Seydel Sampler
Anyone here play a Seydel Sampler? I picked up a G-D Sampler some years ago for use in the pit band for a cabaret show that had a St. Patrick's Day theme. (It's a pretty irreverent troupe, so the show focused on both Irish music ... and a lot of booze jokes.) As some of you probably know, the Irish music folks like the keys of G and D major, 'cause both keys are less work for the fiddle players. The Sampler works pretty well for no-button stuff in third position in A (using the G reeds) or E (using the D reeds), but I've also played around with the button, which instead of a half-step change either pops the note up by a major 5th (when playing on the G set) or down down a major 4th (when playing on the D set). Anyone else here use the Sampler for blues? And if so, what's your experience with it?
Just had another thought. When you play a chromatic in third position, the draw chord functions as both the minor I chord and the 9th chord of the IV - very flexible.
What is less wonderful is using the blow chord as a sort-of minor V chord. But if you're playing the G-side of the harp in A, and then press the slide in for the V chord, you get E minor 6th of the D-side, which could sound really cool.
Thanks, Winslow!
The Sampler could have a number of uses. Aside from the Irish stuff I did for the cabaret show, a couple of years ago I was singing and playing ukulele at an open mic (at a blues bar no less) when a duo asked me to join them for their songs. One they were going to do was a contemporary pop song with a simple repeating I-V-IV-IV structure. I asked if they could do it in G, and they said yes. And when they did it, during some verses in the middle I pulled out the Sampler and simply blew holes 1-2-3 with the button out, then with the button in, then drew 1-2-3 with the button out, creating what was either the ii or the IV6 depending on how the inversion hit your ears, and it sounded like some sort of hurdy-gurdy behind their vocal duet. And both they, and the audience, loved it! (And afterward I was happy to show-and-tell when a blues harp player on that evening's performer line up asked, "What the heck kind of harp was THAT?")
At the same time, though, in playing blues on a standard-tuned chromatic, even if one never touches the button, I think it may be a situation of feeling more comfortable having it there. Sort of like going 70 mph on a lightly-travelled freeway, but being comforted knowing that your car has a brake pedal, and you COULD use it, should the need arise. (And, e.g., I've been working on a vocal and standard chromatic harp arrangement of the old much-performed 1912 ragtime-NOLA-Tin Pan Alley "blues" classic, "Dallas Blues," written in a era when to get the sound songwriters sought, they figured they'd just put the word "blues" in the title, and then flat the third and the seventh once in a while for that "blues" sound, but leave them major most of the time for a straighter, pop, melody. When playing solo stuff in 3rd position over the chords for the tune, that button IS a musical safety feature!)
The Sampler is still on the Seydel website, though I had to search for it. I remember we had one as a raffle prize at the Harmonica Collective a few years back and no-one seemed to be enthusiastic about it, even though it's in solo tuning and will give you the standard third-position chromatic blues sound in two keys (A and E). Somehow, even though most blues players seldom use the slide, having it do something other than change pitch by a semitone gave them cold feet.
That said, I see no reason that it couldn't be used as you envision. And, of course, having those two keys and their various modal positions available for trad is great.