It’s true that most harmonicas are tuned above A=440, usually around 441 to 443. SP20s, Hohner modular system harps (MS) and the Hohner tremolos are in an intermediate tuning between these two. The Hering Vintage 1923 is in Just intonation. Chromatic harps, Suzukis, Lee Oskars and the Hohner Golden Melody are in equal temperament. Apropos "poor" tuning, you have to be aware that harmonicas come in various fine-tunings, some of which will show as "out of tune" on your chromatic tuner.
There are a few tunes in D or related modes that need the missing 6th note and it does no harm to have your low Ds paddied as well, though mostly a standard harp will do the trick. They don’t make ‘em in low D unfortunately. Lee Oskars are far and away the best for original quality control and longevity. I love playing ITM on blues harps, and use Lee Oskars for most things except D tunes, for which I use, as Al mentions, SP20 low Ds. It’s odd that he doesn’t mention the retune as a way round the problem. Apropos Glenn Weiser’s book - if you use paddied G harps you don’t need the 12-holes he mentions. I hardly bother with chromatics either except for a couple of tunes max in an evening. I’ve learned nearly everything I can play by ear. I’ve never used tab and don’t understand it. Are other film sheets (like the stuff you use in inkjet printers) any good? Just wondering. I’ve bought several chromatics over the years and they’ve all got tuning problems apart from one: a cheap Chinese one (a Swan) - beautifully tuned but reeds a bit thin.Īnyone got any tips on what to use for windsavers? They say use mylar but I haven’t got any idea where you get a sheet of that from. I’ve got a Suzuki in D and that’s terrific but recently bought a G and that’s not so well tuned.
I bought a Tombo in A and it’s so sharp, and as it’s a tremelo it would be murder to tune. Question: why are harmonicas so poorly tuned and so often sharp? Don’t the manufacturers realise we want them A=440? I have a go at tuning them myself with mixed results. You’re looking for, say F# - try a few note, ah! there it is. If you play a chromatic harp in any but the root key, then a chromatic tuner is helpful while you’re practising. This really is an instrument you have to play by ear. Tabs would drive you mad - how would you know which hole you were blowing (or sucking?) And harmonicas have different note layouts: After a while I started weaning myself off tab and working from the staves and trying to pick stuff up by ear.Īnyway, good luck.
It takes a little while at first, but it’s not hard - and I see you already play some instruments, so should be OK. If you have a chromatic harmonica, that should do the job nicely, but I can’t offer any advice there.īack to the matter of tabs - what I ended up doing is working out the tabs for myself on music from places like The Session. As I’m sure you would expect, keys of D or G are most useful. This is not an ideal instrument for ITM as it stands, but a small tweak to make it into the so-called Paddy Richter tuning helps massively). What sort of harmonica do you have? Most people traditionally use a tremolo harmonica for this sort of music, but most of the tuition material you will find is for the 10 hole diatonic (blues) harp, which is what I play. (The other link is to Steve Shaw’s site, which is also an excellent resource in general.)
Tabledit secured free#
I haven’t found a decent source of free harp tab, though the book Brendan Power sells is good tuition (assuming you can play a little already) and advice, with a few tunes tabbed out (though many of the tunes assume you are using a "paddy richter" harp), and the Glenn Weisser book is also pretty good (though it occasionally depends on some oddness like a 12 hole blues harp). I’ve been learning harmonica for a little over a year and traditional music for a few months less than that.
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