SuperBee
4783 posts
Jul 12, 2017
12:16 AM
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Often people ask a question along the lines of ‘which key harp should I get next?’
I have analysed a fairly large selection of tracks (7165)in a harmonica-centric collection of 528 albums, regarding the relative popularity of keys.
In the list below I have not counted minor keys, or tunes which modulate from one key to another. This is why it only adds up to 6919.
If you were basing your choice of harp keys solely on the relative likelihood of matching the key of any given song, and playing second position, it seems a sensible order of acquisition would be as per the middle column in the table below.
Of course, there are other factors to consider, but C A D Bb G F Eb E Ab Db B F# seems quite sensible general advice.
I'm sorry my formatting is out of whack but still easy to follow i hope
Key 2nd Pos Harp Key number of tracks
G C 1374
E A 1364
A D 1224
F Bb 790
D G 702
C F 591
Bb Eb 296
B E 209
Eb Ab 156
Ab Dd 105
F# B 65
Dd F# 43
I could point out that i still don't own an F# harp
The only 'surprise' in this data for me i think is that the stats actually give weight to the idea of acquiring a Bb harp prior to a G harp. i've long held this to be the case but i think its more commonly recommended to get the G harp before Bb.
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SuperBee
4784 posts
Jul 12, 2017
1:06 AM
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That's a very simplistic one-dimensional analysis.
If you break this down by keys favoured by particular performers, you see that there are other factors to consider, the main one is possibly whether you are also singing and which keys your voice suits well. I have seen for instance that Jr Wells was somewhat more likely to play in key of A, George Smith was weighted towards G.
If you wanted to work with lots of Little Walter songs, you'll find he worked in F quite a lot. I haven't eliminated the duplicates from these data but at the moment I'm seeing 68 tracks in F, 59 in G, 49 in A and 44 in E
If you look at Rice Miller aka Sonny Boy Williamson number 2, he plays an F harp in key of C a lot more than most, and then his next most common harp key is a C, sometimes a Low C (I believe he used the Hohner 12 hole).
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MindTheGap
2288 posts
Jul 12, 2017
8:45 AM
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Nice work Superbee! That's a question that comes up a lot.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Jul 12, 2017 8:52 AM
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ME.HarpDoc
256 posts
Jul 12, 2017
12:58 PM
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I know the answer is on the forum somewhere but why is the second position key Bb for playing in F ( instead of B)? Same for B when playing in F# ( instead of, what, Cb)?
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SuperBee
4787 posts
Jul 12, 2017
3:32 PM
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That's a really great question Harpdoc.
The answer is the same reason there are only 5 black keys per Octave.
The full chromatic scale used for harmonica keys is
C Db D Eb E F F# G Ab A Bb B
Each of the spaces between those notes is 1 semitone. So the distance between B and C is the same as the distance between A and Bb.
The same thing happens with E and F
When we play 2nd position we use a scale which is based off the note in 2 draw (same note as 3 blow, 6 blow, 9 blow)
I won't go into the full theory here, unless you ask, but if you think of a key for a song (let's say G) and you know to use a C harp to play 2nd position in G, so refer above and count from G to C (moving forwards, so just go back to the start when you get to the end)
Then apply that same principle for other keys. You'll see how it is
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SuperBee
4788 posts
Jul 12, 2017
3:45 PM
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Another way to say it, is because there is no B#/Cb and also no E#/Fb
Actually you will sometimes see those notes written but they don't exist in the chromatic key of C, which is what is used for the note names given to identify harmonica keys.
You can't buy a B# harmonica or a Cb (same note, different name)
Well, actually you can. A B# is known as a C harmonica and a Cb is what we know as a B harmonica
You can't buy an A# harp either but you can get a Bb which is the same thing.
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indigo
385 posts
Jul 12, 2017
10:37 PM
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Great list 'Bee.Though personally in bands/jams i've found Key of E to the most common key.
I much prefer playing in G,more cut in the sound mix.
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SuperBee
4791 posts
Jul 13, 2017
5:56 AM
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Hi Indigo, I don't doubt that for a moment.
Personally I use more D harps than anything, but at the jams I'm sure Key of E comes up a lot.
Most teachers in my experience seem to like an A harp too.
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