Diego's Tuning
Dear David,
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 HOLES
VII II IV VI I III V VII II IV BLOW
I III V VII II IV VI I III V DRAW
x IIIb Vb VIIb IIb x VIb x IIIb Vb DRAW BENDS
what do you think about this tuning ?
Less octave extension. No OCT inverval can be played.
BUT:
massive chords,
shakes all on chord ( left-right, as down-up, and both viceversa ),
only "easy" strandard draw bends,
every "bemolle" is there at least for one of the two octave covered by this tuning *1,
iii, iii(7) and V chord can be bend as a note,
other draw chords can be partially bended,
double hole covers all "chord intervervals" ( I-III, III-V, V-VII, VII-II, II-IV, IV-VI, VI-I),
with thong bloking more intervals avalaibles ( 1 block: I-V , III-VII , V-II , VII-IV , II-VI , V-I , VI-III ) ( two blocks: I-VII, III-II , V-IV, VII-VI, II-III, IV-V )
and some of the draw intervals are also bendables.
LAST INFORMATION ABOUT THIS TUNING IS: I would like to combine two of this specially tuned hamonica using the twin harmonica system desined by Brendan Power, probably switch harp, one harp in C one in Db. But I m still studing Brendan systems *1.
Sorry if I wrote too much, you lesson are wonderfull!
Thank you,
Diego
PS:
*1 so every bemolle will be easy accesible for both octaves covered, cromatics.
Hello Diego, thank you for your question. I have seen many systems, and have experimented with them, and in the end, though fun to experiment with, I end up going back to the standard diatonic tuning. If you're primarily a blues harmonica player, I recommend you stay with the standard tuning. If you like to explore different styes of music, or need a special harmonica tuning for a specific song, then it makes sense to explore other tunings. In regards to deciding on a tuning to use, base it on the style you're interested in playing, or the one that is the best solution for that particular song.
P.S., if you're chasing a "better" tuning for blues playing, it doesn't exist, stay with the standard tuning (it has proven to work, and all of the material that you will study out there uses the standard tuning).