From: "jrross" Date: Tue, 1 Jun 1999 17:14:42 -0400 Subject: another new tuning
Hi, again. This is another in the look what I found in altered states posts:) For those that don't know, AS is Pat Missin's wonderfull collection of about a zillion different tunings for the harmonica--and he leaves out a lot of the ones which are a variation on a variation. So, if it's, say, the SBS tuning, Pat doesn't list all the natural variants like he allready did for Richter, but rather lets you figure them out yourself--a great area for discovery, which is one of the reasons I cruise AS fairly often.
Well, I picked out another tuning from there. This one is in file 4 and is #4.3. It is a tuning created/thought up by the (in)famous Joe Fillisko--in that he's allways thinking up new things for the harp, which makes the rest of us go out and try it and then say "I want". Here, he has taken the often little-used 7-hole(I rarely use it, at least) and altered it into a really neat layout. You raise the draw by 1/2 step and lower the blow by a whole step. The result is as follows:
blow:C E G C E G Bb E G C hole: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 draw:D G B D F A C D F A
This basic alteration really livens up the whole mid-high end of the harp. I was just amazed at how funky it makes things. First position licks just naturally jump out, and having a bendable draw note as your tonic really makes for some bluesy sounds. Similarly with 2nd position you get some real nasty funk out of the 7 hole, which is ussually fairly dull, IMO. And third position, well, you get a 1 1/2 step note from the tonic (the bend to B) which is really nice for pentatonic stuff.
All this has come to me in just one day of using this tuning. Normally, I enjoy a new tuning, but it just doesn't feel quite as "right" as Richter. This has held true for all other tuning, I allways feel like I'm missing a certain something, no matter how much I enjoy playing them. But not with this one. I mean, I really feel like this is just such a natural thing to have in the arp's layout--allmost more "right" then Richter!
Mind you, I have allready seen why I won't abandon Richter alltogether--I like octaves. But even so, I'm probably going to change a whole set of arps over to this Joe Fillisko tuning, I like it that much. Still, I will wait a week and see, but on day 2 of using this tuning, I'm still as in love as I was on day 1, so I probably will end up with a set of these.
Furthermore, this is one of the easier tunings to do for yourself. All you have to do is raise the draw reed by 1/2 step and lower the blow by a whole step and your there--allmost as easy as country tuning! If you like alternate tunings, I strongly suggest giving this one a try, it's yet another of Joe F's great harmonica innovations.
BTW, if you are really lazy, you might get a similar feel out of an arp with just 7 draw lowered 1/2 step. But this isn't as much fun for me as the Joe F tuning has been.
()() J.R. "Bulldogge" Ross ()/\() and Snuffy, too:-) `---' ======================================
