RE: [Harp-L] Playing chromatically on richter harps article on planet harmonica

["Laurent \(Planet Harmonica\)" <laurent@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Mojo Red

>Hi Laurent,
>First of all, thanks a ~lot~ for putting that stuff
>up. Obviously a lot of thought and hard work went
>into it. Very impressive.
Thanks a lot. Indeed, it has taken a lot of time to put that stuff up,
especially as I've got a rather busy life. I hope it was worth the effort.
By the way this is a work in progress and more will come (the Discrete Comb
review for example)

>It was really great to see comparisons of the
>various diatonic harps set up for OB and the XB-40,
>Power Richter CX-10, the Bahson harp etc. The sound
>clips were extremely helpful to make tonal
>comparisons for the scales and licks you selected.
This was exactly the goal. Of course it would have been better if a good
player had recorded them...

>Also helpful was the information from various
>contributors as to how to they set up a harp for
>OB. Some great tips there.
Yes, these guys're great to share the info. This is in my opinion the
harmonica community at his best.

>All this was great stuff. My only comment, as a
>novice overbender myself, is that it would have
>been great to see some tab of useable blues scales
>and/or licks that use OBs. And perhaps some
>information as to the ~application~ of chromaticity
>in the blues situation.
Regarding scales, I would recommend "Scales, Patterns et bending exercices
#1" by David Barrett. This book gives the Major, Modal (dorian, phrygian,
Lydian, ..), Natural and Harmonica minor, Major and Minor Pentatonic and
Blues scales in C,D,E,F,G and A on a C harp. They're given in standard and
harp notation (you'll just have to fill the overblows in the harp notations)
and played on the piano on the associated CD.
Regarding the application of chromaticity, we'll soon include a piece by
Mitch Weiss demonstrating the possibilities of his slightly modified Richter
CX-10. We'll try to also include some advice (but be patient ;-)
We'll also soon add Winslow's XB-40 tune and associated web page Windermere.

>I'm bumbling along as best I can, making slow
>progress as I get better at hitting the OBs/ODs and
>learn to play familiar low-end licks in the middle
>register, using OBs to transition to the upper
>register, and I'm even accidentally stumbling upon
>nice sounding "new" licks that encorporate OBs.
That sounds good to me. That's the path I've taken (along with learning some
of the scales given above). Maybe could you also try to reproduce licks by
other instruments (like sax for example).
For more advanced advice, you would better ask the usual suspects (Winslow,
Pat, Doug, ..).

Thanks a lot for your feedback
All the best

   Laurent