Re: [Harp-L] Different Diatonic tuning

[Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

That pretty much nails it Jerl. Back in the days of radio and vaudeville, performers would use what they called 'stage' tunings. This was ANY tuning that did the job. Change a reed here, change one there. There was one famous old player who made a living out of showing the entertainment business what could and couldn't be done with a harmonica. (Mostly chromatic).
 There is another (whom is still with us) who makes a living with a different attitude. He is not satisfied with the words: 'That can't be done on harmonica', and 
 will do whatever it takes to MAKE it happen. Unfortunately, it used to be that the touring pros would not let out secrets. If they had the proverbial 'leg up' on the 
competition, they kept it to themselves. As there were a finite number of lucrative jobs. Now, since those jobs are mostly gone, it no longer matters. 

smo-joe  

On Aug 8, 2015, at 4:00 PM, <dfwhoot@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I guess you have to call each tuning, by a name,  in order to recognize the reason,  to re-tune. Me, I really don't like the  names like, Country Tuning,   Paddy Richter, Melody maker, all the different minor and the list goes on and on. Yes, I do use the Major 7th tuning and not much of the others at all, BUT when you need it , you need it.  Each have their reason. Some  players are not able yet to bend and sustain properly , some to O/B, O/D properly but when one needs to have a harmonica to perform properly to the music, re-tuning is an option.
> For instance, I was performing at a funeral, where I had to play a number and I wanted it to sound soothing and not have a note sound like a bent note , especially 3 draw , down two , that you had to hold at least for a measure. That's where a Paddy Richter tuning came in handy. Same volume, same feel, blends...It's all about the music , not about anything else. I would say 99.9% of the people have no clue to what tuning your using , so what difference does it make. It's all about the music and how moving you deliver. 
> Jerl