[Harp-L] Put my money where my mouth is

["Daniel Perrone" <dany_perrone@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Put my money where my mouth is:




 Some of you may recall a recent thread about the Turboslide harp. I guess it was obvious that I was quite excited about the possibilities of this harp. The idea of having a fully chromatic diatonic short harp ( not using overblows, of course) was very intriguing. I started jotting down different tuning configurations on any scrap piece of paper I could find. But... Oh, it is soo hard to make a decision. Every tuning has pros/cons, trade offs, advantages, etc. so I had to define what would be the best one for ME. Finally I came down with the following layout, nothing new or groundbreaking, and surely something that has been played before, but all this thinking was a great exercise in learning a bit more about different note arrangement and help me clarify what I want in a harmonica.




I must say that I am at best an intermediate player and I could spend 10 lifetimes just exploring the regular Richter tuning, which I like and will continue to play, especially my new B-radical : )




So anyways, after doubting and second guessing myself for a few days, I said "what the heck, if I don't try it I'll never know" So I placed the order for the Turboslide in the following note arrangement:







Slide Bends:    B    Eb   Ab    B     Eb    F#    A      B     Eb     F#


Blow notes:     C     E     A     C      E     G     Bb     C      E      G 

Draw notes:     D    G     B      D     F     A      B       D     F      A

Draw bends:   C#   F#   Bb    C#    --    Ab ---        C#    --    Ab

                               F







Things I like about it:




Fully chromatic


Close to the regular Richter layout, no steep relearning curve, in fact draw notes are actually not changed at all. 


Paddy richter bottom which I really like as it allows me to play faster down there, gives me the relative minor root chord which I like to have for minor tunes. I still get to keep the important chords for blues ( V,IV,I) in their usual location.




No repeated notes. The Bb in blow 7 comes in really handy to play in F major and you get a C7 chord.




The F# needed to play in G is a slide bend (for 2nd and 3rd octave) which I hope will be always spot on and fast to get. 




The fact that is "almost three" octaves is not a drawback for me. Two and a half octaves is about the useful range I get in my soprano sax. I always found the third octave in regular richter soo confusing , most of the times ended using the last two holes as a "harmonica handle" lol.




The jump from the B in draw 7 to the C in blow 8 is easy and something I already do on the chromatic harmonica as I usually like to land on second C anyways.




If this works I could then order a chromatic harmonica in BeBop tuning with the slide "lowering" the pitch and I would have a diatonic and chromatic harps that are very similar and easy to switch back and forth. I read that Bebop with the slide lowering notes is good for sharp keys.




Looking at the circle of fifths to either side I can see several scales with at least a 2 octave range that in theory look very playable. Time will tell...




Anyways, so here I am, patiently waiting for my harp to arrive, ( it will take a while as it is a special order from Seydel and then Jim has to install the slide/magnets etc)




Peace,

Dan




P.S.: For more info on the turboslide check:







http://www.turboharp.com/Products.asp?pid=59&tid=&did=&sid=







(no affiliation, just a customer)