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| Moderated by: Richard Hefner |
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| Minor key harps - Harmonica - Other Instruments - ezFolk Forums | |||||||||||||||
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Philj200 Approved 
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Up to now, I go to a jam with a bag of mixed harps, mostly diatonic in every major key. If a horn shows up, the "Flat" harps make life easier for everyone, or if a persnickedy singer insists on a particular key, I can accomodate him. Bluegassers like B-Major. Capoing a regular banjo in G-tuning up four is not a problem (and slipping the clamp on my Shubb too). But that makes a B-major harmonica a necessity. An F-major is needed to play blues in C. So I carry enough metal to set off the detectors at Kennedy Airport, forty miles away. I usually play straight harp for country, jigs and reels, draw harp for blues and jazz. But every once in a while hand-shaping, bending, double bending, over-blowing... just isn't enough to reach the notes I want... and those times are usually in tunes in minor keys or a lot of minor chords. Who has experience and advice on minor key harps? Please share.
____________________ My MP3 Section: http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/1143/ My Myspace area: http://myspace.com/philj200 |
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Philj200 Approved
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Nobody?
____________________ My MP3 Section: http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/1143/ My Myspace area: http://myspace.com/philj200 |
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mark Approved 
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Not I Phil, Sounds like I'm a great number of years behind you. I have only just taken up the Harmonica (a Hohner Blues Harp MS) this week. At the minute I am still working on straight harp, single note stuff (although I have tried bending and managed to get it to work quite well on one of the low draw notes).
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Richard Hefner Administrator 
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I've got two Lee Oskar minor harps (Em Natural Minor and Em Harmonic Minor) but I hardly ever play them. It seems like I used one of them a while back on something I recorded but I can't remember now what it was (if I actually did). On most minor key songs if I play the harmonica I'll usually try using the major key associated with it, so for something in Em I'll play a G harmonica, which usually works fine. On a kind of related note, I'm working on some videos for the harmonica section of ezFolk that I hope to have done within the next week or so depending on how many distractions I run into. 
____________________ Richard Hefner Webmaster, ezFolk.com MP3 Page: http://www.ezfolk.com/audio/richardhefner Running Blog: http://old-runner.com |
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mark Approved
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Hi Richard, Would this be for the LO Melody Maker again, same as your current stuff or would it be for standard 10 hole diatonic? (or Chromatic?). Thanks, Mark
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Richard Hefner Administrator
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Yep. I'm all Melody Maker all the time. I know that's not popular, but that's because virtually nobody plays it or teaches it other than me. I figure if people want to learn how to play a standard diatonic harmonica they have hundreds of other resources that are much more capable of teaching that than I am. On the other hand, if they want to learn the Melody Maker they've got me... the lone voice in the wilderness proclaiming the virtues of the Lee Oskar Melody Maker. 
____________________ Richard Hefner Webmaster, ezFolk.com MP3 Page: http://www.ezfolk.com/audio/richardhefner Running Blog: http://old-runner.com |
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gaugin Approved
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I play harmonic minor as much as i play major, it depends on my mood  I just love the sound of the cords! btw: http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=RLCNesboqKw someone playing a harmonic minor lee oscar Last edited on Mon Apr 7th, 2008 10:23 pm by gaugin |
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ichadwick Approved 
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I've played with them a little, but not really much as accompaniment. I have some Lee Oskar natural and harmonic minors, as well as a Seydel Dorian (which seems to be a minor key). I actually like playing minor harps because they have such a different sound. I did some harp reviews here: http://www.ianchadwick.com/essays/harmonicas.htm
____________________ Ian ------------------------------------------- Ukulele reviews: http://www.ianchadwick.com/essays/ukuleles.htm Harmonica reviews: http://www.ianchadwick.com/essays/harmonicas.htm |
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misplaced Approved
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hey, you guys are really helpful. quick question... is there a chart that shows what minor harp you would want to use for each minor key... and if so do you know where to find it? Thanks!
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Roger Approved
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Hi Phil, If you haven't come across them before, here are a couple of pages that might be of interest to you. Natural Minor Harmonica: http://www.praiseharp.us/articles/naturalminor.html Making your own Dorian Harp http://www.harmonicasessions.com/apr05/h-workbench.pdf If you have read my posts on Paddy Richter tuning you will probably have already fathomed that by making the change to the 3rd blow hole from a 5th note in the scale to a 6th you create a minor tuning at the lower end of the harp. For example in a 'C' major harp you change the 'G' blow to an 'A' blow which gives an 'A' natural minor chord on the 3,4,5 blow (A,C,E). Of course for single notes the key is still in 'C' major, and having an extra 'A' instead of two 'G's' in the lower end of the harp really extends the instrument. As an example, I am practicing 'While my Guitar Gently Weeps' on the harp. This is a fantastic song to show off the harp, as you can really 'wail' the guitar bend notes. The tune starts of in Am, which is ideal for the Paddy Richer tuned 'C' harp and then the chorus goes into 'A' major, at which time I use the second harp that I am holding, which is an 'A' major diatonic harp. If anyone would like to try this out, here is the url for a video to jam with. It is George, Ringo, and Eric Clapton playing W.M.G.G.W. They start off playing in the key of 'A' minor, then move into 'A' major for the chorus. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aLLHFSM7i8 In my opinion this tune alone is worth having a minor keyed harp, it really is a great showpiece for our instrument. Of course if the piece is in 'Am' you can play the melody on the top half of a 'C' harp, but the effect is nowhere as good in comparison to playing it in the bottom half of the harp, which the Paddy Richter tuning allows. I think I should explain why you can use a 'C' harp to play the melody notes of a piece in 'A' minor, a natural minor scale has the same notes in it as the major scale that is 3 semitones up from it, so as an example: Am = C major Bm = D major Cm = Eb major Dm = F major Em = G major Fm = Ab major Gm = Bb major So 'A minor' would be called the 'relative minor' of the 'C major' scale. An alternative way of looking at this is to say that the relative minor key of a major scale starts on the major scale's sixth note, which in the case of the key of 'C' is an 'A' (C,D,E,F,G,A). The reason that you have to play in the top half of a 'C' harp for a tune in 'A' minor is because there is no 'A' in the bottom half of a 'C major diatonic harp. The 'Paddy Richter' tuning, or a 'Natural Minor' tuned harp, fixes this situation. Hope this helps, Roger Last edited on Fri May 16th, 2008 03:27 am by Roger |
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Philj200 Approved
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Some really good information here. Thanks. I don't think I'll change out the reed plates for the times I need a pure minor key harp as suggeseted in the second url. I will practice the extra bend necessary to reach the right notes. At $25+/- for an Lee Oskar, that's it's a little much for a rare need. Thelonius Monk (at least I think it was Monk) once said, that if you make a mistake, make it three times so people will think it's part of the tune. That will be my bail-out if I can't reach the right notes. Agree that the Beatles WMGGW is a natural for harp.
____________________ My MP3 Section: http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/1143/ My Myspace area: http://myspace.com/philj200 |
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| ezFolk Forums > Other Instruments > Harmonica > Minor key harps | |
