I've been studying some of the various tunings on overblow.com....trying to figure out what the creators had in mind for each tuning. Some are very interesting.
This one really intrigued me. http://overblow.com/?menuid=26#198 It is called the Lee Oskar Blues Tuning. Whats fascinating is the number of notes on 1 hole draw....SEVEN!!..count em Seven!
Anyone ever tried one? I can't imagine the technique and muscle memory required to play these notes properly. Heck..could we all get by with a 4 hole harp?
Eb F# Bb Eb F# B Bb E G C E G C E G C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
F G B D F A B D F A E F# Bb C# Ab C# Ab C# Eb F A D Ab C# C B
I believe Carlos Del Junco is using that tuning here.
It's an interesting tuning. I made a crude harp in this tuning about 6 months ago. Although all of those notes are there on the 1 hole the bends sound strained when attempting to play them as notes. If one was made by a customizer it could possibly sound better, but Carlos doesn't make much use of the 1 hole bends in the vid above other than as an effect by swooping high to low.
The main benefit is that in 2nd position if you play 1-4 draw together you get a 7th Chord of your I. Blowing the same holes will give you the 7th Chord of your IV. They sound nice and juicy too.
---------- "You will never get every possible thing out of an instrument, but the instrument will get every possible thing out of you" - Ray Charles.
Last Edited by on Dec 30, 2010 8:56 AM
Well, you can bend between the draw and blow reed, so if the notes are far enough apart I guess it's just a matter hitting them accurately. I've been thinking about that for my newest crazy drawing-board invention to keep the length down.
That is cool about the chords...so from the 2 hole up it is the same as Richter. That is very cool...since the 4 chord with the flat 7 is pretty much unavailable.
THanks Lee....seems like a very useful harp for blues to me.
@harpdude61 - Is it difficult to play? Well yes if we're talking about playing like CdJ! But I made this tuning in an hour and then took it for a spin. I hope you enjoy and are inspired to try it.
@harpdue61 thanks, tuning is good - richard sleigh has books and youtube vids.
@Joch230 the guitar is a Godin - made in Quebec - lots of good reviews - fairly inexpensive. Has a P90 pickup. There are three models in this line - the first was called 5th Avenue and has no pickup; then this one which is called the Kingpin, and now there's one with a cutaway and 2 P90's.
@REM yes it's richter tuning but change tuning on 3 reeds - the seven draw is also changed, -1 semi-tone
Last Edited by on Dec 31, 2010 11:35 AM
The tuning on the original post and website does not change the 7 draw, but a lot of people do that to get the minor 3rd when playing in 2nd position on regular Richter tuned harps. I assume by tuning 7 draw down 1/2 step that the note you lost is still there by blow bending hole 7???
@harpdude61 Have a look at link I post below. I believe there are 3 "versions" of the tuning you're talking about. The version I'm refering to, is the one that Carlos del Junco used to record B-thing. Todd Parrot also tunes his harps with the 7 draw -1 and has posted on his youtube about how that works out.
