[Harp-L] Chords, Thirds, Arpeggios: EASY on Circular (Spiral) Tuned Harmonicas!

[Robert Coble <robertpcoble@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thank you, Tony Eyers, for the explanations and ideas for practicing thirds and arpeggios on the diatonic.

One of the attractions (for ME) of the Circular (Spiral) Tuning on diatonic harmonicas is that full three-note and four-note chords are available WITHOUT bending or overblows AND with the same breath direction (which makes playing legato much easier), AND those advantages are available for at least two octaves. That's quite an achievement for a 10-hole harmonica without a button!

I switched to Circular (Spiral) Tuning when I realized that the kind of music and the style of playing that I wanted to develop was best supported by it. I am not (and never was) a true blues player (even though I was "accused" of being one by chromatic players simply because I played diatonic). I love that genre of music and have the utmost admiration for all of the many wonderful blues harp players. I learned how to play harmonica initially by listening to and trying to copy licks of Paul Butterfield, Kim Wilson, Rod Piazza, and a host of other modern blues players. (I love that sound so much that I have over 100 CDs with that kind of music; more than all other genres combined.) But the music I wanted to PLAY was an eclectic mixture of country, gospel, and bluegrass/OTM, with easy listening jazz and big band standards thrown in to keep it interesting.

Maybe it's a subconscious influence from 2-3 years of piano instruction (55 years ago) or that I play guitar a little and bass guitar a little. Maybe it's just EASIER to play diatonic when ALL of the notes in the underlying scale are available (no bending or overblowing required) for over two octaves, and the most often used "blue" notes (flat third, flat fifth, flat seventh) are available as half-step bends.

If you prefer to play more melodically rather than using riffs, then I strongly suggest checking out Circular (Spiral) Tuning. It is a much better (easier) "fit" than the standard Richter Tuning.

Crazy (like a fox, and lazy as a hound dog) Bob