Re: Newbie questions

["G." <gigs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Peter,
I am a strong advocate of bringing altered tunings to beginner harmonica
player's awareness so they at least know there are other options with
different pros and cons, and can make an informed choice.

In your case, I agree with you, you've obviously put a lot of thought into
your question and for that reason alone I think you are a good candidate to
explore this sort of thing as soon as possible before investing too much
time into any given tuning.

If you don't like one tuning after a decent trial of 3 to 6 months, then
sell it
second hand and keep looking for what works for you.  Harmonicas are dirt
cheap compared to most other instruments.

In your original email the naming of the tuning layouts you gave were back
to front.

C6 Bebop is named after the slide out/blow chord notes of
C E G A... blow
D F A B... draw
Also known as "Alternate Bebop"

The more popular tuning of the two "Bebop" has a couple of other names such
as "C/F bebop" and "C7 Bebop"
C E G Bb ...  blow, slide out
D F A B ...  draw, slide out
This is generally what people assume you're talking about if you simply talk
about "Bebop tuning".

Either Bebop are easier tunings for someone to do themselves since only a
couple of reeds needs retuning.

There is a variation on these tunings where the first blow note is the fifth
of the key you want.   So for a regular Bebop ( C7 Bebop ) you'd start on G
(below middle C)
G Bb C E G Bb C E G Bb ... blow, slide out
A B_ D F A B_ D F A B ...  draw, slide out

I call this C7/G Bebop because the blow chord is C7 with G as the bass note.
These can of course be transposed for any key chromatic.

I have written a number of webpages about more popular altered tunings along
with references to some other useful sites and resources on the topic.
http://tinyurl.com/suit/altered.html
Two links on that page of note are:
Pat Missin's musings on altered tunings - its a good primer,
 and Max Grecko's webpage about altered tunings for beginners - he's put a
lot of work into writing up MOLT tunings from the point of view of a rank
beginner for rank beginners - PDF files, well worth downloading and reading.

Also Pat Missin's "altered states" is the bible reference for any altered
tuning layout, and also two very useful references on tuning, rereeding and
customising harmonica reeds.
http://www.patmissin.com/tunings/tunings.html
look for the link to download Altered States

Either Bebop doesn't work well over blues when played in the traditional 3rd
position vamping style popular with Chicago Blues harp players - the
dominant blow chord throws the tonality out of wack.
I'm not sure whether the alternate C6 Bebop would be any better - I don't
know, its one I haven't experimented with yet.

As you've probably worked out for yourself, either bebop tuning makes better
use of the 4th hole, and also does away with the
reversed breath pattern that trips up just about every beginner I've been
aware of.  But at least every octave has the same layout, blues harmonicas
have 3 different patterns over the three octaves, to play in all twelve keys
requires more than 12 different patterns, it requires learning 36 patterns
if you want to play over all three registers!!!

Generally I recommend Bebop tuning to players who're used to Solo tuning,
and want more versatility from their chromatic without having to start all
over again.   For someone such as yourself I'd push to try something else...

... my personal favourite, Diminished tuning,
http://tinyurl.com/suit/dimichromintro.html
I prefer 12 hole G diminished chromatic because the G3 to G6 range is more
practical for playing Jazz heads and blues.   Its regular pattern makes
playing by ear very easy once you're familiar with it.   Out of all the
altered tunings that have 4 hole octaves (have to spread your mouth over 5
holes to play an octave like Solo and Bebop) it offers the best of many
worlds:-
* 4 choice notes (what are sometimes mistakenly called enharmonics) spread
evenly across the entire instrument, which makes phrasing with legato easier
* only 3 patterns to learn to play in 12 keys, or learn anything in any key
for that matter.
* The diminished 3rds offer many musical double stops and note clusters
which are consistant and available in all keys unlike Bebop or Solo tuning.

One of the few draw backs of Diminished is for the rank beginner: to play
any diatonic scale requires a bit of slide work - but with some practice
once you've learnt to play in one key you'll suddenly find you can play in
four other keys just by starting on a different hole.

Augmented tuning (also mistakenly named Wholetone which is actually the name
of a different layout altogether) is a very compact tuning with all 12
chromatic notes spread over 12 reeds meaning you can fit 1 octave register
in 3 holes - to play an octave you place your mouth over four holes.
The draw back with any chromatic harmonica tuning that is laid out over 3
holes is it has no choice notes, and this means its a choppy layout to play
over - fine for staccatto phrasing which is desirable in some music, but its
something that requires a lot of work to compensate for.  However any tuning
has this to some degree.

Augmented tuning is also a tough tuning to start out on as a beginner to the
harmonica, because to even play one scale requires a number of breath and
slide changes.
However the benefits of this layout is you get a 4 octave range in a 12 hole
chromatic, and its easier to play wide intervals quickly because of the
compact range.

I wouldn't recommend augmented tuning to a beginner, but I wouldn't try to
dissuade them if they had their heart set on it.  It is a favourite of Jazz
chromatic harmonicist Wim Dijkgraaf, although he went back to Solo tuning
recently because of availability.  If he was able to buy Augmented tuned
chromatics off the shelf, he would go back to them in a shot.

An example where you would need Augmented tuning is Eric Dolphy's approach
to Jazz - I transcribed the opening 8 bars of his live performance "The
Illinois Concert" for "Softly As in a Morning Sunrise" where I discovered
within the first 4 bars or so he's covered a 4 octave range, with a number
of wide interval leaps.   It would be physically impossible to play that way
on a 16 hole chromatic harmonica.  However you'd have some hope of emulating
it on a 12 hole augmented tuned chromatic.

