I've wanted to learn harmonica now for a while and I have one sitting in a drawer collecting dust. I've searched far and wide on the net for some Celtic tabs but can't find any at all, was wondering if anyone knew a place where I could find some. I don't really play any other type of music other than Celtic stuff so I'm not interested in any other harmonica music other than that. Would love some traditional stuff.
If you can afford $55 you could purchase Tabledit (www.tabledit.com) which also makes accordion tabs from ABC files. You can configure the tab layout according to the tuning of your box. There may be other programs which support box tabs too, maybe someone else can help you with this.
Oh, one disadvantage you need to be aware of. The program does not have the intelligence to optimize the fingerings as a professional player would do. So you can not blindly trust the conversion and you may need to refine the outcome if there are more than one button /direction for a note to choose from.
PS. In our language harmonica is the same as accordion so I made a mistake thinking that you ment the button box. But no problem, the said still applies as the program supports harmonicas too.
I've been learning harmonica for a little over a year and traditional music for a few months less than that. 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). See tctelboy's post above for links. (The other link is to Steve Shaw's site, which is also an excellent resource in general.)
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. 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). As I'm sure you would expect, keys of D or G are most useful.
If you have a chromatic harmonica, that should do the job nicely, but I can't offer any advice there.
Back to the matter of tabs -- what I ended up doing is working out the tabs for myself on music from places like The Session. It takes a little while at first, but it's not hard -- and I see you already play some instruments, so should be OK. After a while I started weaning myself off tab and working from the staves and trying to pick stuff up by ear.
Anyway, good luck. Sorry if I've rambled on a bit.
P.S. You can modify a harmonica to Paddy Richter yourself with a little work with a chromatic tuner and something to scrape the reeds with. Alternatively, many customisers will retune them for you for a small fee.
Sarcastic me??? good lord no, sure didnt my great great grand father play the celtic harmonica.
He was the greatest, apparently he played two at the same time.
After a few years of playing, one of the harmonicas smelled funny. Never was told why
Well, I knew an old fella who took a couple of harmonicas, strapped them to a pair of bellows and stuck buttons on them. Nobody thought that was a proper traditional instrument, but he didn't care, he was happy. He never did come up with a decent name for his instrument, though.
Tabs would drive you mad - how would you know which hole you were blowing (or sucking?) And harmonicas have different note layouts: http://www.coast2coastmusic.com/chromatic/tuning_charts.shtml
This really is an instrument you have to play by ear. If you play a chromatic harp in any but the root key, then a chromatic tuner is helpful while you're practising. You're looking for, say F# - try a few note, ah! there it is. 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. I bought a Tombo in A and it's so sharp, and as it's a tremelo it would be murder to tune. I've got a Suzuki in D and that's terrific but recently bought a G and that's not so well tuned. 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.
Anyone 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. Are other film sheets (like the stuff you use in inkjet printers) any good? Just wondering.
Have a look at Melody Assistant. http://www.myriad-online.com/en/index.htm
This is free to download to try and cheap to buy. You can download abc files from the tunes section to it then add harmonica tab. It does all keys, and contains tab for diatonic and chromatic, melody maker, natural minor etc. More usefully for me it can be customized to do Paddy Richter tuning.
It plays back, prints out the music stave with tab underneath, produces midi versions and graphic file versions.
It also does all fretted instrument tab.
It's not difficult to paddy tune your harmonicas but you can buy them online.
Answering RichardB's question:
I make windsavers from Teflon non stick cooking mat backed with micropore sticky tape. Cut across the width of the tape for the length of the valve. Stick with nail varnish, blu tack works to try it out.
How would you know which hole you were blowing? You just do. Practice. You could just as well say that it is only possible to play a fiddle by trying a finger position and then adjust it if you are wrong. Sure, that's how you do it to start with, but as you get more confident you get to just know where to put your fingers (or mouth in the case of the harmonica).
