[Harp-L] finding the right key

[Tom Skailes <tom.skailes@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sorry to add to this long thread.

When I don't know or have forgotten what the key of a tune is, and I'm 
on stage with a loud band, I'll discreetly work my way through a few 
harps out of my case, playing 2nd position riffs until I find the one 
that works. I do all this off mic - I find that holding the harp in my 
left hand, playing the harp at the right side of my mouth and holding my 
right hand slightly cupped in front of the harp, with the heel of my 
right hand against the left hand end of the harp, the right hand in line 
with the length of the harp and my fingers curved towards my  right ear 
(you can almost touch the far edge of you ear with the fingers of the 
right hand) gives me enough foldback monitoring to hear the harp above 
the band. As your playing hours increase, you will start to find that 
you will choose the right harp out of the box after one or two tries, at 
least for the more common use blues/rock keys, probably first time if 
the band is playing in A.

I've given up asking the guitarist or keyboard player for the key of the 
song as their perspective on what the home key is will often be very 
different from how I see it.

Of course this all works great until the band shifts the key coming into 
your solo - that's when you get the chance to put your well rehearsed 
9th position playing into action. In the words of the Hitchhiker's guide 
to the galaxy - 'Don't panic'  ;)

Regards
Tom