Hey all,
This is is response to some recent speculation about what
harps/tunings/etc. Jimi Lee is playing, posted with his blessings. He
plays stock/standard Seydel harps, and he of course adjusts and fine tunes
them to his own personal playing. Even though he overblows fluently (since
the 1970's) he employs some tunings to enhance playing melodies seamlessly
on diatonic. There are three basic types:
-Standard richter tuned harps, for straight-ahead blues etc.,
-Country tuned (5 draw raised half step) for some more melody intensive
work
-Natural minor tuned for more complex "jazzy" tunes, and of course
minor...
These tunings are available stock from Seydel, and he also uses some of
them in Superlow (LLF, LG, LAb, LA, LBb., LC etc.) harps, and sometimes
retunes Stainless Steel Reed harps (1847), because of the greater
longevity and preferred tone/response. The Superlow tunings are available
on the Seydel "configurator" in Favorite and Session (brass reed models),
and the 1847's (stainless steel reeds) will be available in these
alternate tunings on the configurator very soon.
Jimi uses the natural minor tuning in a very interesting way for "jazzy"
"old standard" type tunes, by playing them in what would be essentially
11th position for a "normal" harp- as in draw 3 lowered one-half step
(i.e. playing Bb on a C harp). In the natural minor tuning draw 3 is
already lowered 1/2 step, so using this as the tonic, he has a very
melodic scale available from draw 3 up through the octave at draw 7. He
uses this for songs like "Scotch and Soda"....Also, if the song modulates
to a bridge in the relative minor (like G minor for the Bb tonic), then he
can smoothly play with this in "cross harp" centered on the draw 2....
I'm sure he would be willing to answer specific questions off-list, since
he spends a good deal of time teaching at workshops/jam camps etc. If you
haven't checked out his website http://www.jimileeband.com/ it is highly
recommended, and you can reach him through there.
He is an awesome musician, and harp player, and an incredible guy, and he
gives of himself 1,000% ..... Jimi is a real gift to the harp community!
--
Rupert Oysler
www.seydelusa.com
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