[Harp-L] New tuning #1

[Jeremy Uejio]

Have you ever tried fourkey tuning?  It takes getting used to and doesn't
have a lot of common chords.  They come in different keys as well.  I have
one which is tuned:

Blow:
G-Bb-C-Eb-F-G-Bb-C-Eb-F
Draw:
A-B-D-E-F#-A-B-D-E-F#

This means that you can play every note in the chromatic scale with just
two bends (Ab and Db). It also means that you can play in 4 keys without
any bends.  So, in my case, I have the keys of C, F, G, and Bb.   It has
just under a 2 octave range so it's quite limited, but it turns out that it
roughly is in the same range as my voice (except for the high F and F#), so
if I can sing a song, then I can play it.  Haha!

I started combining my fourkey tuned harp with a circular tuned harp (in C)
so that I can play some common chords and that works out pretty well.

I would be happy to discuss or demo fourkey tunings with you offline.


jeremy

On Mon, May 1, 2023 at 7:53 AM Gary Lehmann <gnarlyheman at xxxxx> wrote:

> I put pen to paper on this one—the 365 would accommodate this, starts on E
> blow F draw. Reed swaps (I’ve got extra 365s for this) for the top 4 holes.
> Maybe some day . . .
> Glad you are still working on the Gordian tuning . . .
> Gary
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> > On Apr 30, 2023, at 12:37 PM, jross38 at xxxxx wrote:
> >
> > So I’ve been musing a lot on new tunings and have been trying a couple
> out.
> >
> > This is all made possible by Brendan Power’s Modular Reed Harmonica:
> >
> > https://www.brendan-power.com/ModularHarp.php
> >
> > This amazing harp is absolutely brilliant—you can swap reeds out in most
> any realistic configuration and it just plain works.  Simply an amazing
> design, and unlike the similar All-American Bakelite (see archives) it
> plays and feels like a standard harp and has fewer chamber resonance
> issues.  Just amazing.
> >
> > So, I was thinking about the fun of stacked sixths on a harmonica, and
> particularly the excellent “C6” tuning and it’s related Powerchromatic
> tuning.  These are both 4-hole repeated tunings like solo, and obviously
> derived from that:
> >
> > C6
> >
> > Blow:  CEGA
> > Draw:  DFAB
> >
> > Powerchromatic
> >
> > Blow:  CEGA
> > Draw:  DF#AB
> >
> > They are fun, but got me thinking about the drone available, ie the
> doubled A.  It’s not as useful in many ways from a chording perspective as
> the drone in standard tuning or similar tunings based on that.  True, it’s
> the fifth of third position and now you have fourth position as a happier
> tonic (having its minor triad A-C-E available and it’s drone) but somehow
> that doesn’t seem as useful for chord/rhythm stuff.  But it is fun to have
> both major and minor triads together, ie I(M)and iv(m) easy to switch
> from.  So it got me thinking—what if we added another drone note, and which.
> >
> > And that led me to this, which I’ve not seen before. It can be read
> variation on stacked major sixths, as the Powerchromatic is, but I think it
> reads and plays better as a major I think over a minor seventh:
> >
> > Blow:  CEGA
> > Draw:  DFAC
> >
> > As you can see, there are now two drones, and you have four triads
> available.  Chord rhythm stuff is massively fun, with useful and logically
> related chords.  It really has several keys on which you can center
> yourself—basically C, D, F, G, and A are all easy to play in with some
> useful bends and such.  Consider F, you can bend the major third down and
> also bend the fifth down to the fourth, and you have the following triads:
> I, iii, V, vi.  In D you can bend the tonic, fifth and the minor 7th to the
> minor 6th (D reads now less Dorian and more Aeolian), and you have minor
> tonic and fifth chords.  I’ll let you consider other positions as well.
> >
> > However, the harmonica is not properly diatonic as the seventh is now
> only available through bending.  And this is a limitation in some ways, as
> it in many ways hampers melodic playing—much like the lowest octave of a
> standard diatonic, the reliance on bends to get notes of the scale can kind
> of make a same-ness to various positions.  And, unlike the standard tuning
> the repeated octaves enhances this same-ness, and with it a sense of
> unintentionally amorphous tonality.
> >
> > But, that’s the trade off, and for anyone trying this tuning I would
> suggest considering it as such: a chord harp with the ability to also solo
> and riff.
> >
> > I tried this on the Modular Reed first by swapping out with extra reeds
> I bought for experimenting and liked it so much I changed a Seydel 12hole
> harp I had in C6 to this.
> >
> > A suggestion I might make, though I have not tried would be to consider
> starting the harmonica on the fourth hole of the pattern above—this way you
> would get the minor triad in the blow lower, which could be nice.  But then
> the first three draw notes are CDF, which isn’t ideal.  And that led me to
> another tuning I think I like even more, which I’ll post about later.
> >
> > This wouldn’t be hard to make from solo tuning, btw, if your familiar
> with retuning.  The hardest part would be lowering the first doubled C down
> to A, but that’s not a ridiculous amount to retune.
> >
> >
> >
> > Jonathan R. Ross
>