What are your thoughts about the Chromatica?
1 month ago I bought myself a Chromatica, a 270 Deluxe Hohner, and a method book by Max de Aloe. At first, I was enjoying myself learning it, I could from the start play it quite well because of my training here in Blues Harmonica, but quite rapidly I lost interest in it. I just don't have fun playing it because of its timbre and the kind of music it's used for. I don't know exactly, but the timbre is too clean to my taste, almost like a flute, and all the songs inside the book don't have that swing driving feel of Blues. The playing mechanics are quite different too, is so fun to grab the small diatonic and make great rhythmic sounds, the Chromatica feels so cumbersome.
Therefore I've been thinking about quitting the Chromatica endeavor, I'm just not having a good time practicing it (with the diatonic it's a totally different experience), I feel as I'm forcing myself. So I want to know if you guys have any tips for me about the matter and what are your opinions about the Chromatica.
Wow, thanks Eric_c!! I didn't realize that there were lessons about the chromatica here and, lo and behold, there are 5 full lessons! I'm following the LOA program, so I didn't bother too much checking the 'Lesson' page, I just thought that LOA would have everything in order, but what a mistake that was. I was browsing there and found a lot of cool stuff, like the 5 chromatica lessons, folk songs, etc.
OK, I'll give it a try with David's chromatica lessons. I really want to play jazz in the future too. Currently, I'm learning to play Blues at the same time on the harmonica and on the piano (using Tim Richards blues method book, an excellent source) and it's very enjoyable how one complements the other. For jazz I'm considering trying to learn the trumpet, I always wanted to play it.. and, of course, the piano.
You're welcome. This site has a lot of content, much of which is not part of the required LOA curriculum. The Joe Filisko stuff is pretty substantial all on its own.
Small point: "Chromatica" is a name for a competely different kind of harmonica with a different note arrangement. You're talking about the chromatic harmonica, with no "a" on the end.
The Max de Aloe book is for jazz, with a very different flavor from blues, as you've discovered.
Have you heard Little Walter play chromatic? He really started the standard blues approach to chromatic, using that big D minor draw chord as the home base:
His approach was taken up by many other players, including William Clarke:
And Dennis Gruenling
The there's Stevie Wonder, with a whole different approach:
Fingertips parts I and II (live)
And then there are older generation players, like Larry Adler, who could play classical concertos but could also sound very bluesy:
David has some chromatic blues lessons you should check out. That seems like the obvious place to connect with your chromatic harmonica. Blues Chromatic Study 1 - Basics
I confess that I have a CX-12 and the de Aloe book and have not put much time into either one. I also play the saxophone and gravitate towards it if I want a fully chromatic instrument or want to play jazz.