RE: Country/Rock Fiddle Parts question

["Steve Shaw" <moorcot@xxxxxxx>]

Scorcher:
<<Some random thoughts on fiddle music:

First, get a hold of some REAL fiddle music - Celtic, bluegrass, etc. to
listen to. You can find LOTS of music online for free, you can find TAB,
midis & recorded music. Nothin' against Uncle Tupelo, mind you - but you'll
HEAR the parts better in the old music. Also, it's good to listen to the
ROOTS of a musical form to learn it. (That's what Uncle Tupelo did, right?)

The great thing about Fiddle music is that the melodies & common licks are
VERY accessible on a diatonic (you may have to "translate" them - change a
couple of notes, but they'll still be very recognizable). And those classic
fiddle licks are ALL OVER country music - guitars, banjos, even dobros all
refer to those licks for their lexicon.

Mandolin music is also a VERY good source of study - they're tuned the same
as fiddles.

You'll probably find most of this music accessible on a 'tonic, in 1st &
2nd, and you might want to try Country tuning or Paddy Richter. (Me, I just
play a plain ol' 'tonic)

You need to be ~comfortable~ playing in the upper 2 octaves of the
(diatonic) harmonica, and your harmonica should be well-adjusted for your
playing style. For instance, I tend to play kinda hard on this type of music
(harder than I play blues) because of the rapid breath changes, and the
general tempo of the music. It might be a good idea to have a set of 4 (or
so) diatonics (maybe big rivers) that are set up to play hard in the upper
octaves......

......Glenn Weiser has a nice book out on this kind of music - his approach 
is
unique, but useful. He uses Hohner 364s to get the notes in the upper
register of the harmonica.>>

Brilliant advice from Scorcher.  To play good, hard and fast in the upper 
octaves you need to pay some attention to gapping - perhaps a tad more 
generous than usual if you are normally set up for overblows for example.  A 
lot of fiddle tunes work best in first position, which means a lot of air 
direction changes at speed, so close gapping could have you choking reeds 
depending on your playing style and gapping.  Also, consider low octave 
harps, such as the low D Special 20, in addition to harps in G and A (for 
Irish fiddle tunes anyway!).  You are then playing in the same register as 
the fiddle, instead of an octave above (I find high D a bit uncomfortable in 
a lot of tunes).  The low D is an unsung hero for first position playing.  
Glenn's book offers tunes suitable in some cases for 10-hole diatonics but 
in other cases for 12-holes, as Scorcher mentions.  If you don't fancy the 
idea of using 12-holes, the answer is to use a Paddy Richter-tuned harp 
instead, which will keep you in the lower octave.  The usual problem with 
10-holes in a good number of tunes, and the reason Glenn suggests 12-holes, 
is the "missing" 6th note in the lowest octave, a hassle that the Paddy 
Richter tuning eliminates.  It's only one note different to a "normal" harp, 
but in this music it can make a world of difference.  Look out for tunes 
that are possible in 2nd position too, especially tunes which don't contain 
the (sharpened) 7th note of the scale.  It's groovy to play some tunes in 
2nd as a change from 1st.  A lot of what sound like minor key tunes are 
often modal, and you can then play in 3rd position (usually) or 4th position 
(occasionally).

Cheers!

Steve

Want more than the blues?  Try Irish!
http://mysite.freeserve.com/trad_irish_harmonica

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