Re: tricking

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The tuning described in the post below is pretty unusual, enough to be
interesting.  

However, it's not clear how the notes lay out in terms of octaves, e.g.
is 7 blow (E) a half step higher than blow 4 (Eb), or an octave plus a
half step higher?  Please clarify.

Also, please note that the way the term "tetrachord" is used here
doesn't seem to match the way it's used in modern jazz theory.  A
"tetrachord" -- as the term is used by Wynton Marsalis, for example --
is a 4-note chord that has the following characteristics:
1)  the top and bottom note of the chord are an octave apart.
2)  the chord contains two perfect 4ths.
3)  the chord contains one major 2nd.

So, for example, there are three possible tetrachords built on C:
C D G C
C F G C
C F Bb C

Anyway, that aside, I'd like to check this tuning out.  If you have any
recordings of same posted anywhere, please advise.  Looking forward ot
hearing the answer to the layout question above.

Regards, Richard Hunter 
www.hutnerharp,com
 
Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2003 10:27:43 EDT
From: Vadimonium@xxxxxxx
Subject: tricking --


hi,
i've been out of town on a gig - yeah, legit and  all! ha. the whole
band, 
not just me ....!! - and just now back to my computer. so, this is what
the 
trick is all about.

first, if not for rupert oysler's tip about sanding to tune, i'd still
be in 
the dark. but, that just opened it up for me. somethng i can do. no
mechanical 
aptitude needed - trust me, none available in this little 'bod' either,
just 
the patience to see it thru. man, what an open door! 

ran into a guy a while ago playing great stuff on keys. as i have a
habit of 
doing, after a set, i wandered - okay, staggered - over and started to
bug 
him. anyway, i found out all about tetrachords. man, if that could be
done to my 
harp, it'd be smokey...couldnt tune it. then , along comes rupert
oysler! 
yeah....

so, i'm experimenting tuning my a harp so i can play g blues on it. now,
a 
guy i met on this gig was telling me there aint any difference in the
reeds on 
an a harp or a g harp or a c harp. just the method of tuning is
different. i 
dont have degrees and stuff so i figured he must know. thing is, i know
what i 
hear - that's all. my a harp tuned to this tetrachord deal is smokey and
i love 
hte sound. so, i played  some for this guy. he seemd to like it too.
now, i 
run thru a pod to a bass amp. "smokey are us"! who knows for sure? i
dont claim 
to at all. you guys on the list know all that stuff. i just know what my
ears 
tell me.....anyway....an a harp tuned to tetrachords for playing g
blues. i 
did it  like this....i'm sure it aint best, but it workd for me this
time.....

hole     blow/draw   pitch      hole      blow/draw     pitch
1           blow           a           5          blow             b
1           draw           e           5          draw             f#
2           blow           c           6          blow             d
2           draw           g           6          draw             a
3           blow           d           7           blow            e
3           draw           a           7           draw            b
4           blow           eb          8           blow            f
4           draw           bb          8           draw           c

i dont need the top two holes for this tetrachord thing. so, didnt even 
bother messing with them. oh, i'm sure i'm opening myself up to all
sorts of 
'should have done's' and 'why didnt you's'  and 'would have been better
to's' and 
stuff. that's ok. probably are better ways to lay this out. i said i'm
no expert 
at this. this is a first try at it for me -- i'm having a ball. and to
play 
with this set up is great. you can play bluesy as heck; you can play
much 
jazzier sounds, too. at least that's what i've found. and just noodling
around 
improvising is more fun than stepping in something soft.....whatever...

pat missin's site scares me. i dont know. 9, 263 ways to tune a harp? 
whew...what a great site and wonderfully done. i love it. didnt see
tetrachord tuning 
like this on my really lite-weight look thru, tho. with my luck, this
aint 
original. been done lots of times....waaaahh! anyway.....[dont waste 
bandwidth...ehehe]

this also lets me play both major blues scales with blue notes and minor 
blues scales as well which is getting a lot more important to me as i go
over the 
transcriptions i love to make of the greats playng their stuff. seems
they did 
a lot of this kind of thing. i'm just getting started! ha! anyway, my IV 
chord stuff has always been really stiff. then i ran across - no, not
over, 
across! - this guy named bill boyd. he goes, 'hey, use the major blues
scale with 
flat 3 flat 7 included on I and V and minor blues scale on IV and see
what 
that's about."  gives me some real openings, i think and i see that used
by the 
greats in places too. love it.....

if you're in g blues: I is g; IV is c; V is d. yeah all 7's..... anyway, 

one chord tetrachord: e g a bb- b d e f - 8 notes because there's two 
sections to it, high and low.

four chord tetrachord: e g a bb- a c d eb - doubles with one chord
tetrachord 
on lower four notes. [cool, huh?]

five chord tetrachord: b d e f- f# a b c - doubles with one chord
tetrachord 
on the upper four notes. 

because of the overlapping of the four and five tetrachords with the one 
tetrachord, you can get all these notes in eight holes on the harp.
really neat, i 
think.

anyway.....that's the trick. sorry it took so long to go over this. hope 
someone finds it fun as i am. 
 

vadie.....