[Harp-L] Fwd: Are My Golden Melodies Too Out of Tune to Be Playing in a Band With?

[Steve Shaw]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Steve Shaw <moorcot at xxxxx>
Date: 19 November 2023 at 13:01:48 GMT
To: Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak at xxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Are My Golden Melodies Too Out of Tune to Be Playing in a Band With?

Sorry, I sent this to Eric only, not quite what I'd intended!

On 19 Nov 2023, at 10:02, Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak at xxxxx> wrote:

(Most) guitars and pianos are equal-tempered, too.

On Tue, Nov 7, 2023 at 1:39 AM Amy Rister <amyrister02 at xxxxx> wrote:

"I remember somebody telling me a long time ago on MBH that we choose the
harmonicas we play not because of what we like, but what the band members
like and that they can tell if a harmonica is equal temperment tuned or
not. He said that the members will tell me that my Golden Melodies are
out
of tune and that I have to switch to a different harp. But I don't play
the
harmonicas I play to please others...."

My go-to harps have been Suzuki Promasters and Special 20s for decades. The Promasters are in equal temperament whereas the SP20s are something in between equal and just. I always fine-tune my SP20s to equal because I play mostly single-note tunes (Irish!) and don't worry too much about what my occasional chords sound like (chords not sounding great is a disadvantage of equal), but I do worry about some notes sounding a bit sharp or flat to my ear, and what Eric said. I did an experiment  once: I used an unaltered SP20 in our session and recorded us for the whole evening with my little minidisc recorder. In the pub whilst playing I heard all those mildly distressing "out of tune" notes - but I couldn't detect them at all when I listened back at home. So I'd stick with the harps that please you most and I'd guess that most people would enjoy your playing and would desist from nit-picking!

Cheers

Steve