Well, technically, the forum said music theory, so I'm gonna ask a music related question... :wink: Soo... Are the notes on a harmonica kind of like a scale or something? I'm gonna buy a harmonica for kicks and was wondering if I had a backing track in G for instance, and I had a harmonica in the key of G, would all the notes I play on the harmonica be in key? I think so, but I just want to clear this up.. 8)
Stairway to Freebird!
If you got a G harmonica, you'd be able to play along with a G major backing track, however that would have to be a G major, not minor or blues.
Alot of blues harmonica players play in a key that is a 4th or a 5th (I forget which one, but i'm pretty sure it's 5th) higher then the song, so in G you'd want a harmonica that's in either C or D. This is because when you draw (inhale on a harmonica) the notes you play will be in key with G and will have blues notes.
Playing a G harmonica in G major won't sound bad, but most players like the blues harmonica sound that the draw notes give you.
Steve-0
If you buy a "blues harp" in a certain key, what you have is just the diatonic notes in that key (if you play in what they call "1st position") and the perfect fifth of that key (if you plya in what they call "2nd position.").
The standard 10-hole diatonic harp gives you a three octave range and is layed out like this (for a C harp):
blow: |C |E |G |C |E |G |C |E |G |C |
draw: |D |G |B |D |F |A |B |D |F |A |
It is actually technically possible to use various breath control techniques to turn a diatonic harp into a fully chromatic instrument. It is exceptionally difficult to do and only a very few people can really do these techniques well enough to perform a chromatic piece with a diatonic harp.
If you get a chromatic harmonica, you have a more versitile instrument, but it's also harder to play.
The chromatic harmonica has a slide that allows the player to change the pitch of any given hole. This means that each hole has 4 pitches rather than 2. The slide typically shifts the pitch of any given note by a half step. The note layout on a chromatic is traditionally the same as the note layout on holes 4-7 of the diatonic harmonica, and is repeated over its length. chromatic harmonicas are usually 12 or 16 holes long.
Because it is a fully chromatic instrument, the chromatic harmonica is the instrument of choice in jazz and classical music. In traditional harmonica bands, the chromatic harmonica plays the lead part.
blow: |C |E |G |C |C |E |G |C |E |G | key out
draw: |d |f |a |b |d |f |a |b |d |f |
If you want to be totally blown away by what a harmonica can do, take a listen to Jean Baptiste "Toots" Thielemans' recordings. He started life as a guitar player, but became famous as a jazz harmonica player.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
Thanks for the help guys! :)
Stairway to Freebird!
