Does using different kind of harmonica harm my playing?
I am talking about Muscle memory !
I have many different harmonicas and tunes , Major, minor , Paddy ,country and I play around work on them
However I wonder if I am going to have muscle memory and know how to play will this kind of exploring hurt me and prevent my improvement?
Winslow:
In addition to brain-wiring, musical experience and years of practice and performing may also make a difference. E.g., this past weekend I was at a trad jazz camp in San Diego, playing my four-string plectrum-tuned (CGBD) banjo. Among the seven guitar and banjo players were at least two, plus the instructor, who brought plectrum AND tenor banjos, as well as a guitar. Three totally different string tunings, and thus three totally different finger positions for chords and melodies. And they were each able to swith between and among their instruments effortlessly.
Sticking with just a Richter-tuned diatonic can let one concentrate better on technique, but other tunings can be a lot of fun. Aside from regular blues on Richter-tuned harps, I'm really enjoying learning some Celtic stuff on a G and a Low D Tony Eyers "Major Cross," and I have a couple of tremolos that are Asian-tuned that are a lot of fun when out hiking or entertaining the grandkids.
Perhaps an important thing is that for most folks, if you're really good on a Richter-tuned diatonic, you'll probably pick up alternate tunings pretty quick. But if you're a lousy harmonica player, an alternate tuning won't help.
I recetnly tried paddy tuning I love it , I also play harmonica minor and natural minor
But my brain is farting because of Penta harp :) sorry for the language . I play guitar and harmonica
This Penta harp is giving me a hell of a time and for heaven's sake I am not sure how it is contributing to my guitar playing.
Now I am an ordinary man and my brain wire is like avarage guy so I have to protect myself from this Penta harp thing :)
That's a hard question for anyone else to answer for you. It depends in large part in how your brain and nervous system are wired. Someone like Brendan Power has no trouble keeping multiple note layouts clear in his mind. On the other hand, Howard Levy only uses standard tuning, which lets him go super deep into what that note layout can do.
For a long time the fartherst away I got from standard tuning (at least on diatonic; I also play chromatic and tremolo) was maybe country tuning - one note different.
But then I got into Pentaquartal tuning, which upends about 70 percent of what I knew on standard tuning but also created beautiful new chords and all sorts of other melodic pathwways. But the 30% similarity could lead me astray into asssuming I was still playing standard tuning.
Then I got into using the PentaHarp. Even further away from anything known on the earth or the moon. And I'm loving it. There are things it won't do that are easy in standard tuning, and other things that are delightfully unique. I'm still exploring and likely will be for quite awhile. But without tunring my back on standard tuning.
One thing you might try: Choose a melody, scale, or something that you can apply to each different tuning. The same tune on all the different tunings will highlight the differences, and knowing and experiencing those differences might also help you maintain the distinctions between them.
Also, looks at the hiddent similaarities. Going up from Draw 2 on Paddy has a strong resemblance to going up from Draw 3 on namtural minor. But only for a portion of the tuning, At certain points above and below, they diverge. This is another way of highlighting the differences.