I’m working on a song that I’d like to work a little harmonica in, but I’m not sure what key for the harmonica.
The verse is F#m D A E
The chorus is F#m Dbm D A Dbm D
Harmonicas are expensive so I want to make sure I get the right one and does it make that big of a difference between a regular and a blues harp?
D Major?
Those are the principal chords for A, so
try A, if you are going to play in “1st position” or “straight harp”.
D, if you are going to play 2nd position, so called “cross harp”, which might be better suited if the melody is actually in D, in spite of the chords (whichever Greek mode that is, I can never remember them).
I think it’s considered good form not to mix sharps and flats…instead of Dbm, C#m is correct.
Key of A: A, Bm, C#m, D, E, F#m. (I, IV, V=major; II, III, VI=minor)
Go with key of A.
I did not know that. Thanks.
So, the key of A, huh? I’ll give that a try.
You’d think after playing professionally for 25 years I would have learned something. I just really suck when it comes to music theory.
Someone from the technical musicians guild will be along to correct me, probably. But you’ve got your “sharp” keys (1 sharp, then 2, then 3…):
G, D, A, E…
And your “flat” keys:
F, Bb, Eb, Ab…
So when you mix flats and sharps a better musician than me wonders what key you’re talking about. IIRC serious musicians will tell you that A# is not truly equal to Bb.
So, would this have worked:
Verse: Gbm D A E
Chorus: Gbm Dbm D A Dbm D
No, not really, because you’re still mixing sharps and flats. D has F-sharp in it, A has C-sharp, and E has G-sharp. The only chord you had incorrectly in the OP was the D-flat minor, which should be C-sharp minor as previously noted.
No, not really, because you’re still mixing sharps and flats. D has F-sharp in it, A has C-sharp, and E has G-sharp. The only chord you had incorrectly in the OP was the D-flat minor, which should be C-sharp minor as previously noted.
(But you are correct that G-flat minor is equal to F-sharp minor, if that’s what you were asking.)
Actually, I was just wondering if Gbm Dbm D A Dbm D would have been equivalent to F#m Dbm D A Dbm D in any sense rather than just going by propriety.
They certainly sound the same when I play them.
But then, chord structure just confuses the heck out of me.
I’m confused by this. Couldn’t you equally say that D has G-flat in it, A has D-flat, and E has A-flat?
The major scale in the key of D is D E F# G A B C# D
In terms of pitch, you could CALL that F# a Gb, but then you’d have two Gs in there, and no F. Similarly, with the C#. It’s more reasonable to say that you get the key of D by sharping the F and the C. Remember that the way things are represented on musical staff is to start with the lettered notes, and use a signature that says which of them are sharped or flatted. You can’t represent both a Gb and a G natural in a key signature.
You can get through a lot of music theory by use of a little crutch called the “circle of fifths”, BTW. Look it up. That, plus an understanding of how chords and scales are constructed in terms of intervals. Even if you’re a guitar player, it’s worth examining a keyboard for that.
That makes sense. Thanks for the elaboration.
Hey, no need to rip on guitar players. We do pretty good without reading music, which seems to be the problem - that the limitations of standard music notation force conventions.
If you read a piece written in G on a musical staff (bass, treble for instance), the line for F will have a # on it. Then for D it will show the same sharp on the line for F and add one on the space for C. Why they didn’t choose to put flats on appropriate lines…I don’t know.
But some years ago, I was goofing around with a computer that had a tone generator, as in, you input the Hz and it will produce that tone. Orchestras often tune to A440, although I’ve heard of conductors saying, “Nope, we’re going to tune to A442 because the piece will sound better.”
If you double from A440, you’ll be on A an octave higher, or you could halve it for an octave lower. You’ll notice on a guitar that the fret for the octave is the midpoint of the string…there’s a visual for the physics of frequency vs wavelength. Cut the wave to half its length and double the frequency, i.e. an octave higher.
Anyway I figured we have a twelve-tone scale, meaning that if you multiplied by the twelfth root of 2, I’d expect to hit all the half notes, i.e. a chromatic scale.
