Tip of the Day

Here's the pitch set of this marriage...

C E A C E G C E G C = BLOW
D G B D F# A B D F# A = DRAW

You can now play in Major in 2nd Position with no bending required from 2 draw to 9+...

G Major Scale: 2 3+ 3 4+ 4 5+ 5 6+ (G A B C D E F# G) 6+ 6 7 7+ 8 8+ 9 9+

Cool, but why would we want to do this? 1st Position already can do this (G Major Diatonic Harmonica played in 1st Position = G Major Scale as well). Ponder this a bit. continue reading...

What do you get when you combine the Country Tuning and Paddy Richter Tuning? Work out the note layout and think about what its purpose would be.

Watching Brendan Power's clip you found out that the Paddy Richter tuning changes the redundant 3+ G (on the C Harmonica) to the 2nd scale degree of the G Major Scale, A (again, assuming we're playing in the common 2nd Position). Here's what you get now...

C E A C E G C E G C = BLOW
D G B D F A B D F A = DRAW

The Major Scale changes from 2 3" 3 4+ 4... to 2 3+ 3 4+ 4...

"Amazing Grace" is now played as...
TAB: 1 2, 3 2 3, 3+ 2 2+ 1, 1 2, 3 2 3, 3+ 4

Musselwhite's "Christo Redemptor" is now...

TAB: 3+ 4+ 4, 5+ 4 4+ 3+

Pretty cool. Can you think of some drawbacks?

Now that you've explored the challenge of the 3" look at Brendan Power's take on it for his style of playing: http://wn.com/Paddy_Richter_tuning

The 3" is a tough bend to hit, hold and make sound good. Have you played a tune that requires the use of that note? "Amazing Grace" is an example...

TAB: 1 2 3 2 3 3" 2 2+ 1, 1 2 3 2 3 3" 4

Charlie Musselwhite's "Christo Redemptor" is an even better example. Without good control over the 3" you ain't playing that song...

TAB: 3" 4+ 4 5+ 4 4+ 3"

Look through your songs for the use of the 3" and work them a bit...

If you're on Facebook go to http://www.facebook.com/bluesharmonica and click on "Like" to keep up with updates to the site.

Below is the pitch set for the G Natural Minor Harmonica.

C Eb G C Eb G C Eb G C = BLOW
D G Bb D F A Bb D F A = DRAW

Note that this is a C Harmonica, but is labeled as G Natural Minor. This tuning is meant to be played in 2nd Position. continue reading...

Below is the pitch set of the standard C Major Diatonic Harmonica.

C E G C E G C E G C = BLOW
D G B D F A B D F A = DRAW

Here is the C Major Diatonic Scale: C D E F G A B C D

When playing in 2nd Position (our most common position for Blues), we play the C Harmonica in the Key of G.

Here is the G Major Diatonic Scale: G A B C D E F# G

To play in minor you need to lower the 3rd, 6th and 7th of the scale. When doing this you get...

G Natural Minor Scale: G A Bb C D Eb F G continue reading...

The goal of Country Tuning is to play in Major in 2nd Position. Now... we can already play in Major in 2nd Position, but with the added F# (seventh scale degree) it makes it MORE major! ;-). To achieve this, 5 draw is raised from F to F#. Here's what you get...

C E G C E G C E G C = BLOW
D G B D F# A B D F A = DRAW continue reading...

The CD for my book "Blues Harmonica Jam Tracks & Soloing Concepts #3" with Mel Bay Publications has me, Gary Smith, R.J. Mischo, Andy Just, Tom Ball, Joe Filisko, Mitch Kashmar and Mark Hummel playing to the same full-length jam track... each not allowed to hear any of the other player's ideas before they recorded their instrumental. Each artist received the track before recording to work out ideas. This is a great study of how a song can be approached in different ways by different artists… a very cool listen for all of you working on your improvising and songwriting. continue reading...