Fwd: [Harp-L] paddy tuned for blues

["Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Paul Bowering 
<paul_bowering@xxxx> wrote:
Wondering if anyone uses a Paddy Richter tuned harp
for blues playing. This tuning is oft cited as good
for Irish music but I'd like to employ it in a melodic
blues idiom like the stuff Ricci or del Junco play.


===========Winslow says:

You gain something and lose something with every tuning alteration.

Irish players use Paddy Richter because they're playing very fast 
tunes that require the note represented by Draw 3 bent down 2 
semitones on a standard tuned harp, or blow 3 if you raise that reed 
2 semitones by retuning.

So you can play it fast and with accurate pitch without any bending 
hassles. It also makes a stable tonic note for 4th position in the 
first octave, and gives you a chord that could be either A minor or 
Cmajor 6th on a C harp.

How much of a concern is that for blues?

The note played as Draw 3 bent down 2 is a signature sound for people 
like Peter Madcat Ruth and Sonny Boy II.

Alternating rhytmically between blow 3 and Draw 3 was a signature 
sound for Sonny Boy II, and to a lesser extent Sonny Boy I and (I 
think - I couldn't cite examples easily) Little Walter.

Of course, I don't know your playing style but I suspect that if you 
tried it you might miss that deep bend and find that the raised blow 
3 might not figure very prominently.

It's not hard to do  - give it a try and see how it works out for you.

Winslow