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beginner forum: for novice and developing blues harp players >
A Real Diatonic Harp
A Real Diatonic Harp
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MindTheGap
1093 posts
Feb 03, 2016
2:04 AM
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I while ago I came across a woman playing a diatonic folk harp - a real harp, with strings!
We had issues in common like playing in modes for different keys and for a certain sound, and problem of major/minor specifically.
Her harp had a useful feature which was that each string was mounted on a cam that could change the pitch by a semitone. So she could 'dial-in' a tuning at the start of a song. Like including a major/minor third, or a major/minor 7th. And she said that she might setup different things on different areas of the instrument, so you could go to the different areas during the song. In the harp repertoire, it was common to have a minor key song with a major chord ending, called a Picardy Third.
Not unlike, I thought, the diatonic harmonica, with different note choices available in different areas: more chromatic at the low end (so, bluesy or possibly minor), mixolydian (major-ish) or major-pentatonic at the top end.
Imagine if we could dial-in different tunings on one harp? Major, minor (various flavours), country tuning...
One thing I've always wanted to try is tuning the 7D to a minor third to make the top end more bluesy, but I don't want to be stuck with it.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Feb 03, 2016 2:11 AM
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SuperBee
3342 posts
Feb 03, 2016
3:43 AM
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That is very interesting. I know a lady who is a harpist, but I've never really spoken with her about the harps, just about piano (she is a piano teacher, and gave lessons to both my youngsters)
Tuning the 7draw to a minor 3rd, so tuning down...I think Todd Parrot does this using blue tack. We discussed the process on one of the threads here recently but I think with so many threads going OT I'm not sure if it was about a low F harp or not. Someone was gonna try retune an entire harp with blutac...
Anyway, I think it's eminently practical for a job such as this
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MindTheGap
1094 posts
Feb 03, 2016
3:58 AM
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What I wasn't sure about was whether she used the cams to set up different keys altogether.
Yes I saw the blutak discussion, might be worth a go for a single reed. Actually having written that, I've now got an itch to permanently tune an A harp for that 7D mod. Many of our songs are in E as it turns out, so I would use it a lot.
I can see a slippy slope ahead.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Feb 03, 2016 4:01 AM
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SuperBee
3345 posts
Feb 03, 2016
4:22 AM
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I think you'd then be able to blow bend for the original note.
I found I quickly adapted to draw bending the 5 when I had the country tuning.
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