Blues tuning for 12-hole SLIDE harp

Anything apart from the two mainstream default harmonicas (Solo-tuned fully-valved chromatic, and un-valved Richter 10-hole diatonic). Alternate tunings, different construction, new functionality, interesting old designs, wishful-thinking... whatever!
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IaNerd
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Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2017 6:42 pm
Location: Iowa, USA

Blues tuning for 12-hole SLIDE harp

Post by IaNerd » Fri Aug 11, 2017 6:01 pm

NAME: Blue Dozen Slider

BASIC CONCEPT: Old-time Richter plus other low chords in the left half, and then a bluesy scale with additional blue notes and enharmonics in the right half. As with my 10-hole blues tuning, I'm trying to make playing the blues easier.

HOW/WHEN: July of 2017, configured by me and constructed by Seydel's Custom Shop.

LAYOUT:

Image

DETAILS:

I believe this breaks from tradition in several ways. For starters, I use the slide-OUT left half as a Standard Richter. Like the body plan of sharks, it's proven itself and would be difficult to make better. But for slide-IN left half, I asked: What other chords would be useful in the low range?

The slide-OUT right half might look like a typo; it is not. The blow and draw notes of a chamber are THE SAME TONE. As a group, they comprise the minor hexatonic blues scale: G — A#/Bb — C — C#/Db — D — F — G. Departure by way of a DRAW WITH SLIDE IN brings each blues-scale note down by one semitone. This is akin to the Hohner Koch Chromatic way of lowering a slide-in note rather than raising it. Departure by way of a BLOW WITH SLIDE IN raises each blues-scale note by "some" amount. I decided how much each tone was raised on a holistic trial-and-error basis on the piano.

DISCLAIMER: I have enormous respect for all you/those folks who have combined talent, study and practice to play the blues on Standard Richter Diatonic harps. By no means could my alternate approaches duplicate what can be done on Marine Bands, etc. I offer these approaches as--I hope--more accessible alternatives.
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