Re: [Harp-L] chrom tuning

[Slim Heilpern <slim@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Daniel -

Sorry to hear about your hand problems with respect to the guitar, I've been through a number of those myself but thankfully have been cured of them all through surgery -- so far so good, anyway.

I think it's funny that my guitar example didn't apply in your case -- I don't think I've ever met any other guitar players that tune in straight fourths. You might find it interesting that players like Pat Martino not only find standard guitar tuning to be elegant (as is), but Pat goes further to explain that it is "sacred geometry" (see http://www.patmartino.com/Articles/GuitarPlayer_April_2004.pdf). Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking straight fourths or any other tuning, just emphasizing that there is beauty in standard tuning as well, and that it has survived for legitimate reasons.

As for the chrom and "significant hurdles to true ear-playing", there will always be those, regardless of the tuning. But I truly hope that you find your choice to have been the best road for you to take.

- Slim.


On May 14, 2014, at 10:57 AM, Music Cal wrote:

> 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
> 
>