As for harmonicas being sharp: yep, many are deliberately tuned to A=442 or even sharper, largely on the grounds that most players inadvertently flatten notes when they play. The other thing to bear in mind is that most "standard" harmonicas are cheap, mass-produced things. If we bought any other instrument for less than £20 we wouldn't expect it to have had professional setting up and be perfectly tuned. For a real quality instrument we need to either do some tuning ourselves or pay for a harp tech to do it for us. It makes an enormous difference.
Thanks Lurcherjohn - I'll look out for some Teflon. I've got a Chromonica in G that I was trying to tune up (or down) but found the windsavers were getting messed up so I've left it in bits. The nailvarnish is a good tip - I'm sure my wife has some she won't miss (though I could buy some - along with the hair lacquer I use for fixing pastels - people will begin to wonder!)
I would recommend learning to read sheet music myself, the initial investment in time would be well worth it in the long run. Of course, there is a trick to remembering which harmonica is in your hand (which key that is) when you stand in front of the music. And in the end, learning by ear is the best trick of all, especially in this music.
By the way, I play diatonics, and the most valuable harmonica I have found is the low D that Hohner sells in their Special 20 line. Puts you down in the octave with the flutes instead of up with the whistles. And there is really no need to "Richterize" a D harmonica, as low Bs are few and far between in this music, and flute players can show you how to cheat around them.
Best of luck and enjoy!
Richard, you can buy windsavers (valves) for chromatics directly from Hohner. That's what I do.They'll be for the Chromonica 270, but I've slapped them on Herings, Seydels, and Hohner's CX-12, you just have to match the length, which is easy. They're cheap, and they'll send you a batch of them, for every reed hole. As to the sharp tuning, many harmonicas are tuned sharp (often to A=442 or 443) because the reeds tend to flatten a bit when played at normal volume. Also, try buying a quality German-made instrument. For chromatics, that would be a Hohner 270 or a Seydel. Seydel is the only manufacturer that sells stock "Irish" chroms (tuned to Eddie Clarke tuning, where the button puts you down a half step).
The Seydels are nice. The paddy richters play well, and you can purchase them in a bronze color, which makes it easier to grab the right one when you need it.
I'll second Al's fine suggestion about learning the dots. Also, once you have some tunes under your belt and get the gist of the structure, you can learn pretty much anything by ear.
I bought a Seydel "Irish" chrom within the last year. It's the Eddie Clarke or "reversed-slide" tuning, where the button drops you a semitone. I've got one in key of G, which plays pretty much 95% of the trad Irish repertoire (although I also bring one in key of C to sessions for some tunes). A well-made instrument, and seems to be holding up fairly well (I've only had to replace 3 reeds so far, which is comparable to my Hohners in terms of reed durability). A big advantage of the Seydel is that the reedplates are secured by screws (not nails, as with the Hohner Chromonica 270). Makes a huge difference when it's time to replace reeds. They also sell replacement reeds and every other part you might need for repairs. The spacing between holes is slightly larger than the Hohners and Herings, but it doesn't seem to make a difference in ease of playing. Responds well, and it's pretty airtight.
I've never used tab and don't understand it. I've learned nearly everything I can play by ear. I hardly bother with chromatics either except for a couple of tunes max in an evening. Apropos Glenn Weiser's book - if you use paddied G harps you don't need the 12-holes he mentions. It's odd that he doesn't mention the retune as a way round the problem. 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. I never, ever use a standard D harp. Lee Oskars are far and away the best for original quality control and longevity. They don't make 'em in low D unfortunately. 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. It's well-nigh essential for G harps. 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. Chromatic harps, Suzukis, Lee Oskars and the Hohner Golden Melody are in equal temperament. The Hering Vintage 1923 is in Just intonation. SP20s, Hohner modular system harps (MS) and the Hohner tremolos are in an intermediate tuning between these two. It's true that most harmonicas are tuned above A=440, usually around 441 to 443. I don't really buy the argument that it's because we all bend all the notes down! You' d never do that to all notes evenly even if you were Larry Adler for a start. The slightly bright tuning just "sounds better" in the mix. I defy anyone to spot anything below A=444 as "sharp" in a session. I have written quite a bit about this stuff on my website.
