RE: [Harp-L] William Clarke/George Smith Chromatic

"Chris Hammond" <dawgawntired@xxxxxxxxxxx> · Mon, 13 Sep 2004 18:15:51 -0400

I started down this path about a year ago.  It's a great adventure.  Alot of 
what these guys do is in 3rd position and mainly with octaves and intervals

- Number one, bone up on third position.  That's key of D minor on a C 
Chromatic (commonly called Dorian mode)

- Secondly, you need to master the extra wide embochure.  That is you block 
the middle three notes with your tongue and play the two outside notes.  
This is quite challenging since it is hard to get a good airtight seal

- Next start working with the button.  A couple of good "button notes" in 
the key of D are G# and C# (3 and 4 push in)  This is the flat 5 and 
non-flat 7 of the scale
The blues scale in 3rd position is D F G G# A C D
I find that Clark also plays in key of C, G, and F on a C chromatic mainly 
12 hole.  Start with D though as that is easiest for a traditional 2nd 
position diatonic player
Good luck and get ready to drive everyone nuts!!

From: "Emile Mercier" <emercier@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Harp-L" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] William Clarke/George Smith Chromatic
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2004 09:46:25 -0400
Hello. I just joined Harp-L and have a question for any of those here that

are proficient at the "west coast swing" chromatic harmonica. I have been

playing diatonic for over 20 years and have made myself a nice nitch 
locally

as a blues harmonica/Celtic harmonica player. I play mainly through a

Victoria 518 and a brown biscuit astatic ( when the venue allows for the

volume). Anyways, I recently bought several chromatic harmonicas and have

found that my normally excellent ear for practice has been challenged quite

a bit by this new instrument. I am really good at diatonic and have quite a

good ear. But, chromatic is quite hard to nail down, especially all those

neat sounding ornamental sounds William Clarke blows out. I am dying to 
nail

down this sound. Does anyone here have any advice for me, in terms of

tricks, tabs, or anything that will help me get on my way to mastering this

awesome (new for me) sound? Thank you for any response. -Emile
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