Re: [Harp-L] harp key???

[philharpn@xxxxxxx]

First thing this buddy needs to do is tune up to standard guitar tuning. There is a reason why it is standard tuning. Because it's the standard tuning. Not because it's always been done that way, but because it works.

One of the wrinkles nobody has mentioned about playing guitar with a rack harmonica is the difference in the tuning of harmonicas: I think there are now three "standard" tunings out of the box. (1)Just intonation (the traditional tuning of the 10-hole harmonica (Marine Band, anybody?) (2) the equal temperament used in the Lee Oskar and Golden Melody and some others and (3) the compromise tuning which is a mixture of the just and equal temperament.

One of my former guitar teachers told me that a reed went south on his Lee Oskar, so he picked up a Special 20 in the same key and  upset to discover the Special 20 didn't sound as good as the Lee Oskar at his gig. I gave him the short explanation. 

Obviously, the simple solution when matching a harmonica to a guitar tuned a half-step down is a harp a half-step lower.

Another solution is to get a chromatic tuner ($20?) [not a guitar tuner] and match up the guitar and harp and find out what the difference is. It may just be tuning the guitar to match the harp a few cents.








-----Original Message-----
From: Franklin Wagman <wagmanpi@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thu, Nov 12, 2015 12:17 pm
Subject: [Harp-L] harp key???


A buddy of mine plays acoustic guitar and I taught him to play a little harp on a neck rack.  Recently he down tuned his guitar a half step for his act, but now finds nothing works in second position.  Is there another position which might work for him?  I donât know enough about theory to figure this one out.  Can anyone help? Many Thx Frank