I'd forgotten about the JI vs ET (vs compromise) issue for making harps sound out of tune. Good point, Steve. As for the sharp tuning thing, well, I know my technique is bad enough to be often playing a bit flat, but you are probably right about the brightness thing. When I'm playing with others, though, the room is usually so full of boxes that my flatness or bum notes can't be heard much (except by myself).
I use both low D and Paddy standard D harps -- I find I'm more comfortable and agile around the lower end of the instrument so when I can get away with it (i.e. no G required at the low end) I use the standard D. Even if the G is needed I can sometimes hit the bend (with a run up and a following wind).
I just checked the tuning of the Tombo tremolo harp that I was complaining about and I must say it's a lot better than when it was new some months ago. Do you think they go a bit flatter when the reeds get a little bit tarnished and this is compensated for? It seems pretty much OK now - I'll give it another try: I think it's sounding pretty good now. Tombo (I think) make the Lee Oskars that Steve praises - the only one of those I've got is in in F - not ideal for most ITM but it's a great harp: lovely sound and easy to bend notes. To go back to Ronan's original question, personally I would find tabs a great hindrance to getting on with playing. The harmonica really is an instrument where you have to hear the tune in your head first, and then find it. I remember as a kid wanting to play a tune and then just using trial and error until the tune came out. The harmonica more than anything else is like this, because you can't see any fingering - you just play instinctively. (Obligatory disclaimer: I'm no virtuoso - I just like playing tunes on the harmonica!)
Although I recommend neither tab nor dots as a principal way of learning ITM tunes, it's not actually that hard to read music on the harmonica. Lots of us chrom players do it, and it's probably easier for us (than for diatonic players) since we just have one instrument on which to learn the note sequence. Not being able to see isn't a problem; it's surprisingly easy to know where you are with just 12 holes. I don't read much (or fast), but I find it useful sometimes for learning a new tune, for teaching a new tune to others, and for transcribing tunes. The harmonica may be one of the easiest instruments to use for transcription, since you can hold it in one hand, and write the dots with the other (occasionally hitting the button, and trying not to poke your eye out with the pencil!)
Checking the tuning of a tremolo harp is not straightforward. Each note consists of two reeds which are tuned slightly apart so as to achieve the "beats" that give the tremolo effect. One reed will be tuned to the "normal" pitch, as with any other harp, usually to A=441 to A=443-ish, and the other will be tuned above it. My method for tuning tremolos, in a nutshell, is to tune the "concert -pitch" reed using the tuner then to tune the higher-pitched reed by ear to get the degree of tremolo that sounds good to my taste (my personal preference is for a slightly "wetter" sound than average but not quite Jimmy Shand). You really can't check the tuning at all by just playing the note. The warble just confuses the tuner completely. You have two main problems. First, you only want the one reed to sound so that you can check it, so you have to stop the other from sounding. So really you have to remove the outer covers. You can then hold down the unwanted reed with your thumb (draw reed) or cover its slot with your thumb (blow reed). You then play the reed you want to check against your tuner. Which leads to the second problem. You are playing the harp without its covers, so your embouchure is not the one you use for playing. This alters the pitch of the note, unfortunately. If you were not aware of this you'd retune your harp, put it all back together, then wonder why, in spite of your best endeavours, the confounded thing is even more out of tune than before. What you have to do is to recheck the tuning with the covers held loosely back in place. Which means both reeds sound...arrgh! But with a good ear and a bit of common sense you get there in the end. When you get proficient you'll find a way of playing with the covers off that doesn't distort the pitch of the note in spite of the altered embouchure. Play the reed with just moderate force and relax the mouth and jaw so as to play with as relaxed an embouchure as possible. When it comes to tuning tremolos it's definitely a case of where there's a will there's a way.
