Re: [Harp-L] chrom tuning

[Music Cal <macaroni9999@xxxxxxxxx>]

Slim

I was a long time guitar player and didn't put up with the standard tuning
(well actually I piut up with it for far too long). I eventually went to an
all-fourths tuning. It simplified the fretboard tremendously and vastly
improved my ability to connect my inner ear to the instrument (true ear
playing). Unfortunately not long after making that switch I started
developing hand problems that severely limited my playing. As a result I
switched to the chromatic harp. When I started playing the harp I was
determined not to fall into the same trap associated with a tuning that
presents considerable hurdles to true ear-playing.

Daniel


On Tue, May 13, 2014 at 3:38 PM, Slim Heilpern <slim@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Yeah, it's so annoying. Every time I hear a Toots or Stevie solo, my first
> thought is that they would sound so much better if they weren't hampered by
> that  ridiculous note layout. And every time I hear a great blues guy
> playing solo-tuned chromatic and hitting that minor 6 chord over and over,
> I think they would sound so much better if they were playing a diminished
> chord instead (not!).
>
> This is simple folks. Musical instruments evolve in various ways for
> reasons not always relevant to how we end up using them. If you want to
> spend your time learning different tunings, that's cool. But you can make
> great music on just about anything (including a solo-tuned chromatic) as
> long as you take the time to master it.
>
> Solo tuning may not seem logical, but it has plenty to offer if you work
> with it.
>
> And how 'bout the logic of standard guitar tuning, what's up with the
> major third from the G to B strings? I wonder why we guitar players put up
> with it.... ;-)
>
> But no, I wouldn't tune a piano like a solo-tuned chrom because there
> would be no obvious benefit to doing that.
>
> - Slim.
>
> www.SlideManSlim.com
>
> On May 13, 2014, at 9:58 AM, Music Cal wrote:
>
> > For those of you that think that one tuning is as good as the next I ask
> > you this: Would you tune a piano like the solo-tuned chromatic harmonica?
> > This would mean repeated pitches, which sometimes appear a few piano keys
> > down stream from the others, and in addition, rather than always
> increasing
> > in pitch as one goes from left to right across the keyboard, sometimes
> the
> > pitches would descend.
> >
> > Really? ... Really?
> >
> > Daniel
>
>