Mini Harp Tuning
Hello Winslow. There was a post in the General Discussion section on mini harps. I remember many years ago buying a Hohner Little Lady and it being a different tuning than what they sell today... or at least I think they were! Are you aware of the different tunings through the years? I think Joe Filisko wears a five-hole mini harp around his neck?
All the mini harp stock tunings are variations on the same idea, which is to duplicate the middle part of a diatonic harmonica, but pitched one octave higher. Four-hole minis replicate Holes 4 thru 7 while five-holers are Holes 4 thru 8.
I have a five-hole Hohner Little Lady that I picked up a a teenager (circa 1968 or '69). I'm not aware of any other Hohner tuning, though some manufacturers such as Hering have also made them in A. The Suzuki Metal Major and Metal Minor models are both five-holers. The Metal Major is tuned like the Hohner five-holer, while the Metal Minor is tuned to an A harmonic minor scale, with the blow notes forming an A minor chord (A C E A C) and the draw notes B D F G# B - again like Holes 4 through 8 of a harmonic minor tuned diatonic.
When I first met Jimmy Gordon on 1993, he was into doing all sorts of custom tunings on Little Lady harps, but thetunings i've mentioned are the only stock tunings I know of.
Just some stupid trivia, but Paul McCartney appeared in a taped skit on Saturday Night Live two weeks ago "playing" one of these. You can still find the skit on the SNL website:
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/dec-11-paul-rudd/1264579/?t...
You have to sit through some inane goofiness for a few minutes to get to it, though.
Thank you Winslow. I thought I had a 4-holer tuned like the upper 4 holes so blow bends could be used... I wasn't sure about it, thanks so much for clearing that up.
Have given me a great idea David!! :))
i have tuned my mini harmonica like the upper 4 holes!
and i have very fun playing it! i can do Jimmy Reed things!!!!
thanks
Best Regards
Marko
All the mini harp stock tunings are variations on the same idea, which is to duplicate, one octave higher, Holes 4 thru 7 or Holes 4 thru 8 of a standard diatonic. Four-hole minis replicate Holes 4 thru 7 while five-holers are Holes 4 thru 8.
I have a five-hole Hohner Little Lady that I picked up a a teenager (circa 1968 or '69). I'm not aware of any other Hohner tuning, though some manufacturers such as Hering have also made them in A. The Suzuki Metal Major and metal Minor models are both five-holers. The Metal Major is tuned like the Hohner five-holer, while the metal Minor is tuned to an A harmonic minor scale, with the blow notes forming an A minor chord (A C E A C) and the draw notes B D F G# B - again like Holes 4 through 8 of a harmonic minor tuned diatonic.
When I first met Jimmy Gordon on 1993, he was into doing all sorts of custom tunings on Little Lady harps, but thetunings i've mentioned are the only stock tunings I know of.