The big thing about Lee Oskars is their longevity, which is legendary among harmonica players. Actually, with good technique (working on getting a good, full tone with unforced playing, relaxed embouchure, effective hand-cupping and good use of the diaphragm) you can make most decent harps last quite a long time before a reed or two starts to go south. LOs are often accused of having a shrill, bright tone compared to Hohners with their reputed mellowness, but I think this is an illusion. I've listened to minidisc recordings of myself playing all manner of harmonicas, tremolos excepted of course, and I can hardly tell which I was playing. I think the tone comes entirely from the player. Having said that I'd always rather be playing a Special 20, but twenty quid's-worth of Lee Oskar outlasts eighty quid's-worth of SP20s and I do have to keep drinking you know.
Steve - very helpful info about tuning tremolos. What tool do you use for tuning reeds? New harmonicas seem usually to have been tuned with diagonal stratches across the reeds, sometimes done a bit hastily. Do you favour something like a Dremel with a fine abrasive tip?
For fine-tuning I just use the little chisel in the Lee Oskar toolkit. I'd aim for removing a layer of metal by gentle abrasion rather than scratching the reed, which could weaken it, especially near the fixed end of the reed. I know of other people who use sanding wands but I wouldn't know where to track those down in the UK. Always support the reed very securely first. If I want to change the pitch of a reed by a lot (usually upwards, and always in the case of the Paddy Richter retune) I use a little rotary drill with a finely-abrasive bit to get in the ball park, then finish off with the chisel. A quick file down the sides and across the top of the reed will remove any burrs you've created that may catch in the reed slot. Practise on something that doesn't matter before you start taking rotary tools to your best harps. None of this is at all difficult to do. I'm as clumsy as it's possible to be but I always manage it.
For working on my harmonicas I bought one of those silly LED head torches from Woolworths. You can direct a very good light right on to your work. Absolutely invaluable!
Hi Steve and all,
I loved the LO s tuned Paddy Richter and a couple of Special 20s A. Danneker did for me, But now I play Seydel Sessions ( circular tuned) exclusively. They are a closely gapped really responsive diatonic harmonica that gives you a full 2 1/2 octaves in the major or relative minor key of the harmonica. Check them out here:
Thanks for all the replys, got a lot more info than I expected to get which was great. And don't worry savage, I have a thick skin, everyone needs to laugh at themselves sometimes.
The harmonica isn't an instrument I want to get really great at, just have one sitting around and would like to learn a couple basic tunes on it. Thanks for all the help.
Celtic Harmonica Tabs
Celtic Harmonica Tabs
I've wanted to learn harmonica now for a while and I have one sitting in a drawer collecting dust. I've searched far and wide on the net for some Celtic tabs but can't find any at all, was wondering if anyone knew a place where I could find some. I don't really play any other type of music other than Celtic stuff so I'm not interested in any other harmonica music other than that. Would love some traditional stuff.
Thanks for any help.
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by RonanCeol
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
Hi there,
You might try Celtic Harmanica Arrangements by Glenn Weisser on this website http://www.celticguitarmusic.com/harmarrmain.htm or these
http://www.brendan-power.com/New%20Irish%20Harmonica.htm
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/trad_irish_harmonica/page1.html
Hope it helps
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by tctelboy
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
If you can afford $55 you could purchase Tabledit (www.tabledit.com) which also makes accordion tabs from ABC files. You can configure the tab layout according to the tuning of your box. There may be other programs which support box tabs too, maybe someone else can help you with this.
Oh, one disadvantage you need to be aware of. The program does not have the intelligence to optimize the fingerings as a professional player would do. So you can not blindly trust the conversion and you may need to refine the outcome if there are more than one button /direction for a note to choose from.
