MrVerylongusername
2088 posts
Dec 01, 2011
4:02 PM
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My band is working on a Stevie Wonder tune for Xmas. It rises to F# for the solo. I was wondering about reversing the slide on my chrom to do it, but I'm not sure if that's possible on a CX12. Holding the slide in and releasing it for the ornamentations does not seem as intuitive to me. With 2 weeks to go I'm less interested about how Stevie did it as to how I might make it as easy as possible.
Taking the slide out is easy enough due to the amazing design of the CX12, but can the metal section be removed from the plastic button? I'm nervous about pulling it too hard in case I break something.
Whatever I do needs to be reversible too.
Is it possible on the CX12
Should I use another chrom where it is possible?
Should I just play it with the slide in?
Thoughts?
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FMWoodeye
75 posts
Dec 01, 2011
4:58 PM
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I can help you out with another key CX12 if that will help. I haven't touched a chrom in two years.
Why does the solo have to be the same as Stevie Wonder did it? Just a rhetorical question, I guess. If you think it has to be, then it does....for you.
Last Edited by on Dec 01, 2011 4:59 PM
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FMWoodeye
76 posts
Dec 01, 2011
5:02 PM
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OR...if you want one to experiment on, I can send you one out. If it bites the dust, so be it. At least it went for the common good.
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MrVerylongusername
2089 posts
Dec 02, 2011
1:27 AM
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That's a pretty nice offer - thanks, but I'll pass as my wife already thinks I have too many harps. I have 5 chroms already!
As to playing it like Stevie - the point is actually that I'm not! It's a pretty short and very simple solo on the original recording ("What Christmas Means to Me"). We're extending the solo and so I'm trying to put a bit more variation in it. I already have the complication that I'm shaking a stick with sleigh bells on through the song up to the point of the solo too!
Anyway thanks!
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dougharps
128 posts
Dec 02, 2011
10:17 AM
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With regard to CX12 slide reversal, I don't know that instrument's mechanics, since I play 270s and Hering 5148s. I use multiple keys of chromatics, too.
Multiple keyed chromatics are a short cut to accessing playing in many more keys without the wood shedding that would normally be required on a single instrument. A true chromatic player can do it all (or most all) on one instrument.
But on the topic of slide reversal, I would encourage you to not reverse the slide, and keep working on playing with the slide pressed in, releasing for ornaments and incidentals. This will eventually let you play in several more keys on any given key of chromatic.
You already know that pushing the button creates sharps. If you flip the slide and get flats by pushing the button, it is likely to lead to confusion. If you can already play several positions/modes/or keys on each chromatic, learning to do it with the button in will add several more positions/modes/or keys to each chromatic, and improve your playing. (Serious chromatic players would just say "keys" and learn the scales on one instrument.)
However, I have known good chromatic players such as Joseph Leone who use multiple keys of chromatic. I have taken that path so far. With multiple instruments you can improvise competently in many keys without truly mastering playing in all keys on one C chromatic. This approach also takes advantage of the fact that some music lays better on certain keyed harps, and that you can access some chords in some positions.
That being said, to really master the instrument, you do need to work on multiple keys on one instrument, as well as reading music.
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Doug S.
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lumpy wafflesquirt
474 posts
Dec 02, 2011
10:53 AM
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I sure I saw CX12s advertised somewhere with the slide reversed, but I can't remember where, must have found it when i was researching CX12s before I bought a tenor tuned one. whether it is an easy [reversible] mod or whether it had a specially made new slide I don't know.
a quick google found this
http://www.harpl.com/199957109.html
My favorite 12 hole chromatic, the Hohner CX-12, can also be converted
to a "flippie". The slide on the CX-12 is easy to remove without tools.
Just depress the clip under the plastic button and pull it out. At first
I was perplexed as how to safely remove the plastic button from the
metal slide bar. A private e-mail from Brendan Power supplied me with
the answer. Simply clamp the metal slide bar in a vise (pad it with a
piece of leather or thick cloth to prevent scratching), then gently pull
the plastic button off. Reverse the button and push it back on to the
metal slide bar. Now, re-insert the slide bar assembly in to the CX-12
and you are ready to play Irish tuning. Brendan recommends not removing
the plastic button more than once or twice because the assembly will
loosen and might require gluing. Hohner sells the CX-12 slide bar
assemblies as replacement parts, so you might want to buy spares. That
way you could easily switch back to regular tuning by simply changing
the slide bar."
Note: The Slide-In Draw note on the last hole of a solo tuned chromatic
is the second scale degree, not the expected sharp of the seventh. On a
C chromatic, the Slide-In Draw note on the last hole is D, not "B#" (C).
So, when you flip the slide , the Slide-Out Draw note on hole 12 is D.
But that is the only real quirk. I just avoid the 12 hole draw or tune
down the reed with silver solder.
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"Come on Brackett let's get changed"
Last Edited by on Dec 02, 2011 10:56 AM
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lumpy wafflesquirt
475 posts
Dec 02, 2011
12:26 PM
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@ sydeman
didn't I say that half an hour before you?
:^/
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"Come on Brackett let's get changed"
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MrVerylongusername
2091 posts
Dec 02, 2011
12:36 PM
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Thanks for the replies everybody. Very helpful. Still don't know what to do! I think Doug's advice sounds good. Back to the woodshed and just get used to it!
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