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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > tip to memorize note name on harmonica hole
tip to memorize note name on harmonica hole
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Frankie
110 posts
Mar 23, 2018
9:42 PM
I was thinking of memorizing at least the blow notes on harmonica

each harmonica for 12 keys.

Does it make sense? Do others do this? Any tip?
1847
4799 posts
Mar 23, 2018
9:53 PM
that is a very good question, and the answer is...

it is perhaps the most important thing you can ever learn on the harmonica.
the only thing more important is learning the notes on the draw plate.

the good news is... that is just as easy to do once you know the "secret"
Prento
33 posts
Mar 23, 2018
10:46 PM
Rather than learn all the notes, you might be better off learning the relationships between notes and their scale names according to what position you are playing on the harp. For example in second position, the second hole draw being the first note of the scale, the same hole drawn down gives you the minor 7th, the draw 3 gives the third note of the scale and when bent can give the minor third etc. You will probably start to pick up the name of the notes quite soon, especially on the harps you use the most.
Frankie
112 posts
Mar 23, 2018
11:39 PM
Preto what you are saying is that I have to always keep calculating ...

1847 what is the secret?
Prento
34 posts
Mar 24, 2018
2:00 AM
Probably the opposite Frankie. If you know the relative scale positions of the holes it is the same for every harp, all that changes is of course the note names. When playing with other musicians or a in a band situation I think it is more useful to know terms like the 1st, 7th, 4th etc and know what notes/holes/bends to play over different sections/cdhords of a song. loads of really good guitarists don't necessarily know the names of the notes on the fret board but understand the concept of the first, fourth, fifth and minor sixth chords of the songs they are playing and maybe the names of those chords in the key they are playing. That's just my opinion and I tend to approach basic music theory from a mathematical perspective.
Cheers.
STME58
2056 posts
Mar 24, 2018
9:14 AM
Once you know the note names for the 12 major triads, you know the names of the blow holes for all 12 Richter tuned harmonicas.

I find it useful to practice scales and intervals in multiple keys on a harmonica to get to know where the notes are better. I usually do scale drills in 1st 2nd 3rd and 12th positions.

The most critical piece of information when playing with other musicians is to know where the tonic is on the harp you have in your hand. If I am caught with the "wrong" harp, once I figure this out, I can often recover and add to the musical expression without changing harps.
timeistight
2245 posts
Mar 24, 2018
9:19 AM
"I was thinking of memorizing at least the blow notes on harmonica

each harmonica for 12 keys.

Does it make sense?"

Sure. The more you know...

"Do others do this?"

I never sat down and memorized them, but I know them all, so, yeah.

"Any tip?"

Here goes:

Like STME58 says above, "Once you know the note names for the 12 major triads, you know the names of the blow holes for all 12 Richter tuned harmonicas."

That is, the blows notes on a Richter-tuned harmonica are the major triad of the key of the harp. For example, the notes of a "C" major triad are C, E and G. The blow note on a "C" harmonica are CEGCEGCEGC.

It's good to be able to spell chords. Major triads are a good place to start. Learn twelve major triads and you've also learned the blow notes on all your harmonicas.

Here are the major triads for the twelve harp keys:

G, B, D
Ab, C, Eb
A, C#, E
Bb, D, F
B, D#, F#
C, E, G
Db, F, Ab
D, F#, A
Eb, G, Bb
E, G#, B
F, A, C
F#, A#, C#

Any questions?

Last Edited by timeistight on Mar 24, 2018 9:35 AM
snowman
322 posts
Mar 26, 2018
8:56 AM
I do what prento does;
this should help either way;

say a C harp

B=blow note D =Draw

Blow notes B1 B4 B7 B10 are the same note
B1 is C ---- B4 is C an octave higher etc

Blow notes B2 B5 B8 are same note
B2 is E ----- B5 E an octave higher etc

Blow notes B3 B6 B9 are same note
B3 is G -----B6 G an octave higher etc



C harp Draw notes;
1] Draw notes repeat {3- 6} and {7-10] [same notes ---with 7- 10 being same notes, an octave higher
this helps u to memorize all yr standard richter tuned 10 hole diatonic

2] note on all [standard richter tuned 10 hole diatonic] have the same note on B3 and D2

3] since D3-6 and D7-10 are the same ---I only need memorize D3-6

4] sinc D2 is the same as B3
I only need to memorize B3

5] that leaves D1 to memorize it is always one step higher than B!;
Charp B!= C D1= D
[one number 1 to 2]
[one letter C to D]


Another thing to note is most people play cross harp more than 1st position;
So if your in key of G n yr playing a C harp and yr using numbers instead of notes ---u will need to know the C harp in relation to G SCALE [ NOT C SCALE]-----

G SCALE
G=1 A=2 B=3 C=4 D=5 E=6
F#=maj7

Now a c harp looks like this in key of G

Top blow notes are now
461 461 461 4 in the key of G on C harp

Bottom draw notes are
5 1----3 5 b7 2 -----3 5 b7 2

[NOW U HAVE THE G chord on [draw 1 2 3 4 5 and even 6 draw- almost any combination of them is safe]
THIS IS WHERE the chugging comes from in cross harp---- u keep chugging the draw notes 1-5 or 1-3 etc in between yr leads etc

I hope this helps

Last Edited by snowman on Mar 26, 2018 9:04 AM
Tuckster
1688 posts
Mar 26, 2018
9:00 AM
I'm lazy. I just use Seydel Harmonica Keyfinder,an app for smart phones. Free.
STME58
2057 posts
Mar 26, 2018
6:11 PM
If you want a quick layout for any key harmonica along with how the notes fit for a particular position, you can use this spreadsheet. I also included a keyboard image and a circle of fifths in the sheet as I refer to these often when trying to prepare to play a piece of sheet music or write something. spreadsheet

Last Edited by STME58 on Mar 26, 2018 6:11 PM
slaphappy
350 posts
Mar 26, 2018
8:55 PM
yes, this should be memorized as per the C harp and then you transpose for other keys. just memorize it. Even better is to understand the relationship of the intervals in cross harp.

note names on C harp:
Blow: CEGCEGCEGC
Draw: DGBDFABDFA


intervals in cross harp:
Blow: 4614614614
Draw: 5135793579

Memorize it!

----------
4' 4+ 3' 2~~~
-Mike Ziemba
Harmonica is Life!

Last Edited by slaphappy on Mar 26, 2018 8:56 PM
AppalachiaBlues
143 posts
Mar 27, 2018
1:28 AM
I would advise learning the intervals (numbers) before the note letters.

The best way to learn the location of the intervals is by practicing scales. This will create the muscle memory, so you will "know" were the notes are located.
nacoran
9783 posts
Mar 27, 2018
5:02 PM
STME58, I still can't get that spreadsheet to embed on a page right. I can embed it, but it doesn't stay interactive. The best I can do is embed each key separately. It's a shame too. I was playing around with it and I think, theoretically you can embed a sound in a cell, so you could even make it play the note when you clicked on a particular cell.

I've got it on a hidden test page. I go back to it whenever I find some other way to try to do it. I did at least figure out how to protect cells.

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Nate
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