Re: [Harp-L] Nobody knows you when you're down & out

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Steve Baker wrote: 
<For me country (major 7th) tuning is  
<by far the easiest way to play this kind of jazz inflected blues  
<number and I use it on most songs of this type. Other examples would  
<be "Ain't nobody's business if I do" or Don Nix' "Same old  
<blues" (not the JJ Cale song of the same name). I find the name  
<"country tuning" a bit misleading because it suggests stylistic  
<limitations which aren't there and I always referred to it as the  
<"major 7th tuning" for that reason.
<
<Of course it's great for country music, but it works brilliantly on  
<countless folk, pop and rock numbers too. I must have used it on over  
<50% of the titles I've recorded as a session musician over the last 20 
<+ years. To refer back to the "Honky tonk women" thread a while back,  
<I play that on a CT because the dominant chord is very major.

I love this tuning too.  If I had to take one harp with me to a desert island, it would be a C diatonic in country tuning.

My solo piece "Billy The Kid" is played on a Country tuned harp.  You can hear it at http://taxi.com/rhunter.  Because it's a solo, with lots of big chords, you can really hear the difference the sharped draw 5 reed makes in the sound.

Regards, Richard Hunter



author, "Jazz Harp"
latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
more mp3s at http://taxi.com/rhunter
Vids at http://www.youtube.com/user/lightninrick