[Harp-L] Re: Harp-L Digest, Vol 17, Issue 24

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Johan W. Kl?wer wrote:

"While I realize that practice is everything, I have a hunch that the
5OB is going to remain difficult. In fact, last night I got fed up
with it and tuned the 5D up half a note ... What's the verdict on this
setup? I would very much like to hear some opinions pro and con. Are
there players out there who use this minimal modification as their
preferred tuning?"

I discussed this tuning -- known commonly as the "Country" tuning -- in
my book "Jazz Harp" in 1981.  I was told by Charlie McCoy in 1979 that
it was one of his favorites. (Charlie learned it from a fan, who created
it under the mistaken impression that it was how Charlie had made a
recording on which McCoy actually used two harmonicas.)

This tuning is used by a number of players.  It's one of my favorites;
for lots of material, I prefer it to the standard diatonic tuning.  It's
the tuning used on my solo arrangement of "Billy The Kid", a full-length
MP3 of which can be downloaded at:
http://hunterharp.com/freemus.html

Special 20s with this tuning can be bought off the shelf.  A very simlar
tuning can be made by combining a Lee Oskar draw plate from a Melody
Maker harp in G with a standard Lee Oskar blow plate in C. Or you can do
like Johan, and just tune the draw 5 reed up a half step.
 
Lots of blues harp players seem to scratch their collective heads over
the country tuning, a kind of "why wouldja ever do that?" response. The
answer is that, besides making lots of jazz phrases much easier in 2nd
position, it also makes it simple to play all sorts of chords that can't
be done on a standard harp -- like, for example, the V major chord on a
12-bar blues. 

Anyway, it's a great tuning, and the easiest possible introduction to
the world of alternate tunings -- a big, glorious, sweet-sounding,
easy-to-learn world that 90% of harp players have never seen fit to
enter. 

Regards, Richard Hunter
hunterharp.com