Different Tunings
My next door neighbour plays original songs - I think the genre would be sort of folk and new world(??) - sort of west coast style - Canadiana, if you remember your roots ;-) I've played at their house (they have a 4 piece band that does gigs) at house parties but because of my 'newness' on the harp, I work at making 2nd position sort of work with my blues harps. I'm now starting to use 1st position a little (and I mean little) more.
Would I be smart to use a different tuning like a country tuning or get a little more serious about chromatic in order to play more comfortably with them?? Or just keep learning what to do and not do to fit in??
I appreciate your thoughtful response Winslow - and read it to mean "if you have time to figure it out" (maybe quick if you have the kind of background knowledge you do). For me it is more "on the fly". they are playing and I want to jump in, which doesn't give much time to someone like me. But now at least I have some idea of the kind of information I should be learning so it can be used.
Follow up question - country tuning: if I'm understanding it correctly, it is the 5 draw reed that is tuned to F# instead of F (as in RIchter). I understand the principles of tuning and have done some very minor adjustments to a red that was a little flat. Is it realistic to sharpen the tuning by a half tone on an old harp to get a sense of playing a country tuning harp?
Hank -
You're right that doing the kind of evaluation I'm talking about on the fly is not easy. In real time you have to go with whatever is in your hand and adjust as you go, and maybe swap to another harp as you hear more of the tune, or try to tough it out and see how you can adapt the one you're already holding.
It's entirely realistic to raise the pitch of Draw 5 on an old harp. You only need to remove the covers, as the reed is an outside reed.
Support the reed by slipping something thin and stiff underneath i t- feeler gauge, stifff plastic retail blister pack casing, and file the tip of the reed using a very fine file or sandpaper or emery board (paper nail file).. try to file only the first 2 millimeters of the tip, and make sure not to snag the reed and crumple it into some snarled-up shape.
Stop frequently to plink the reed (lift the tip and release it to allow it to vibrate -whcih makes a sound liek "plink") and then test the notes in relation to the other notes and to a tuner.
Thanks Winslow - I will give that a try and next report (hopefully) will be about success and a country tuned harp in my bag!!!
Hey - that wasn't all that bad. Got it to F# but it still needs some fine tuning but definitely there!! Now to learn how to take advantage of that tuning - any song suggestions?? I'm guessing melody playing - ??
(edit) wow, just realized that chapter 14 in your book has the answers to the questions I'm asking. Should have looked before I asked. Good thing I'm too old to be embarassed.
THERE ARE A FEW ON BUDDY GREENES SIGHT CLICK ON THE HARMONICA LINK AND IT TELLS U WHAT HARP KEY THE HARP IS FOR THE SONG PLAYED AND WEATHER ITS CROSS OR SRAIGHT AND SOME SAY RETUNED D OR SOMETHING THEY ARE ALL COUNTRY TUNED AND OF COURSE 90% OF CHARLIE MCOYS STUFF IS ALL COUNTRY TUNED
Charlie McCoy also posts on his site which of his recordings are on a country tuned harp. I remember figuring out the percentage some time ago. While it was a lot less than 90 percent, it was nonetheless significant.
Here's my Canadian folk page,, which includes an old French Canadian folk song (La femme du soldat, or Wife of a drunken soldier) that I recorded with a country-tuned G harp, using a lot of tongue split intervals:
Thanks jbooth and Winslow!! Much appreciated!!
Winslow those are beautiful rendition of Canadiana tunes. Man, I just get finished with my entry into country tuning (got that 5 draw so its a clean F#) and exploring stuff like Georgia On My Mind and now you get me thinking about all those other tunings and the XB 40 (a couple of which I've got). So much to learn nd so little time!!!
Windermere is one of my favourite places in the Kootenays!! I love what you did with Castle Mountain Social, Saskatchewan Crossing and Hillsdale. Great stuff - thank you, but my eyes are having trouble opening any wider ;-)
Thanks, Hank. There's more where that came from. All part of reflecting the home landscape in music, which is a big part of what makes it fund and interesting for me.
I seldom see anyone chatting about the natural minor, harmonic minor and Melody Maker tunings found in Lee Oskar and some Seydel models, etc. I have a few keys in each tuning and find them fun to play. Tell if I'm wrong, but I've read that these tunings were created as an alternate in learning to play chromatic, but to me they seem more like an alternate to position playing on diatonic. And of course what I've read described as more for jazz and ballads, and folk (Natural Minor and Melody Maker) and ethnic (Harmonic Minor) . I plan to research this more, but figured I'd bring it up here first. Thanks in advance
Hank, I hate to say it, but all of the above.
One of the ways I choose harps is to get an idea of the chords in the tune. For instance, if the main chords in the tune are C and G, then a C harp is obvious choice because it has those chords. however, a tune with those two chords might be in the key of C or in the key of G. So it helps to be comfortable with both first and second positions.
of course the other thing to look at is the scale. A tune could use C and G chords and could be in either key (G or C) and yet use different scales. Could be the C major scale in, the G Major scale 9which has F# instead of F) or the G Mixolydian scale (C major scale again, but with G as the tonal center, giving it a flat 7th - F instead of F#).
So let's say it's a G major scale and the two main chords are C and G. Well, a country-tuned harp is an obvious choice as it gives you a C chord, and G chord, and an F# in the scale.
Sometimes, though, range and available non-bent notes also play a part. Some tunes might fit the G major scale and have a G chord and a D chord. Sounds perfect for a G harp. Except that the melody makes heavy use of E below the G in Blow 4. That's a bend (Draw 3 bent down 2 semitones) that's not easy to make sound good. Just to add to the fun, let's say the melody also goes down to D (Daw 2) and C (draw 2 bent down semitones). This could get awkward and ugly, especially if you have to play those bends as part of fast runs, or sustain them for long notes..
What to do? C harp to the rescue. The E and C are both available without bending. And if you use a C harp in country tuning, you get the D major chord in the middle octave.
I might choose chromatic simply because I like its sound better for a particular tune. But I may also choose it because the scale keeps changing, requiring some awkward bends or overbends that just don't come out sounding well.
You see how I'm making choices based on what the song contains?
The good news is that I have a methodology that's not too hard to describe. The bad news is it takes thought, investigation, experience, and experimentation to get good at using it.