littleeasy
11 posts
Mar 23, 2010
6:19 PM
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I playing cross harp with a band who is playing a song in the key of D. That puts me using a G harp. The low G is to low and sounds terrible, a High G is to squeaky. Do I have any other options?
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HarpNinja
312 posts
Mar 23, 2010
6:21 PM
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If the song is a blues or has a funk feel or is minor, you can use a C harp in third position. If it is a major tune, I'd suggest an A harp in 12th.
If you can play 3rd you can play 12th...you can play 3rd if you can play first.
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Mike Fugazzi
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nacoran
1498 posts
Mar 23, 2010
7:13 PM
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Where on the harp are you playing it? A normal G harp is going to give you notes in a range from G3 to G6. A high G is going to give you G4 to G7.
There is a lot of overlap and another key harp is only going to move you around a little bit in that range. For instance a C harp plays C4 to C7, but if you are playing the root for a song in G you are going to have to choose G4-G6, which overlaps what you'd get on a normal G harp. Different harp, same notes, although you may get different tone.
Is it sounding too high or too low relative to the band, or is it the actual pitch of the harp? If it's the actual pitch of the harp maybe the band could move it to a different key.
You might also want to mess with your amp settings to see if you can take the squeal off the high G or lighten up the regular G.
Hope that helps (and that I remember all my octaves correctly.)
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Nate
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Last Edited by on Mar 23, 2010 7:14 PM
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hvyj
224 posts
Mar 24, 2010
5:09 AM
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If it's a Chicago style blues, you might be able to get away with using a Bb harp in fifth position which actually puts you in D natural minor, but for certain blues styles you can play that scale over D major and sound okay.
It's a lot like playing in second position, just use blow 2 for root, don't bend anything but draw 3 and avoid draw 5 and draw 9.
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boris_plotnikov
57 posts
Mar 24, 2010
7:06 AM
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You can practice your breathing and you would be happy with your regular G. Try playing the same with lowD or lowC for a month and you'll be wondered how easy is to play regular G.
Depends on music you can also try using D harp in 1st pos or Low D harp at 7-10 holes, A harp for 12pos or C harp for 3-rd, Bb in 5th pos depends on tune.
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Last Edited by on Mar 24, 2010 7:19 AM
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Jim Rumbaugh
186 posts
Mar 24, 2010
9:58 AM
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a D is a D is a D
If a regular G harp is too low, and a high G too high....
Either you are out of luck, or you need to try some of the above ideas from boris .
To make my point, the D note from a G harp on the 2 hole draw (2nd position), is just as low as the D note played on a Bd harp on the 2 blow(5th position)
You may be using a higher key harp, but you are using lower notes.
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littleeasy
12 posts
Mar 24, 2010
5:36 PM
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Thanks for everyones comments. As to asking the band to change key - I've played with them 3 times and dont feel as though I should be pushing for them to change keys for me. I did ask them and it may be an option. I'll try the tone on my amp. Also, the tone for both the high and low key is correct, but the low G is muffled and the harp doesnt respond quick enough to make the solo sound good. I feel as though a low G is only good for train sounds, do you agree?
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NiteCrawler .
55 posts
Mar 24, 2010
6:17 PM
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Ques.?When your speaking of a low g I assume your talking about a standard G harp.If your new to this key and have played the more popular and go to keys as in A,s,B flats,C,s and so on yes the key of G does sound low and somewhat limited.In the past the g wasn,t always my favorite key but as time went on and certain songs in the G-mans key of D went I became more comfortable with using the G and with work and practice you will be able or should be able to run on that bad boy just like you would any of the other key. When first starting out, G was my least favorite but after playing certain tunes (in D)it became part of the arsonal just like all of the others.If you have a Chromatic in the key of C you may want to try to incorporate the two together.I don,t know how far along you are but my advise would be to just keep playing it until you feel more comfortable with it.In time you will be able to get more than just train sounds,Far more,If the bandmates only play one or two tunes in D try to find a couple of cuts on your own and practice along with them,in time you,ll be pleased with your G.
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