[Harp-L] On the Road Again

[IcemanLE@xxxxxxx]

This info comes from a link to Pat Missin's webinfo given to me by Randy 
Singer


How did Alan Wilson play the solo on "On The Road Again"?
In the middle of an typically lyrical solo on Canned Heat's "On The Road 
Again", Al Wilson hits a G in the midrange of his A harmonica. This key of harp 
has a G#, but no G and it is not possible to bend the G# in this octave, so how 
did he do it? 
Several suggestions have been put forward. Perhaps he played an overblow? 
That is possible as other players around that time were starting to discover 
overblows and the hole 6 overblow on an A harp would give you a G. However, the 
slide down from this note includes a very quick slur over the D (5 draw) and the 
B (4 draw). If he had to switch between an overblowing and drawing, there 
would be a slight hiccup in this phrase. Several people who know Al Wilson said 
that he would sometimes weight the tip of the 7 draw reed to lower its pitch by 
a semitone, however if this were the case, then that slide down would include 
an F# (6 draw) and listening to it at slow speed indicates there is no F# 
present. Another explanation has been given that he added a valve to the outside 
of the 7 blow reed, enabling him to bend the 7 draw down to a G - this would 
also mean that a slide down from this note would include an F#. 
The explanation is that he retuned the 6 draw reed, raising it by a semitone 
to give him the G. This is consistent with the notes of the slide down from 
that note. He was playing a Marine Band type harp in traditional Just 
Intonation, where the 5 draw is slightly lower than in Equal Temperament and the G that 
he plays is similarly slightly flatter than a tempered G (this note would be 
called a subminor third in JI terminology) suggesting that he tuned the 6 draw 
so that it was a perfect fourth above the 5 draw. In fact, he used a similar 
tuning on other tunes, such as "TV Mama" and "Nine Below Zero". 
So, one of the biggest pop hits to feature blues harp, is also one of the 
first recorded examples of a custom-tuned diatonic.