colman
61 posts
Aug 02, 2011
6:15 AM
|
I started playing harp in 1968.there was not to much info out there to learn from.but i looked at the styles of blues being played,I thought there was three different styles ,Sonny Terry,sonny boy2 and Little walter.these three stood out as the blues harp trinity to me.idid like every one else then. played as much as possible and wen`t to see live performances.studying these three and any one else i liked had me playing good in two years,not one lesson.i didn`t think about a scale untill i started playing a guitar three years later.i played harp like it `s a language,learn the vocabulary and when you can talk the talk,start singing it.too this day i still don`t play harp with scales.just singing blues.another one`s experience learning harp...
|
Tommy the Hat
178 posts
Aug 02, 2011
8:14 AM
|
There are many roads to the mountain top.
----------
Tommy
Bronx Mojo
|
JInx
27 posts
Aug 02, 2011
10:05 AM
|
You do play harp with scales, but you don't know it. The notes of the harp are built from a scale. Rickter has already done the thinking for you.
|
jbone
591 posts
Aug 02, 2011
8:25 PM
|
well let me just say- THANKS RICHTER! i'm with colman. very little "formal" education music-wise. i started out aping guitar licks, moved to keyboard and horn licks, and tried to emulate the harpmen- and women- that leaped out at me.
----------
http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000386839482
|
DanP
200 posts
Aug 03, 2011
11:21 PM
|
@Jinx Actually, Richter eliminated notes of the diatonic scale both at the low register and the high register. Only the middle octave has a complete diatonic scale. Richter did this so the player could get a chord anywhere on the harmonica. The harmonica was designed as a chordal instrument to be played in the key the harmonica was tuned to (first position). Richter had no idea the harmonica would be used for blues ( which had yet to be invented or at least fully developed ) and that we would be bending to get those missing notes or that we would be using a chromatic scale with flatted notes on this diatonic instrument. In the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century everybody who played the harmonica used the tongue-blocking style because that's the way the harmonica was designed to be played-by playing the notes of the middle register as the lead single notes and by raising the tongue to get chord acompaniment.
Sorry to get carried away with harp trivia but harmonica history is a subject I find interesting.
Last Edited by on Aug 03, 2011 11:32 PM
|
JInx
30 posts
Aug 04, 2011
9:48 AM
|
That Richter, he sure knew his stuff. Without him and brother Hermes the blues might not ever left the fields.
Last Edited by on Aug 04, 2011 9:49 AM
|
