[Harp-L] Major 7th tuning

[Jim Fitting]

I am a big fan of the Country tuned diatonic. There are a lot of melodies out there that include that major 7, and there it is right on the 5 hole draw. For examples : "Your Cheatin' Heart", " You Don't know Me" ( Ray Charles) " "Killing The Blues" (Robert Plant & Alison Kraus)," Optimistic" (Skeeter Davis), or the signature guitar figure for "Engine # 9" (Roger Miller). There is also a nice and unusual dissonance when chording around that 5 draw. Also you have room to bend the 5 hole reed down to the flatted 7 if you need it.

 I always carry a few country tuned Special 20s with me to my Session Americana gigs, as we have a number of originals that we perform that utilize this tuning. I can send along a couple of examples off-list that we have recorded, if you are interested.

Best

Jim Fitting


________________________________
From: Harp-L <harp-l-bounces at xxxxx> on behalf of dfwhoot <dfwhoot at xxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2016 10:33 PM
To: harp-l at xxxxx
Subject: [Harp-L] Major 7th tuning


I will be doing a workshop at our Hoot club meeting on Country tuned harmonicas.  I'll be demonstrating on how to do the tuning of the reed and how to use this tuning in your performance.  If you use this tuning and have some positive thoughts then  please pass them on that I may share with our members.


Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone