I once had a nice hour long phone conversation with the great Kitt Gamble, and I asked him, "What's the best tuning?" He replied, "Richter." So one might wonder, why am I always talking about (and using) altered tunings?
It's about two things--chords, and chromaticism.
I like what I call the IV6/V6 arrangement of tones--you will find this used on a Power Chromatic (Brendan Power--he lays claim to this tuning as his own), the tuning Magic Dick calls Magic Bop Band (it's the same tuning), but also on holes 3-6 of the Melody Maker (and by extension, the Major Cross tuning).
There is a whole step difference on every hole, so you can get every note of the chromatic scale except for the b6 (so on a G Melody Maker, Eb) using draw bends. And every blow note is lower than the draw note.
But on a pure IV6/V6, there's no I chord--only the IV and V.
So I have a couple of arrangements of tones to create a I chord on the bottom of a Power Chromatic--but I don't take them to gigs.
The case with the gig harps contains Richter in the standard 14 keys, plus Major Cross and Melody Maker in 6 or so keys, a couple of Hybrid Richters (standard Richter starts on 3, and the bottom has two addition notes--blow 1 is the root of the cross key), several Power Chromatics, and a couple of a tuning I created which I call New World--it's circular on the bottom and richter on the top.
Of course, most of what I practice these days is Chromatic, and the chords are limited on that--so I put together (with the help of Mr. Brendan Power, a cool guy with a lot of talent) a Twin Harmonica that plays chords in all twelve keys and is also a chromatic 14 harp (tuned to bebop, everyone should).
That's it, hope it's interesting.
Last Edited by Gnarly on Dec 01, 2016 11:57 AM
Garly, Thanks for another good alternate tuning post. It’s the type of post that inspired me to try other tunings. I did find two alternates that I’ve actually stuck with. One is similar to your “New World” but the other way around (Richter bottom). Maybe I should refer to it as “World New”. Ha-ha
Your twin 14 bebop chromatic sounds cool. I know I should really give bebop tuning a try on one of my chromatics.
“Hey Gnarly, what's with all the altered tunings?”
That reminds me of the first time my wife asked me why I need so many harmonicas “Because I play 3 different tunings, each with its own advantages and I need a set of harps for each key, these are low and these are high, these are bass harps, these are chromatic, these are tremolo, and this is my 7 hole set, and these are unique or collectable… They are all different" Well, except the backup harps ;)
I didn't mention the PentaBender, it's like Power Chromatic with an added hole. They haven't made it to the case yet!
Here is a video from this morning--I made it in response to a post on "another harmonica forum" on Easy Third. I miss the missing notes when using that tuning, so I suggested playing in 3rd (actually a blow position, as the blow notes are Dorian or Lydian, depending on whether you hear it as minor or major) on a PentaBender--you still have the draw bend on the root and fifth, and the MAJOR THIRD is available as a draw bend (all notes of the chromatic scale are available without overbends).
As I mention at the end of the video, I have scarcely mastered this tuning--I don't spend enough time with it!
Gnarly, your knowledge and facility with all these different tunings is awesome. I understand the manifold reasons why you are into them so deeply, but...
I guess I'm too old to learn to use even one simple non-standard tuning. I struggle mightily with Brendan's Paddy Richter. There's no way in the world I'd even take one on stage with me. I'd be afraid I'd mix it up with my Richters. If that ever happened, I'd be a dead duck!
I should explain that I am as deeply into Standard Richter tuning as you are these "altered states." My passion lies in all the great work the forefathers laid down on plain old, OTOB Richter-scheme diatonic harmonicas. I find that such fertile territory that I don't feel compelled to look much further -- in my lifetime.
I salute you, sir!
Michelle
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Last Edited by mlefree on Dec 02, 2016 11:19 AM
I know Michelle, I don't expect everyone to do what I do. Heck, I don't begrudge Greg Jones his success with Easy 3rd (you might try that). I just want folks to have an idea of what I have discovered before I am no longer able to proselytize for my favorite altered harp tunings. I really have spent a lot of time on this, and have some harps available if folks want to try any of these.
How interesting that Kitt, giving all due credit to his alt. tuning expertise, defaulted to Richter when asked. I wonder how many hours Mr. Richter, without the benefit of a digital tuner, experimented before arriving at his tuning?
Well, it works as designed, for oom pah . . . Tonic and dominant chord on the bottom, major scale in the middle, and most of the rest of a third octave on top, albeit reversed in breath pattern. I like to do the Brendan Power thing on top sometimes, where you duplicate the second degree of the major scale to straighten out the breath pattern. If you can blow bend the middle notes (valves or xreeds), Richter is great. If you can over bend well, same thing. If you want to avoid playing notes that aren't available easily, you can run the risk of compromising the music. But that's probably just me . . .
Each alternate tuning will have it's own music theory and practice that makes it (hopefully) good for something.
Ultimately it comes down to trying to accomplish some musical goal that was previously either not possible on other harmonicas or difficult.
Here's an incomplete list of the musical goals that have influenced any one of the alternate tunings I've contemplated.
- access to different chords - being able to warble between different notes than richter - being able to play all the notes of a specific scale naturally (no bending) - fluttering (chromatic button) between two specific notes - extending some existing pattern of notes into a further octave/split octaves that remain octaves.
I don't think there a concise document that will explain all the theory behind the tunings, but I think it's a great topic and fun to explore.
I find this interesting . I use some open tunings for guitar because it facilitates slide chords or lends authenticity.
But as Jimmy Bruno ( an excellent jazz teacher and guitarist) who has been playing for 50 years says- it is difficult enough to master 1 tuning- so dont confuse yourself
Truthfully , I think some folks just like tinkering with the instrument . But I dont see any of the greats playing in adjusted tunings with any frequency
Had a gig last night with this band, and used this harmonica again for this song. Would not have had the same sound with another tuning (Power Chromatic is close!)
Also used a couple of major cross tuned harps for a couple of tunes. Most of the night I was playing my doubleneck Ztar, rather than harmonica.
Last Edited by Gnarly on Dec 04, 2016 8:30 AM
Spent a lot of time with the PentaBender last night-- If you value pentatonics (and who doesn't?), it's a keeper--here's some video.
Last Edited by Gnarly on Jan 12, 2017 11:04 AM
And speaking of altered tunings, here's something. I unearthed a Hohner in A with Winslow Yerxa's Discrete Comb--I had forgotten how cool these are. Overbends are easier because each reed gets a chamber--you build them with MS parts. It seemed to be pretty ET so I retuned closer to just, and then raised 5 and 9 draw for the major cross sound (I call this double country), but subsequently retuned it back to Richter, since I ought to be able to get all the overbends with this design.
Last Saturday (the day before Easter/April Fool's Day) was the Spring Harp Fest in La Mesa, Lazy Lester was the featured headliner, had a great time. Issac Ullah dropped by, he has relocated to our area, and I hope to spend some time playing together in the future. I was reminded of his satisfaction with the Easy Third tuning, so I retuned a low C to D minor. It's great fun, but I miss having all the extra notes. So here's a really odd tuning that has pretty chords, and all the chromatic notes!
I could see trying out the Major Cross tuning with bluegrass. I have trouble doing those fast "fiddle runs" on a Richter.
Last Edited by AppalachiaBlues on Apr 06, 2018 11:54 AM
Sounds like a good idea to me, especially as you can buy them at Seydel, via this page seydel1847.de/major-cross
You might want to hit the red "Switch to English" link at the top right of the page, which has note layouts and a video of my band playing the instruments.
More Major Cross details are below
---------- Tony Eyers Australia www.HarmonicaAcademy.com everyone plays...
Last Edited by Harmonicatunes on Apr 10, 2018 1:45 AM
