Re: [Harp-L] What Key is it?

["Vern Smith" <jevern@xxxxxxx>]

There is a much easier way:

In 99.9% of the songs that you will be playing on your 
harmonica, the last note of the song is the key.
IF you can't wait until the end, the last note of a verse is 
often like the end.

Keep that last note in your head and match it on a harmonica 
or other instrument.  If you have a set of diatonics, try 
hole 1 blow on each one until you find it.

This method does not work with the first note of a song 
which is frequently the first but is more often the fifth, 
and can be any other scale degree.

Vern



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Halchak" <thalchak@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 8:41 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] What Key is it?


> Regarding how to figure out what key a song is in, here is 
> something that I
> found on a website a while back.  I copied and pasted the 
> text into a word
> doc for future use.  I don't remember which site I got it 
> off of and I do
> not know if the information is accurate or not, but it 
> seems to fit your
> inquiry.
>
>
>
> Tom Halchak
>
> Clearwater, FL
>
>
>
>
> Identifying the Harp Key of a Song.
>
>
>
>
> * Pick up the A harp.
>
> * Play the two hole draw. You are always looking for a 
> good match to
> the song which should usually be the tonic. Play da, da, 
> da, da and see if
> it matches the song. Make sure that it is a good match 
> right through the 1
> and 4 changes.
> If you get a match, the song is cross-harp to A or the Key 
> of E.
> * Are you way off and it sounds bad? Try playing the 2 
> hole bent da,
> da, da, da.
> If you have a good match, then it is probably key of D. 
> (12th position for
> those who care).
> * Still way off? Move down to the one hole draw and do 
> your da, da,
> da, da thing.
> If you match well then you are in third position and the 
> key is B.
> * Not Yet? Try the one hole blow.
> If you have a good match it's probably key of A.
>
> * You've checked keys A,B,D and E. You've eliminated 33% 
> of the keys
> with one harp, and most of the good blues keys. If you 
> still haven't got the
> key you need to try another harp, but one that doesn't 
> overlap with the keys
> that we've already checked. This is not easy. All the 
> harps in my kit cause
> overlap. I compromise by picking the C harp because it 
> contains a number of
> other good blues keys.
>
> * The 2 hole draw checks cross harp key of G
> * The 2 hole bent checks one key down position key of F.
> * The 1 hole draw checks third position key of D (Already 
> checked, but
> check it again.)
> * The 1 hole blow checks straight harp and the key of C.
>
> * You've checked A, B, C, D, E, F and G. This is all of 
> the white keys
> on the keyboard. This is 58% of the possibilities. If you 
> don't have it now,
> you might not be able to find it.
> * Let's select a harp that gives us some black keys. Since 
> my bag only
> has two harps with flats, I'll get out the E-Flat harp.
>
> * The 2 hole draw checks cross harp key of B-Flat
> * The 2 hole bent checks 12th position key of A-Flat
> * The 1 hole draw checks third position key of C (Already 
> checked, but
> check it again.)
> * The 1 hole blow checks straight harp and the key of 
> E-flat.
>
> * You've checked A-Flat, A, B-Flat, B, C, D, E-flat, E, F 
> and G. You
> have checked ten keys, some of them twice. This is 83% of 
> the possibilities.
> If it's not one of these, it must by elimination be D-flat 
> or G-flat. You
> don't have these harps anyway so give up and have another 
> beer.
>
>
>
>
>
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