Posts Tagged “Hohner”

I went back the recording studio today, to add some tracks for my demo reel. A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to play some (blues) harp (a.k.a. “harmonica”) with a couple of different groups. I quickly realized that (because you have to have a harp for the specific key the song is in – one harp is not gonna cut it), that I needed to buy some harps in other keys. 

Playing harp is kind of a Zen thing – it’s both intuitive and counter-intuitive, deceptively simple on one level, and fiendishly difficult on another. Part of that has to do with the nature of the beast – half the notes you blow (exhale) and have the notes you ‘draw’ (inhale). The layout of the notes on a diatonic harp determines what kinds of sounds you can get out of them. And the whole key signature thing is a head trip, too…to get the notes you want in the right places for bending, you don’t play a harp tuned to the same key as the song (most of the time) – you play it in a fourth above. For instance, if you’re in the key of E, you want a harp tuned to the key of A. Read the rest of this entry »