Well Richard, as my dear old Mum used to say, "It'd be a boring old world
if we were all the same, no, wouldn't it?"
Cheers,
RD
Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 29/09/2010 3:32 >>>
"Rick Dempster" wrote:
<I'm not discounting alternate tunings, but in gaining something, you
always lose something, and, as far as this simple-minded player is
concerned, you never get to be really conversant with one single tuning.
<Best to stick with one tuning and improve you technique to overcome the
limitations.
I couldn't agree less with the comments above.
There's no way to "overcome" certain of "the limitations" of a given
tuning. You can of course spend 10-20 years learning advanced techniques
so you can play whatever those techniques allow you to do, but you still
won't be able to do a lot of things you could do on a different tuning.
For example, I offer my recording of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"
(which you can hear for free at
http://www.hunterharp.com/all-hunters-downloads-in-one-place/). The
chords are not available on a richter-tuned harp, and no technique I know
of will solve that problem. I repeat: there is NO technique that makes it
possible to play that arrangement on a standard tuning.
One of the best things any player can do for him or herself is to make it
as easy as possible to get the sounds you want. Using different tunings is
one way to make it easy on yourself. Need to play in a minor key? Use a
minor tuned harp. Easy. It's hard enough to learn how to play the
instrument. Why make it harder?
The fact is that most of the pros I hear nowadays are using non-standard
tunings, some of which (like Brendan Powers's "Power" tunings) are pretty
radical compared to a natural minor (to take one example of an
off-the-shelf variation on Richter tuning). Why do the pros use
non-standard tunings? Because it's easy. It's a LOT easier than trying
to do everything with a single tuning.
By the way, somebody better call that guy Robert Johnson and tell him to
stop tuning his guitar to an open G chord. He's a lot better off improving
his technique to overcome his limitations. Right?
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
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