Re: [Harp-L] Donald Black tuning

[Burke Trieschmann <burket@xxxxxxx>]

 That sounds like a great tuning Rick.  I think I'll give it a try and & have a dedicated D harp for this for Irish session tunes that are in Mixolydian mode.
I like the Easy Third tuning too.  Its almost like having a solo tuned harp across two octaves.

Thanks for the roadmap!

The Donald Black Highlander tuning works well for Ballads like "Lagan Love".  
I came across this you tube version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQRlpTIyLWk

Brendan's version on his "New Irish Harmonica" CD is lovely too.
Burke T. 


Message: 1
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 10:11:55 +0100
From: Rick Epping <rickepping@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Donald Black tuning
To: "harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
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If you're going to be playing a 10-hole vamper, you might consider a 1st
position mixolydian tuning I sometimes use: starting from regular,
or Richter tuning, the 2-draw is lowered two semitones, and the 3-draw and
7-draw are each lowered one semitone.  This gives you most of
the mixolydian scale in the first octave (missing only the 6th), and
increases the number of playable octaves.  The blow notes (and chords)
remain unchanged.  The low draw chord is changed from the V to the bVII,
which is useful in the mixolydian mode.  On a D harp, the draw A chord
would be changed to C Major, from hole 1 through hole 5.

This tuning is also useful for playing a fourth up from the 1st
position key - which would be 12th position?  It gives you a G Major scale
on a D harp, with G octaves at 2&5-draw and 5&9-draw, your subdominant, or
C chord on the low draw and your dominant, or D chord on the blow.

This is the note layout for a retuned D harp:
Blow - D,F#,A,D,F#,A,D,F#,A,D
Draw -  E,G,C,E,G,B,C,E,G,B

Best regards,
Rick