Re: [Harp-L] Problem when playing harps not in C

[philharpn@xxxxxxx]

Your first step is to quit playing by ear because you will be locked into playing the song in the first key you learned it in. And it will never sound "right" in any other key. You need to look at some notation or tab -- whatever works for you-- to break free of this trap. 


THE EASY way to solve this problem is play your tunes as if they are in the key of C. All diatonic harmonicas have the same note pattern, so what works on the C harp will work on all major key harps. 


This means you get one of those fake books that contains only songs in the key of C. Simply play a selected tune (whatever) on each of your harmonicas as if you are playing a C harmonica. Read the notes, don't listen to the sound,


Or get a collection of harmonica songs in harmonica tablature -- either off the web like <harptabs.com> or from a book -- and play the same song on different harps. 






If you already have a collection of sheet music and want to convert a song into harp tab, look at the left side of that harptab page under tabruler and you can download a pdf file that tells you what holes to play for each note in all 12 keys and make your own tab.

hope this helps,
Phil




-----Original Message-----
From: Eliza Doolittle <eliza.doolittle@xxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Mon, May 5, 2014 7:49 am
Subject: [Harp-L] Problem when playing harps not in C


I've bought my first harp in a key other than C (I've got one in D), and a new 
problem has arisen when trying to play it. It seems I've learnt so well that, 
except for the highest octave, a C is a blow, a D a draw, an E a blow and so on, 
that I'm unable to play even the simplest tune using the harp in D, because I do 
it all the wrong way. I suppose I should be thinking of positions, or of 
intervals, or something like that, but I don't seem to be able to find a way to 
forget which note I am playing and its relationship with the harp in C.

What I really mean to say is, if I try to play, say, 'Twinkle Twinkle Little 
Star' with the harp in D and I start by blowing in hole 4 I get a D, and no 
matter how hard I try to think of it only as the root note and forget about its 
actual name, I am hearing a D and I know it cannot be anything else, so I know I 
should play an A afterwards, and then I go and draw in hole 6... And, of course, 
I get the wrong note. You see what I mean? I cannot call that first note a C and 
carry on, because I am hearing a D and I won't be cheated even if I try.

Every time I play a melody it is as if it had lyrics. If you ask me to play 
'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' starting with a C, I'll play it while mentally 
saying 'do-do-sol-sol-la-la-sol...', and that comes automatically. If you tell 
me to start it with a D, I have no trouble saying 're-re-la-la-si-si-la...' 
without having to think about it. But when it comes to playing actually the 
harp, it's all a disaster because I cannot find the notes automatically, as with 
a harp in C. It is as if each harp were a different instrument and I had to 
learn the whereabouts of each note each time. To the point of being blocked when 
I must play an F sharp in the key of D (something very common), thinking 'I 
cannot play this note yet'. Which is true with a harp in C, but not with a harp 
in D!

Can you help me with some idea about how to overcome this problem? It would be 
really great (although I don't need to play harps in keys other than C yet). 
Thanks a lot in advance.

Eliza Doolittle