RE: [Harp-L] Best harmonica tuning to play "tunes and songs"

[Steve Shaw <moorcot@xxxxxxx>]

I have been known to raise 2-blow by half a tone too.  Can be useful for some tunes and you don't seem to lose anything, at least if you're a single-note player like me.
 
     
> The reason I like the cross harp with the major 7th is the bends. On a
> C harp, the draw bends are based on a G chord, so if you raised draw
> 5, the bent notes on holes 3, 4, and 5 modify the tonic chord--b3, b5,
> b7.
> If you raise blow 3, you also have the A note as a "given", able to be
> played without a bend.
> You can get the F# on hole 2 with a half step draw bend, but I like
> having it as a given. I have also tuned blow 2 to F, but then you need
> an E, and that leads you to Major Cross, where hole 1 is | D e |.
> And of course there are all those stacked chords then . . .
> Gary
>
> On Sun, Sep 26, 2010 at 2:07 AM, Steve Shaw
>> wrote:
>
> I play hundreds of Irish/Scottish/Northumbrian tunes, and accompany a
> few songs, on 10-hole harps which are in the Paddy Richter tuning. This
> is a one-reed modification - normally the 3-blow reed is raised by a
> whole tone.