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by Risto
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
PS. In our language harmonica is the same as accordion so I made a mistake thinking that you ment the button box. But no problem, the said still applies as the program supports harmonicas too.
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by Risto
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
I've been learning harmonica for a little over a year and traditional music for a few months less than that. 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). See tctelboy's post above for links. (The other link is to Steve Shaw's site, which is also an excellent resource in general.)
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. 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). As I'm sure you would expect, keys of D or G are most useful.
If you have a chromatic harmonica, that should do the job nicely, but I can't offer any advice there.
Back to the matter of tabs -- what I ended up doing is working out the tabs for myself on music from places like The Session. It takes a little while at first, but it's not hard -- and I see you already play some instruments, so should be OK. After a while I started weaning myself off tab and working from the staves and trying to pick stuff up by ear.
Anyway, good luck. Sorry if I've rambled on a bit.
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by robharper
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
P.S. You can modify a harmonica to Paddy Richter yourself with a little work with a chromatic tuner and something to scrape the reeds with. Alternatively, many customisers will retune them for you for a small fee.
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by robharper
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
What? you cant get tabs for one of the most celtic instruments ever played?
I would have thought that the harmonica, with its long standing and deep rooted history in celtic music would have plenty of tabs on the internet.
Shocking
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by session savage
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
Do I detect a hint of sarcasm there, SS?
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by robharper
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
Sarcastic me??? good lord no, sure didnt my great great grand father play the celtic harmonica.
He was the greatest, apparently he played two at the same time.
After a few years of playing, one of the harmonicas smelled funny. Never was told why
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by session savage
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
PS to Ronan, only slaggin ya.
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by session savage
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
Well, I knew an old fella who took a couple of harmonicas, strapped them to a pair of bellows and stuck buttons on them. Nobody thought that was a proper traditional instrument, but he didn't care, he was happy. He never did come up with a decent name for his instrument, though.
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by robharper
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
Tabs would drive you mad - how would you know which hole you were blowing (or sucking?) And harmonicas have different note layouts: http://www.coast2coastmusic.com/chromatic/tuning_charts.shtml
This really is an instrument you have to play by ear. If you play a chromatic harp in any but the root key, then a chromatic tuner is helpful while you're practising. You're looking for, say F# - try a few note, ah! there it is. 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. I bought a Tombo in A and it's so sharp, and as it's a tremelo it would be murder to tune. I've got a Suzuki in D and that's terrific but recently bought a G and that's not so well tuned. 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.
Anyone 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. Are other film sheets (like the stuff you use in inkjet printers) any good? Just wondering.
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by RichardB
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
Have a look at Melody Assistant. http://www.myriad-online.com/en/index.htm
This is free to download to try and cheap to buy. You can download abc files from the tunes section to it then add harmonica tab. It does all keys, and contains tab for diatonic and chromatic, melody maker, natural minor etc. More usefully for me it can be customized to do Paddy Richter tuning.
It plays back, prints out the music stave with tab underneath, produces midi versions and graphic file versions.
It also does all fretted instrument tab.
It's not difficult to paddy tune your harmonicas but you can buy them online.
Answering RichardB's question:
I make windsavers from Teflon non stick cooking mat backed with micropore sticky tape. Cut across the width of the tape for the length of the valve. Stick with nail varnish, blu tack works to try it out.
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by Lurcherjohn
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
How would you know which hole you were blowing? You just do. Practice. You could just as well say that it is only possible to play a fiddle by trying a finger position and then adjust it if you are wrong. Sure, that's how you do it to start with, but as you get more confident you get to just know where to put your fingers (or mouth in the case of the harmonica).
As for harmonicas being sharp: yep, many are deliberately tuned to A=442 or even sharper, largely on the grounds that most players inadvertently flatten notes when they play. The other thing to bear in mind is that most "standard" harmonicas are cheap, mass-produced things. If we bought any other instrument for less than £20 we wouldn't expect it to have had professional setting up and be perfectly tuned. For a real quality instrument we need to either do some tuning ourselves or pay for a harp tech to do it for us. It makes an enormous difference.
