A couple of months ago I got my BMH-Sub-30 harmonica from Tom Halchak over at Blue Moon. The harmonica is extremely well-made (the comb is incredibly smooth) and it features a number of innovative components that Tom either invented or refined. I can make all of the extra bends pretty decently now. It did take me a little while to get the feel of it though.
But so far, I have had a few small difficulties in learning to use it. MY PROBLEM IS... I have been playing blues obsessively for so long -- some 28 years -- that when I go to play the BMH-Sub-30 harmonica more "chromatically", I just sort of wind up automatically playing bluesy stuff on it and I don't use any extra notes. I just don't even know where to put extra notes. It's like I can't even think of them when I'm playing.
My BMH-Sub-30 is in A. I figured since I'm most fluent in second position, I'd work on "chromaticizing" that position first. Can any of you recommend a few basic melodies (or jazz heads, or pop song vocal melodies, etc.) that are in E but require more of the "missing" notes?
First thing I would do is start playing the same lines you do on the first 6 holes on the top--like try incorporating the bent note on draw 7, on the A it's a G--but play it as a blue note, just like draw 3 bent. You might also try playing first position blues, that note is the flat seven in first.
In my opinion, Rob Paparozzi should be the Poster Boy for the SUB-30. Back in 2013 when the SUB-30 was introduced, he was a Suzuki Endorser. We had some conversations about the SUB-30 and I was looking forward to working with him. Then he jumped to Hohner and that kind of put the kibosh on working with Suzuki products. Rob plays a lot different styles of music. Sure, he plays blues but he also plays a lot of old standards and melodic pieces. Just check out his Etruscan Soul CD. The fact that he also plays the piano probably helps him think chromatically. I have had a couple of conversations with him recently in which I told him that with the new SUB-30 components I just came out with he wouldn’t recognize it. Don’t be surprised when I get one of my custom SUB-30s into his hands soon. ---------- Tom Halchak www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com
Last Edited by florida-trader on Aug 01, 2017 11:11 AM
A jazz blues head that can benefit from extended bending capabilities is Thelonious Monk's "Blue Monk."
Blue Monk is a medium tempo head that uses four-note chunks of the chromatic scale. A few notes in, you'll find yourself using the Blow 5 bend, for instance. Soon, you'll use the 6 blow bend as well.
Thanks to everyone who answered! I'm going to put all of those tunes into my Spotify so I can listen and play along.
@ Grey Owl: is Filip playing "September Song" in the first clip? It sounds really familiar. Holy cow he is a good player. And Rob is just on another planet musically as well. Rob seems like he would have been a great performer in the "olden days" because he can sing, read music, kick ass on piano, diatonic, and chrom. He can really do it all. I wonder if he can dance, too.
@ hvyj: those are great tunes. Are they always in E or will I have to look for specific versions?
@ Winslow: The head to Blue Monk is exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks!
@Florida: Tom, I'm in the process of responding to your email. :) this is part of my response, but I have a bunch of other things to tell you as well.
To everybody: I asked for examples of second-position E stuff with some of the new bends in them because I seem to learn best by listening. Having a few songs really helps me figure out how to play new things, because I learn music "like Legos".
I know that sounds ridiculous, but think about if each basic riff was a Lego brick. First you learn to put a different bricks together to make a little house or a little car. Over time, you learn how to make many different cars or little houses. Then, once you are really familiar with that, then you start being able to know how to take those little cars and houses apart and re-arrange them in different ways. Eventually, you can build towns and cities and spaceships and monsters and whatever, in an almost unlimited fashion. And you get better at looking at a pile of bricks and seeing what you can make out of it. Or also, you can look at a building somebody else made and get a decent idea of what type of bricks re in it and how they are arranged.
So that's where I am right now. When it comes to vintage blues, I am like a master Lego builder. I can just take a bunch of bricks and form them into anything, any which way I want, as much as I want.
These extra notes, to me, are like new, differently shaped Lego bricks. First I just had to learn to find them in the pile of Legos. Now I have to learn how to attach them to other Lego bricks. After that, I'll build a little car. Before you know it, I'll be able to build lots of different things and use them in all different ways.
Does anyone else learn music in this way, or am I just a big weirdo?
Last Edited by cliffy on Aug 01, 2017 12:23 PM
There's actually a whole book and method for jazz improvisation that uses the Lego bricks metaphor - even got permission to use the name from the company that makes Lego. =========== Winslow
Sorry, cliffy. I did not read your OP carefully enough to notice you were specifically requesting tunes in the key of E. SO WHAT modulates between Dm (dorian) and Eb minor (dorian) and is playable with 2 diatonic harps in third position. Neither of the other tunes are in E, either. The other two tunes are often played in arrangements that keep modulating up a half step in each chorus, so I dunno how many ordinary diatonic harps would be needed to play them, but I thought they might be doable on one Sub-30. Sorry, this is not what you were after and may not be much help.
To break out pf habitual blues, though, you might try running different types of scales using each successive note (including bent notes) as the root note of the scale.
Last Edited by 