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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > Asking for "Hotel California" recomendations
Asking for "Hotel California" recomendations
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Jim Rumbaugh
1301 posts
Jun 07, 2018
7:48 PM
I just started playing around with "Hotel California"

I did not like what I found on HATRPTABS.COM, so I'm rollong my own.

So far, it looks like I'm going with 5th position, Do you have any recomendation?
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theharmonicaclub.com (of Huntington, WV)
Gnarly
2505 posts
Jun 07, 2018
8:31 PM
Power Chromatic (a diatonic tuning).
I had a video on YouTube, but it seems to have disappeared. Odd . . .
Thievin' Heathen
1023 posts
Jun 09, 2018
6:32 AM
Wow! That is a radical retune.
http://www.slidemeister.com/forums/index.php?topic=6757.0

Solder, Blu-Tac or are you changing reeds?
Gnarly
2506 posts
Jun 09, 2018
7:52 AM
I use solder--and I like retuning, so it's actually fun.
It's an easier retune if you start with a solo tuned harp.
For Hotel California in Bm (the record key) I would start with a B harmonica. The retune puts the harmonica into D6 blow (or Bm!), E6 draw.

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Blow +3 +3 +3 0 -1 0 -2 -4 -4 -5
Draw +3 +2 +1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0



This rendition is in Gm. So the harp is Bb6/C6.

Last Edited by Gnarly on Jun 09, 2018 8:02 AM
timeistight
2253 posts
Jun 09, 2018
9:20 AM
Try it on a coverless chromatic (maybe):




Here's a nice harmonic analysis:

Gnarly
2507 posts
Jun 09, 2018
10:12 AM
It was Scottish harper Little Al Price who first suggested the tuning to me—He called it Magic Bop Band, so that’s what I called it, until Brendan Power politely suggested that he had first claim to the name, and he called it Power Chromatic. So that’s what it’s called, but there is no button.
I will also refer to this as “Four six five six”, as those are the two chords—IV6 blow, V6 draw.
Every draw note can be bent a half step, since every draw note is a whole step above the blow note.
So in this key (Bb6/C6), you have Bb D F G blow and C E G A draw. One flat, so it’s in the F major scale.
Draw bends are B Eb F# and Ab, so the only missing note is C#. That’s a pretty important note in jazz—so it’s useful to valve the D blow and set up the Bb to overblow.
This is also the tuning I use for Tequila, and a few other melodies that need more of the chromatic scale, especially like Hotel California—the chorus starts with a bent note, that’s a little tricky, but not as iffy as overblows (for me).
I also have a video where I recommend doing the Runaway solo with a harp in this tuning.
grahamonica
237 posts
Jun 10, 2018
1:13 PM

Last Edited by grahamonica on Jun 10, 2018 1:16 PM


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