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by robharper
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
Thanks Lurcherjohn - I'll look out for some Teflon. I've got a Chromonica in G that I was trying to tune up (or down) but found the windsavers were getting messed up so I've left it in bits. The nailvarnish is a good tip - I'm sure my wife has some she won't miss (though I could buy some - along with the hair lacquer I use for fixing pastels - people will begin to wonder!)
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by RichardB
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
I would recommend learning to read sheet music myself, the initial investment in time would be well worth it in the long run. Of course, there is a trick to remembering which harmonica is in your hand (which key that is) when you stand in front of the music. And in the end, learning by ear is the best trick of all, especially in this music.
By the way, I play diatonics, and the most valuable harmonica I have found is the low D that Hohner sells in their Special 20 line. Puts you down in the octave with the flutes instead of up with the whistles. And there is really no need to "Richterize" a D harmonica, as low Bs are few and far between in this music, and flute players can show you how to cheat around them.
Best of luck and enjoy!
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by AlBrown
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
Richard, you can buy windsavers (valves) for chromatics directly from Hohner. That's what I do.They'll be for the Chromonica 270, but I've slapped them on Herings, Seydels, and Hohner's CX-12, you just have to match the length, which is easy. They're cheap, and they'll send you a batch of them, for every reed hole. As to the sharp tuning, many harmonicas are tuned sharp (often to A=442 or 443) because the reeds tend to flatten a bit when played at normal volume. Also, try buying a quality German-made instrument. For chromatics, that would be a Hohner 270 or a Seydel. Seydel is the only manufacturer that sells stock "Irish" chroms (tuned to Eddie Clarke tuning, where the button puts you down a half step).
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by alec b
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
Alec - I haven't seen Seydels before so thanks for the info. I've just looked at the "Irish" chromatic in G and I'm tempted...
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by RichardB
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
The Seydels are nice. The paddy richters play well, and you can purchase them in a bronze color, which makes it easier to grab the right one when you need it.
I'll second Al's fine suggestion about learning the dots. Also, once you have some tunes under your belt and get the gist of the structure, you can learn pretty much anything by ear.
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by TaoCat
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
Not to hijack, but has anybody purchased the Sydel Irish chromatic?
# Posted on March 16th 2007 by TaoCat
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
I bought a Seydel "Irish" chrom within the last year. It's the Eddie Clarke or "reversed-slide" tuning, where the button drops you a semitone. I've got one in key of G, which plays pretty much 95% of the trad Irish repertoire (although I also bring one in key of C to sessions for some tunes). A well-made instrument, and seems to be holding up fairly well (I've only had to replace 3 reeds so far, which is comparable to my Hohners in terms of reed durability). A big advantage of the Seydel is that the reedplates are secured by screws (not nails, as with the Hohner Chromonica 270). Makes a huge difference when it's time to replace reeds. They also sell replacement reeds and every other part you might need for repairs. The spacing between holes is slightly larger than the Hohners and Herings, but it doesn't seem to make a difference in ease of playing. Responds well, and it's pretty airtight.
# Posted on March 16th 2007 by alec b
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
I've never used tab and don't understand it. I've learned nearly everything I can play by ear. I hardly bother with chromatics either except for a couple of tunes max in an evening. Apropos Glenn Weiser's book - if you use paddied G harps you don't need the 12-holes he mentions. It's odd that he doesn't mention the retune as a way round the problem. 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. I never, ever use a standard D harp. Lee Oskars are far and away the best for original quality control and longevity. They don't make 'em in low D unfortunately. 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. It's well-nigh essential for G harps. 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. Chromatic harps, Suzukis, Lee Oskars and the Hohner Golden Melody are in equal temperament. The Hering Vintage 1923 is in Just intonation. SP20s, Hohner modular system harps (MS) and the Hohner tremolos are in an intermediate tuning between these two. It's true that most harmonicas are tuned above A=440, usually around 441 to 443. I don't really buy the argument that it's because we all bend all the notes down! You' d never do that to all notes evenly even if you were Larry Adler for a start. The slightly bright tuning just "sounds better" in the mix. I defy anyone to spot anything below A=444 as "sharp" in a session. I have written quite a bit about this stuff on my website.
