No, of course not, just for this next upcoming study song. Many people have shown interest, and you can even get a "solo-tuned" diatonic harmonica to play this song as well, if you don't want to play chromatic but may want to work on this one.
This is Dennis Gruenling, and coming soon on Sonic Junction I will begin my new study piece which will feature the Chromatic harmonica. Whether you have experimented with the chromatic harmonica before and have some experience, or you have never tried one out and are curious, you will be able to work on this song and it will be a great introduction and study piece for this type of harmonica.
You just need any standard chromatic harmonica in the key of C, which is the most common key for them. Almost any size will do (they vary in sizes from 8 holes to 16 holes) but the standard size would be a 12-hole chromatic, such as a Hohner model 270. Please keep in mind, this type of harmonica is made to be played differently and NOT made to be bent, so do not play a chromatic with as much breath pressure as you would a diatonic (please play softer) and do not try to bend notes. Another option would be to use a “solo tuned” diatonic harmonica. A solo tuned diatonic harmonica has the same note layout as a chromatic harmonica, but does not have a slide, does has some notes that you can bend, and is the same basic size of a standard diatonic harmonica but they are not very common.
The chromatic harmonica is a different instrument really than the standard, smaller 10-hole “diatonic” harmonica, but it was still used effectively in Blues music. Two giants of blues harp world who used the chromatic harmonica to good effect and had an influence on almost everyone else after them are Little Walter, and George “Harmonica” Smith.
We will be using some basic harmonica techniques that we have already used and covered on the diatonic for this piece, so there is not much new for you, aside to get used to playing a bigger instrument that sounds a little different.
Get ready to moan the blues soon on a Chromatic harmonica!
I’m interested. I feel like a dummy asking this but can you Or someone explain the cost structure to me? Ive tried to wrap my feeble brain around how sonic junction works but it’s just not straight forward for me. Thanks
Hi Bob - we offer full access / unlimited subscriptions - so a subscription allows you to watch all lesson by all Artists as many times as you want. It's similar to Netflix. You can learn from our huge catalogue OR you can take the new lessons being released. We have many customers that learn both ways. I hope that helps.
Honestly, I have never liked playing "minor" tuned harps. As primarily a soloist, I have always worked on understanding the keys, some scales, and modes of songs, and playing what fits, all on a standard diatonic harmonica. There are many minor modes, but the Blues scale works well with all of them, and if you play primarily blues, that will be the best foundation from which to build especially if you are already familiar with it. Other positions have major and minor notes, but no positions are built for specific modes unless you do have a minor harp built for a very specific mode and want to use that harp only for that mode and key, which to me, wasn't important enough aside form the fact you CAN get some cool minor chords. I always wanted to understand the scales and know my way around them, and then choose a position that I think fits best....could be 2nd, could be 3rd, could be 4th or 5th....etc ...
I don't necessarily look at it as "avoiding" holes, I look at it like knowing the layout of the scale and then deciding from there what option I like best.
Hi Duke - my (very lucky!) friend was in New York this week and caught your show with Sunny at the Iridium. I was saw Les Paul himself there a few years back. Got me thinking how much I love the album of Les & Mary numbers you and Sunny did. I know we've covered a couple already, but if you ever feel like doing more I'd be very grateful : )
Hi. I'm having trouble uploading videos for the 1st time. I'm using a mac, and have tried it with both Firefox and Safari, and both a MOV file and an MP4 file, same issue. After uploading, I'll get the message "Upload Complete. Processing." But nothing happens after that, even after waiting half an hour. Thoughts? Thanks!
Hey Duke - I love everything I ever heard Billy play. But sure there's more that I've never heard. I have all (or at least lots) of his stuff with Bill Doggett. And I have the great album he did with Dinah Washington. But can you point me in the direction of where else I might here his stuff?
I've been expermenting with playing minor key tunes that have strong relative major components by playing them in 3rd position on a natural minor harmonica. Was led to this by listening to a friend play harmonica, G in 3rd position, on the Am song Coming Into Los Angeles by Arlo Guthrie. Best I can tell this song only has the minor chord Am but then lots of C, and F (also some D and G) major chords. The G harmonica in 3rd position did not sound great to me. I thought about 4th position on a C and 5th position on an F and these are okay but then a little limited. So I was looking at note layouts on my natural minor harmonicas and it occurred to me that the Dm harmonica (listed in 2nd position) is really just a G harmonica with the F# notes flatted a half step to F and the B notes flatted a half step to B-flat. So now in 3rd position on a Dm harmonica I've got the same nice Am chord (holes 4,5,6 draw) as with a G in third position, but now I also have F notes available on several draw holes. Only negative so far I've found with this approach is that you don't want to hit those blow holes (e.g, blow 5) with their B-flats. But seems easier to avoid blow holes than draw holes to me. But I figured I can't be the first one to think of this approach. So was just wondering what others thought.
Apologies for the repeat question which I may have posted in an incorrect forum topic before but is there a backing track for Dennis Gruenling's First Class lesson ?
Well, I do love a bigger neck. But, as a lefty, my options are limited, and I doubt your model will be offered lefty. So, I did pick up a lefty Twin Tone. Any color I wanted as long as it was white! So far, so good. Alot of guitar for the $$.
Hi Slim, The Airline Twin Tone has a medium C neck and mine has the stock pickups. I love the sound of their pickups. They have a very open, hollow sort of sound because they are not overwound. The Duke Twin Tone model should be available sometime in March. It will have a bigger C neck and the same stock PUs and a nice sunburst finish. There should also be a push pull switch to make an out of phase setting.
Well, I do love a bigger neck. But, as a lefty, my options are limited, and I doubt your model will be offered lefty. So, I did pick up a lefty Twin Tone. Any color I wanted as long as it was white! So far, so good. Alot of guitar for the $$.
Question about the Airline Twin Tone: What is the neck profile like? Thin, fat, what? Did you mod the guitar at all? Pickups, etc? You mentioned a signature model. How will it differ from the regular production model? Do you notice any difference in feel (string tension) between the bigsby model and the hard tail?
I notice they offer a lefty, and am thinking of picking one up.
