In or out of tune...
Hi,
I'm working on a tune by Howlin Wolf:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVNJfI7o7_0
Now he pretty much plays his standard solo on this one which starts of with the 4 hole draw with some heavy vibrato on it. To my ears it sounds like something in between the unbend and the half step bend note he is playing here. My question is: does he slightly bend the note down while putting his vibrato on it or was his harp (and the ones used on recordings in those days) tuned differently than my Marine Band Deluxe now which caused the "out of tune" fifth when played in second position? Playing the unbend note just does'nt seem right here (not evil at all) but it's hard to believe that he would bend down his 4 draw a quartertone all of the time.
Twiggy
Thank you Winslow for that great answer! Such a treat to be able to talk to real experts here on the forum.
Maybe it's because I have known the song for so long and got used to it but I like the sound of it too despite of being out of tune. Especially that 4 draw works really well. Maybe I'll just practice that slight bend to be able to use it in certain situations.
or you could tune all your harps down a few cents :)
The band is tuned slightly sharp, making the harmonica a little flat in relation.
Listen to his Draw 2. That sounds flat too. OK, Draw 4 and Draw 2 could both be pulled down. But listen when he goes to the combination of Blow 3 and 4, which doesn't bend down significantly - still flat.
It kind of gives a cool sound to the track, though.
You hear something similar with Cotton playing with Muddy Waters (though not when Little Walter plays). I get the impression that the band went through a period of either sharp pianos that everybody else tuned to, or just a guitar-based sharpness that left the harmonica player unable to adjust.
Harmonicas now are tuned sharper. The international standard in place then and now is A440 and harmonicas used to be tuned to that. It still says A440 on the covers of Marine Bands, but they're usually tuned much higher - I've clocked them at A446. This is done partly to compensation for the pitch depression caused by forceful playing, and partly because the A440 standard is increasingly ignored, pushing pitches in Germany, for instance, up to A444.