# Posted on March 16th 2007 by Steve Shaw
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
I'd forgotten about the JI vs ET (vs compromise) issue for making harps sound out of tune. Good point, Steve. As for the sharp tuning thing, well, I know my technique is bad enough to be often playing a bit flat, but you are probably right about the brightness thing. When I'm playing with others, though, the room is usually so full of boxes that my flatness or bum notes can't be heard much (except by myself).
I use both low D and Paddy standard D harps -- I find I'm more comfortable and agile around the lower end of the instrument so when I can get away with it (i.e. no G required at the low end) I use the standard D. Even if the G is needed I can sometimes hit the bend (with a run up and a following wind).
# Posted on March 16th 2007 by robharper
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
I just checked the tuning of the Tombo tremolo harp that I was complaining about and I must say it's a lot better than when it was new some months ago. Do you think they go a bit flatter when the reeds get a little bit tarnished and this is compensated for? It seems pretty much OK now - I'll give it another try: I think it's sounding pretty good now. Tombo (I think) make the Lee Oskars that Steve praises - the only one of those I've got is in in F - not ideal for most ITM but it's a great harp: lovely sound and easy to bend notes. To go back to Ronan's original question, personally I would find tabs a great hindrance to getting on with playing. The harmonica really is an instrument where you have to hear the tune in your head first, and then find it. I remember as a kid wanting to play a tune and then just using trial and error until the tune came out. The harmonica more than anything else is like this, because you can't see any fingering - you just play instinctively. (Obligatory disclaimer: I'm no virtuoso - I just like playing tunes on the harmonica!)
# Posted on March 17th 2007 by RichardB
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
Although I recommend neither tab nor dots as a principal way of learning ITM tunes, it's not actually that hard to read music on the harmonica. Lots of us chrom players do it, and it's probably easier for us (than for diatonic players) since we just have one instrument on which to learn the note sequence. Not being able to see isn't a problem; it's surprisingly easy to know where you are with just 12 holes. I don't read much (or fast), but I find it useful sometimes for learning a new tune, for teaching a new tune to others, and for transcribing tunes. The harmonica may be one of the easiest instruments to use for transcription, since you can hold it in one hand, and write the dots with the other (occasionally hitting the button, and trying not to poke your eye out with the pencil!)
# Posted on March 17th 2007 by alec b
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
Checking the tuning of a tremolo harp is not straightforward. Each note consists of two reeds which are tuned slightly apart so as to achieve the "beats" that give the tremolo effect. One reed will be tuned to the "normal" pitch, as with any other harp, usually to A=441 to A=443-ish, and the other will be tuned above it. My method for tuning tremolos, in a nutshell, is to tune the "concert -pitch" reed using the tuner then to tune the higher-pitched reed by ear to get the degree of tremolo that sounds good to my taste (my personal preference is for a slightly "wetter" sound than average but not quite Jimmy Shand). You really can't check the tuning at all by just playing the note. The warble just confuses the tuner completely. You have two main problems. First, you only want the one reed to sound so that you can check it, so you have to stop the other from sounding. So really you have to remove the outer covers. You can then hold down the unwanted reed with your thumb (draw reed) or cover its slot with your thumb (blow reed). You then play the reed you want to check against your tuner. Which leads to the second problem. You are playing the harp without its covers, so your embouchure is not the one you use for playing. This alters the pitch of the note, unfortunately. If you were not aware of this you'd retune your harp, put it all back together, then wonder why, in spite of your best endeavours, the confounded thing is even more out of tune than before. What you have to do is to recheck the tuning with the covers held loosely back in place. Which means both reeds sound...arrgh! But with a good ear and a bit of common sense you get there in the end. When you get proficient you'll find a way of playing with the covers off that doesn't distort the pitch of the note in spite of the altered embouchure. Play the reed with just moderate force and relax the mouth and jaw so as to play with as relaxed an embouchure as possible. When it comes to tuning tremolos it's definitely a case of where there's a will there's a way.
