be the only needed addition to my actual set. Although it could latter be reused, actually it means buying a harp for a song (I can afford it, but it might end up being expensive).
One final question :
Did you work from tables for your answer or did you make it up in your mind ?
Thanks again.
Bod
For me the model is formulas with replaceable parameters rather than lookup tables.
I long ago memorized the structures and relationships that allow me to simply plug in a value for "x" and populate the rest of the structure, when it comes to scales, chords, and at least the common harmonica note layouts.
I'll answer the easiest question first.
Once you settle on the harp(s) you want to use, if your wife changes the key, simply note the offset beween the old key and the new key in semitones, then use the same offset to change the combination of harps.
Right now the tunes is in F minor (the first two - most frequently played - chords are the I chord and the V chord of F minor). So let's say she chooses instead to sing it in D minor. That's 3 semitones lower, so you'd change your chosen harps to ones tuned three semitones lower. Now, if you don't have all 12 keys, you may end up adding to your collection :).
But it looks like you've already figured that out.
Choice of function
Do you want to:
If it's pure chording, you don't have the harps for it (see the chord compendium at the end of he post). Even for some of the other functions, you'd need some harps in flat keys (like Eb or Ab). From you analysis, though, it looks like you're wiling to work with two-note partial chords, as an Ab harp (it's almost never called a G#) will produce only fragments of the chords you mention it playing.
(By the way the chord/bass combinations, like Fm/Eb, count as the main chord for our purposes. That Fm/Eb chord is still an F minor chord, whatever bass note you put under it.)
One Harp to Rule Them All
The first two chords tell a story that lead immediately to an F harmonic minor tuned harp. On that harp
Chord Compendium
Here are the keys of harp where the chords (three or more notes sounding at the same time) you mention occur:
F minor:
C (or C7)
Eb:
Bbm:
Eaug
Db