NewZealand18
42 posts
Jul 16, 2010
6:24 AM
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Now that people are able to overblow/overdraw every hole on the harmonica with some notes able to be played from different holes, i was wondering whether with correctly tuning each note it would be possible to get four or more octaves.
Has anyone tried doing this?
if not any thoughts on its possibility?
Last Edited by on Jul 16, 2010 6:25 AM
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tookatooka
1532 posts
Jul 16, 2010
6:27 AM
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I'm having enough trouble with the three we already know about. I hope no-one can find four. Please.
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boris_plotnikov
159 posts
Jul 16, 2010
8:00 AM
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Marine Band 365 SBS tuning is more than 4 octave. 12 hole Seydel Blues Soloist is 3,5 octave. 16-hole chromatics are 4 octave.
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Last Edited by on Jul 16, 2010 8:01 AM
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Buddha
2234 posts
Jul 16, 2010
8:04 AM
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it's not possible on a regular diatonic.
You can get three full octaves plus 1-3 extra notes in the fourth octave with the 10OD depending on your technique and harp.
It's a wasted effort as far as I'm concerned. Then again, I'm a nut so what do I know other than facts?
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"All is bliss"
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MrVerylongusername
1135 posts
Jul 16, 2010
8:12 AM
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I read the post as meaning retuning to some special layout. I guess that would be "possible" but I think the crazy amount of work involved and the compromises layout wise (a whole heap of bends) wouldn't make the result worthwhile.
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Buddha
2236 posts
Jul 16, 2010
8:20 AM
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see, I'm a nut. Duh.
I guess I never even consider alter tuned harps in my head. Had I correctly read the post, I wouldn't have commented.
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"All is bliss"
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jim
225 posts
Jul 16, 2010
9:03 AM
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A "whole-tone" tuning from the chromatic would give you 4 octaves from a 12-holer.
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www.truechromatic.com
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harpdude61
257 posts
Jul 16, 2010
3:39 PM
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To get 4 octaves chromatically on a 10 hole harp you would have to average 4.8 pitchs per hole.... hard to work in even with bends and overbends.
You could get 4 octaves of certain scales on a 10 hole harp easy. The blues scale has 6 notes so 24 notes would make 4 octaves. Only 4 bends needed.
The major pentatonic scale has only 5 notes so to do 5 octaves you would need 25 pitches...only 5 bends needed in ten holes.
I guess those would make for dull souless harps...lol...I don't know if any are tuned this way or if it is even possible..
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ElkRiverHarmonicas
496 posts
Jul 17, 2010
1:45 AM
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In harmonica tuning, nothing is perfect, you always lose something to get something. To get four octaves in a 10-hole harmonica, you'd have to do something crazy like this below. You would have to devote your life to precision bending. Note you would have like no useable chords.
To make it work, and have some reasonable consistency, I made each draw two steps higher than the blow. Thus, you'd have three bend notes per hole. This is a fully chromatic instrument (check it out, Buddha, haha):
1 blow is a C3
draw E A C# F# B E A C# F# C
blow C F A# D G C F A# D G
You could weed out some of the non-scale notes here and maybe get the number of bends per hole down to two. I do not want to put that much effort into this right now ;)
But the above should give you an idea what you'd have to do to make 4 octaves in 10 holes.
You might end up trying to sound like this German jazz dude, Alfred Hirsch, if you devoted your life to this tuning.
http://www.myspace.com/alfredhirsch
But even Alfred's harmonica isn't that complicated. His is an MB 364 he made, starts on 1 blow of F#, then each draw hole is one step higher and the next hole starts out blow being a half step higher than the draw. As in
draw Ab B D
blow F# A C
and it continues. It took Alfred quite a while to learn how to play that and he's only got one bend each hole. You would have no less than two. You would seriously have to devote your life to playing this tuning to make it work.
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www.harrisonharmonicas.com
"There are only two things money can't buy - true love and homegrown tomatoes." - Lewis Grizzard
Last Edited by on Jul 17, 2010 1:52 AM
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