From: Ronnie Schreiber Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 20:14:16 -0700 Subject: re: beginner's keys
About a week ago (hey, I've been busy and I'm trying to catch up on my email), Barry Schaede said:
> The list of keys >are all well and good but reasons are also useful. for instance if I >could only have one key I'd pick an A. Why? I like the range, good >useful bendable high end, nice low notes, many songs in E blues. Lots of >stuff in A you can play straight harp on. good relative minor. A's are >just a good all around all 10 holes top to bottom harmonica. I >like the way they sound alone.
I'm more or less a novice but I'd vote for A also. A and E seem to be popular keys for guitarists so you'll find a lot of stuff to play along with. Yesterday we were taking the kids to visit my 1st grade teacher with whom we have a delightful relationship (she's a tiny little woman in her 80s, still pretty sharp and she loves telling the kids stories about my checkered past). On the way, we were playing (what else) a tape of the Grateful Dead and they were doing Jimmy Reed's Big Boss Man. I had just found my A LO (in my cycling fanny pack, God knows why I put it there since practicing in the car is one thing, but on the bike is beyond me) and realized that the tune was in E. Pigpen (the later Rod Mckernan) was doing this thing with 6 draw bend 6 blow so I started echoing it and ended with a fairly simple descending blues scale riff on the resolve and my wife looked at me and said, "Wow. That actually sounded musical. I'm impressed." The next tune was Bobbie McGee and I'm pretty sure it was in A or A minor so I was able to fudge along with that too.
BTW, it occurred to me that Bobbie McGee actually mentions our instrument of choice but I can't recall if I've ever heard anyone actually play the tune on a 'harpoon'. - -- Ronnie Schreiber ronni~x.netcom.com Registered Contrarian
...can a white Goy sing the Jews? Free Ron Arad! I did a search on Altavista for LSD and came up with 1000 hits.