An alternative to Augmented tuning that I've tried and prefer
over regular Augmented tuning, is where the slide raises notes a wholetone
instead of a semitone, and changing breath direction is a semitone instead
of a wholetone - "Augmented wholetone slide" tuning.
I found this arrangement mitigated the chopiness to some extent compared to
sharp slide version.
http://tinyurl.com/suit/slippyintro.html
I named it "SLIPPY" although having moved on to Diminished tuning, I think
the latter is more deserving of that title, but its too late now.

Some players have found Augmented tuning much easier to play by ear because
every note is located in only one position, in other words the lack of
choice notes is a benefit to them.   I certainly found playing by ear a lot
easier on Slippy (Augmented wholetone slide) than on solo tuning.  I have
also found Diminished tuning easier to play by ear than either Solo tuning
or Slippy or Bebop.

So for me Diminished wins out.
http://tinyurl.com/suit/dimichromintro.html
Its also great for blues, using octaves and vamping like traditional chicago
blues players do with a key of C 16 hole chromatic - the difference is I can
do it in any key on my G diminished.   Because diminished triads are nothing
more than rootless dominant chords, or a tone cluster from a minor 6th you
can get away with blue murder on this tuning - its ambiguity makes it very
versatile,  much more so than Solo or Bebop tuning.  :-)

Everything you need to know about retuning and setting up your instruments
is available on the internet - I've done what I can to help people like
yourself find it relatively easily.
http://tinyurl.com/suit/harptechtips.html
http://tinyurl.com/suit/altered.html  Tunings
http://tinyurl.com/suit  Harmonica Resources
http://tinyurl.com/suj1   Chromatic Harmonica Reference

And Pat Mission & I run a 300+ member email list Harp On! which is focused
on the advancement of all things harmonica including altered tunings
http://www.harpon.org

Lack of availability of altered tunings is the biggest drawback of choosing
any tuning other than solo tuning (the only layout available from most major
companies).

The harmonica mass market is distorted because it leans so
heavily to beginners and only beginners - thats where the money is, theres
no proven professional market... so, because beginners usually don't know
what they need, expect or can get out of a chromatic harmonica they go and
buy whats sitting on the shelf, then later on if they've stuck with the
instrument,
they might eventually find out that the note placement can be changed by
retuning or swapping new reeds in - but by the time they find out they've
already invested a bunch of time into learning the stock model, 99 times out
of 100 they don't see the point of going through it all over again and so
the cycle repeats... no market, no availability, no market...

Last decade Hohner did sell both the Augmented (aka inaccurately named
Wholetone) and Diminished tuned chromatics.  Because of a number of factors,
it was a flop, and hasn't been tried since.  Apparently Hering advertised
wholetone tuning at about the same time but didn't fulfill any of the orders
placed with them.

If you wish a harmonica customiser to retune an instrument for you I
recommend:
Steve Malerbi (Norton Buffalo's customiser)  in USA.
Although I think he's taking a Summer break off right now
harpsurgeon@xxxxxxxxxxx

Mike Eastern in USA - specialises in refurbishing Hohner wood comb harps,
and accepts orders for altered tunings
http://www.harmonicarepair.com

Brendan Power in the UK offers any altered tunings and all sorts of radical
customising.
http://www.brendan-power.com

I also offer altered tuned chromatics.
http://harmonica.7p.com
My "budget 10 hole chromatics" which are stock Hohner wood comb 10 hole
chromatics with altered tunings reasonably priced so that people can try out
altered tunings on a new instrument at minimum cost.

http://www.patmissin.com
Pat Missin is one of the world's best harmonica retuners and customisers,
although its no longer his day gig, something like diminished or augmented
tuning may interest him in taking your order - best you ask him though.

BTW - "fingering" is a term that most players use and understand for want of
a better word.   I use the term "pattern" meaning the same thing, the idea
being that you learn breath/slide patterns to play a given scale, appegio,
lick, riff... whatever.

There was a fairly lengthy debate about this not so long ago.
The term "positions" is generally limited to diatonic tunings, generally
with blues harmonicas, but sometimes applied to chromatic harmonicas such as
3rd position blues - but definitely not for MOLT tunings (Augmented,
Diminished or Wholetone) since theres no intrinsic tonal center.
I've written up a page and tool for both positions, and digital notation
based on the cycle of fifths which I have found very useful:
http://tinyurl.com/suit/intervalsfifths.html

I'll just finish up by saying that although I have my own preferrences with
altered tunings, I'm promoting the options available to us, not trying to
say that solo isn't a good tuning, it is, its the most popular one on the
planet after all - but its good to explore the options available to you, and
find the tool that works best for you.   I have found that I can swap
between solo and diminished tuning with a bit of a warm up, and as time
passes I'm trying other tunings and may or may not include them in my
arsenal depending on what my musical goals are.
One of the harmonica's few strengths is the way it can be retuned, why not
use it to your advantage ? - Goodness knows its a tough instrument as it is
without making it harder for yourself.

Warm Regards,
- -- G.

<quote>
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2004 12:42:54 -0800
From: Peter Harlan <pharlan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Newbie questions

Hi,
I recently picked up a Hohner 12-hole chromatic harp
in D (really liked the sound of the low register at
the music store), and I'm about to start seriously
learning to play it. I have a pretty good musical
background, but except for playing a little blues on
a diatonic harp years ago, I don't have any experience
with the harmonica.

8<
After checking some Website info, I'm considering
customizing the tuning to either the "bebop":
8<
or "C6 bebop":
8<
Thanks,
- - -Peter