# Posted on March 17th 2007 by Steve Shaw
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
The big thing about Lee Oskars is their longevity, which is legendary among harmonica players. Actually, with good technique (working on getting a good, full tone with unforced playing, relaxed embouchure, effective hand-cupping and good use of the diaphragm) you can make most decent harps last quite a long time before a reed or two starts to go south. LOs are often accused of having a shrill, bright tone compared to Hohners with their reputed mellowness, but I think this is an illusion. I've listened to minidisc recordings of myself playing all manner of harmonicas, tremolos excepted of course, and I can hardly tell which I was playing. I think the tone comes entirely from the player. Having said that I'd always rather be playing a Special 20, but twenty quid's-worth of Lee Oskar outlasts eighty quid's-worth of SP20s and I do have to keep drinking you know.
# Posted on March 17th 2007 by Steve Shaw
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
Steve - very helpful info about tuning tremolos. What tool do you use for tuning reeds? New harmonicas seem usually to have been tuned with diagonal stratches across the reeds, sometimes done a bit hastily. Do you favour something like a Dremel with a fine abrasive tip?
# Posted on March 18th 2007 by RichardB
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
For fine-tuning I just use the little chisel in the Lee Oskar toolkit. I'd aim for removing a layer of metal by gentle abrasion rather than scratching the reed, which could weaken it, especially near the fixed end of the reed. I know of other people who use sanding wands but I wouldn't know where to track those down in the UK. Always support the reed very securely first. If I want to change the pitch of a reed by a lot (usually upwards, and always in the case of the Paddy Richter retune) I use a little rotary drill with a finely-abrasive bit to get in the ball park, then finish off with the chisel. A quick file down the sides and across the top of the reed will remove any burrs you've created that may catch in the reed slot. Practise on something that doesn't matter before you start taking rotary tools to your best harps. None of this is at all difficult to do. I'm as clumsy as it's possible to be but I always manage it.
# Posted on March 18th 2007 by Steve Shaw
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
For working on my harmonicas I bought one of those silly LED head torches from Woolworths. You can direct a very good light right on to your work. Absolutely invaluable!
# Posted on March 18th 2007 by Steve Shaw
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
Hi Steve and all,
I loved the LO s tuned Paddy Richter and a couple of Special 20s A. Danneker did for me, But now I play Seydel Sessions ( circular tuned) exclusively. They are a closely gapped really responsive diatonic harmonica that gives you a full 2 1/2 octaves in the major or relative minor key of the harmonica. Check them out here:
http://coast2coastmusic.com/cgi-bin/cart/SE10209.html?id=QmkpIugV
if this link doesn't work just go to coast2coast and type in Seydel circular in the search box
# Posted on March 19th 2007 by babut
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
Thanks for all the replys, got a lot more info than I expected to get which was great. And don't worry savage, I have a thick skin, everyone needs to laugh at themselves sometimes.
The harmonica isn't an instrument I want to get really great at, just have one sitting around and would like to learn a couple basic tunes on it. Thanks for all the help.
# Posted on March 19th 2007 by RonanCeol
Re: Celtic Harmonica Tabs
I thought I'd post the Seydel link as it took me a while to find it:
http://www.seydel1847.de/epages/Seydel.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=3422&Locale=en_GB
I've got to try one of these - I didn't even know Seydel existed
# Posted on March 19th 2007 by RichardB