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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > When to start with chromatic?
When to start with chromatic?
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Chaz
13 posts
Oct 13, 2016
3:53 PM
Adam's William Clarke thread got me thinking- when is a good time as someone learning harp to start to work on chromatic playing? I have been playing for just 2+ years and I can't get enough. I have the basics down pretty well, feel comfortable playing with a band, improvising. Obviously I have MUCH to learn, but I would love your opinions on how I should approach this.

Would I slow my diatonic development? Part of me thinks it would be good insofar as forcing my mind out of patterns I sometimes get stuck in by forcing me to think of a new way of playing...

Thank you in advance for your feedback ;)
shakeylee
586 posts
Oct 13, 2016
5:19 PM
Now .

It may improve your third position work on diatonic too.
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Killa_Hertz
1805 posts
Oct 14, 2016
4:19 AM
I second Shakey's opinion. There is no time like the present.

I have a few Chroms that I mess with, but I too feel like it takes away from my Diatonic playing. So I really only play them here and there.


But even if you dont spend a TON of time practicing Chrom., atleast when you do go to take it seriously you will already be acquainted with it. And it does help with your third pos playing.

I really want to get better at it, but one thing at a time I suppose. Lol. They are alot of fun though.
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Thievin' Heathen
847 posts
Oct 14, 2016
5:05 AM
I started when I was about 5, when I found Dad's 270 in his top dresser drawer. I've always thought it was natural for them to taste like sox. Start right now.
RyanMortos
1581 posts
Oct 14, 2016
5:20 AM
Playing chromatic hasn't negatively effected my diatonic playing. Just have to practice on both. There's numerous similarities, not just 3rd position. Some music exercises are easier to perform on chromatic even if you can play diatonic chromatically. You should start when you're ready to start.

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2chops
542 posts
Oct 14, 2016
6:08 AM
I say now also. I was a lip purser when I started on the diatonic. When I started to work on the chrom in a focused manor, I knew that in order to get the tone from it, I had to TB. This resulted in switching to being mostly a TBer on the diatonic also. My tone on the short harp improved dramatically. Breath control is another benefit. You want to play softer on the chrom. This again will directly transfer to your playing on the short harp.

Plus the sweet big fat sound of octaves and splits on the chrom are wonderful. Start now man. You won't regret it.
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I'm workin on it. I'm workin on it.
6SN7
665 posts
Oct 14, 2016
7:47 PM
Chaz, brilliant question and I hope harpers from the beginner forum read this.
Absolutely go and buy a 12 hole at once and start blowing.
I started and stopped so many times over the years with crap chros w/ cracked combs, bad windsavers,etc, yuck. For 170$ this will put you in business fast and is incredible value

http://rockinronsmusicsd.com/suzuki-scx-48.html

If your a Hohner person the CX12 is a great chro, that can be customized to do some sweet bends.

I'm in my second year. I was horrendous for a year, so much to learn and destroyed a chro, lol.
I focused to learn 3 songs, Greasy Gravy, I Left My Heart In San Francisco, and Blues in the Dark. I'm obssessed with octaves, so I have focused on TBing which demands serious breath control. This alone will make your diatonic playing better. TBing on a diatonic is optional, but it is important if you really want to get control on a chro especially blowing single notes, IMHO. I also have learned a bunch of christmas tunes, standard tunes, from the chro tabs available on line. Recently I bought a Bb chro which is great for playing straight ahead blues in C.
2Chops summed it up great. You get the technique straight, that big fat sound really grabs a crowd.
slaphappy
233 posts
Oct 14, 2016
8:14 PM
I go against the grain and say it's better to start the chrom once you are at least somewhat comfortable in 3rd on the diatonic and can manage 5 hole splits on the diatonic..

but probably it really doesn't matter, if you wanna learn just go!



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Harmonica is Life!
Chaz
14 posts
Oct 15, 2016
6:10 AM
Thank you all for the feedback. I think I will put one on my Christmas list- lol

A little while back I picked up a marine band 364- 12 hole, solo tuned. Cheap. Is it true that it's like a chromatic minus the button and valves? Thus far I have only noodled around with it.
Gnarly
1953 posts
Oct 15, 2016
7:32 AM
Yes, the 364 has the same note layout as a 12 hole chrom.
And the Suzuki comes with a one year warranty, which includes phone counseling with an experienced (ahem) chromatic player, eager to explain to you why windsavers are sticking (it's your breath, stupid).
Learning solo tuning is easy on the 364, but playing in all 12 keys is not. On the chrom, learning F (it's like the relative major of third position--it's actually 12th) and G (cross harp baby) isn't all that hard, it's only one button push.
6SN7
666 posts
Oct 15, 2016
3:56 PM
i had one of those 364 and I noodled with it too and then it ended up in my sock. It was useless in my hands, but thats me.
Slaphappy has a point, but believe me, once you have the 3 note block on the chro down, it is really easy on the diatonic. But it should be pointed out, its best to TB on a chro
WinslowYerxa
1227 posts
Oct 16, 2016
1:33 AM
I started chromatic and diatonic pretty much at the same time. I can't see that it was a problem at all; in fact, I feel that the two reinforce one another and broaden your horizons.

Saying that you need to learn X, Y, or Z first on the diatonic has no basis. There are plenty of good chromatic players that never played diatonic.
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Last Edited by WinslowYerxa on Oct 16, 2016 1:33 AM
John M G
77 posts
Oct 16, 2016
4:03 AM
I think the time to start playing any instrument is when you're really eager to learn and start making some good sounds that you've heard that you want to be able to replicate.
That's when the passion to play is at that high that fuels early progress and is going to get you on the start of the ever ascending learning curve.

What probably is also important, though thinking about all the YouTube videos maybe not quite as important as it was when I started out playing is a decent teacher.
ME.HarpDoc
200 posts
Oct 16, 2016
11:20 AM
I bought a Chrom when I was first learning harmonica. Not because I had an interest in it at the time so much as it was recommended to me by an early mentor to learn tongue blocking for diatonic, as mentioned several times above. Since I didn't know if I would get into chrom, I bought an inexpensive Swan 16 hole ( under $60 I think) and it really did help my TB technique.

Interesting part of this is that Swan sounds pretty good and the slide doesn't stick, although I still just dabble in the Chrom.
nowmon
104 posts
Oct 16, 2016
11:30 AM
I`ve been doing three attacks to harp playing,lip pursing,TB,and I cover bottom half with T.and play top half, this works great for holes 6/10.with this you can`t over power the air and you can slide your T. fast.anyway with chromatic its good to get octaves down.If all you do is TB your missing some cool attack.have fun...
jbone
2211 posts
Oct 18, 2016
3:34 AM
No time like the present. I had a 270 for a few years, in D, and didn't get too far on my own. I got a couple of Chromettas, 1 8 hole and 1 12 hole, and learned a lot with them. In fact that's when I began to learn 3rd position. I mostly play chrom in 3rd these days when I play it. A bit in 1st but you need some serious wind for that!
Like someone mentioned, working in 3rd with a chromatic can dramatically impact your diatonic playing. I use both lp and tb and get a pretty good palette of sound that way.
I went to Hering chroms for a time and also I now favor the Suzuki SCX models.
Enjoy the journey.

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