Re: [Harp-L] Seminars at the 2014 SPAH Convention

[fjm <bad_hat@xxxxxxxx>]

More than Jason's version of Summertime I was fascinated by his argument 
against using minor tunings on harmonica. Horses for courses as Douglas 
Tate used to say.  Why would you use a natural minor tuning for a song 
that's not really completely in a minor?  I'm not sure if that's really 
a strawman argument but it's in that direction.  An example of a 
performance where a dedicated minor tuned harmonica would be useful is 
Hazmat Modine's Bahamut.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dEgWy7kbew 
It's in F# harmonic minor, good luck playing that with the chords using 
a standard diatonic tuning.  I'm certain that Jason with his 
considerable talents would achieve a listenable performance should he 
choose to attempt it but he'd have to re-interpret the song.  And yes 
I'm aware that the you tube clip is 4 years old and what Jason's views 
are today could be entirely different.  Another example of a minor tuned 
harmonica turning out to be an excellent choice is Ryan Hartt's Kaboom. 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktzVsRCrzEU  I really like this.   As 
always your mileage may vary.  fjm