Should the harp be country tuned? Is that a given on country songs?
("not" a Lee Oscar country tuned MM). But the usual 10 hole Hohner harps.
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Hi Ed,
The only difference between Hohner's "country tuned" diatonic and
their standard (Richter tuned) model, is that hole #5 draw is tuned
one-half-step sharper on the "country tuned" model. This enables a
player to hit the major-seventh of the scale when playing in second
(or cross) position. (On a standard harp, that note would require an
overblow.)
While these harps can be quite handy for certain melodies (I once had
to use one to play "Shenandoah" with the Oklahoma Symphony,) in my
humble opinion the term "country tuned" is something of a misnomer
and no more than a handy marketing term. (With Huang harps, the
exact same tuning is called "Jazz tuning," an equally meaningless
term.)
Most country songs do not use (nor necessitate the use of) this
configuration, unless a player wants to play cross and is required to
play a melody line or tune that includes a major-seventh -- a
situation that could occur in *any* sort of music, not only
"country." Nearly all the country songs I can think of that utilize
harmonica simply use standard (Richter) tuning, and usually are
played either in second or first position(s). There are exceptions
of course, but for the most part, country players don't play country
tuned harps much a'tall.