When I had it play the scale, it sounded like shit. Trying to build chords sounded totally awful. Our scale is actually “tempered.” The frequencies aren’t mathematically linear.
Pianos usually sound best in flat keys, for instance. So I’d guess a piano playing a Gb in piece with seven flats will sound better than if it’s playing an F# (on the very same piece of ivory, wire, hammer, etc.) in the key of G…because the key in which the piece is written requires slightly different pitches, like A440 vs A442.
Someone will be probably be along to correct my details, but I think that’s essentially the explanation.
Not ripping, I am one myself. And I would agree with the assessment of notation. Evidenced by the fact that so many people who play popular music perfectly well don’t use it.
Right, makes sense…you’d end up having to mark a lot of accidentals on the sheet music to clarify which you want.
For those of you who don’t read music, one thing teachers drill is scales. If the music is in G, I know that every F will be raised to F# unless otherwise indicated.
But say we’re in C, which has no sharps or flats. On the five-line staff, if the first note of a measure is an F, marked with a sharp, then every other F in that measure is to be raised to F# unless they put a natural sign next to it. If another F in the same measure is an octave higher or lower, you’re still supposed to remember and apply the sharp. That rule expires at the next measure, unless it’s restated.
Throwing in lots of accidentals—flats, sharps, naturals that aren’t in the signature from the gitgo—can make reading music a lot harder.
Just to clarify what I meant… Yes, as I mentioned, you are absolutely correct that G-flat minor and F-sharp minor use the same notes. Enharmonically, they are the same, meaning the same notes are used for both chords but they go by different names depending on what key you’re using.
I know that sounds confusing, but think about it: the last thing you want on paper is a key signature with sharps in it and then a bunch of flats all over the place. And the key of your song is clearly A, which contains three sharps, F, G and C. Well, the chord in question consists of a G-sharp, C-sharp and E-natural, so why muddle it by calling it a D-flat chord, when it would be easier to call it a C#-minor and achieve the same effect?
Hopefully this helps, although sorry, I don’t know much about the harmonica. 
For reference, the standard ten-hole harp is a diatonic instrument (hence the fact that they come in keys). There are 20 reeds, 10 played by blowing, and 10 played by drawing. The 20 notes cover a range of three octaves. The way it is arranged is that the notes of the root triad for the key are obtained by blowing, and all the other notes are draw notes. A complete diatonic scale is present between the 4th and 7th holes:
hole 4 - root (blow), 2 (draw)
hole 5 - 3 (blow), 4 (draw)
hole 6 - 5 (blow), 6 (draw)
hole 7 - 7 (draw), root (blow)
Note the “inversion” at the seventh hole, where you start getting a lower note by drawing instead of blowing. There are notes missing from the scale in the octave below and above this one:
hole 1 - root (blow), 2 (draw)
hole 2 - 3 (blow), 5 (draw)
hole 3 - 5 (blow), 7 (draw)
Yes, there’s a drawn 5th in there, the same as the blow note on the next hole over.
hole 8 - 2 (draw), 3 (blow)
hole 9 - 4 (draw), 5 (blow)
hole 10 - 6 (draw), root (blow)
The upper end is missing the “ti”.
Of course, nobody will think about this when playing one. I don’t. Harmonica is conducive to simply learning some unconcious techniques for getting the melody you want out.
Harmonica…ever listen to Larry Adler? I picked up an album called, “The Glory of Gershwin” on which he played with various biggies (Sting, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Cher, etc.). He did a killer version of “Rhapsody in Blue.” Unbelievable…and IIRC the liner notes say that Gershwin himself told him, “You’re the only one who can play the goddamn thing right.”
Unfortunately no video on youtube. But there’s one:
This has Larry duetting with Itzhak Perlman on “Summertime.”
Larry Adler on “Claire de Lune.”
ETA: If you haven’t heard of him before, it’s because he was blacklisted:
Forced to leave the country by false accusations of communist sympathies during the era of McCarthyism (which made it impossible for Adler to find work), he moved to the United Kingdom in 1949. The accusations, although without foundation, led to a general sentiment of disregard towards him in the USA during the 1950s and early 1960s. Adler settled in London and lived there for the rest of his life. The 1953 film Genevieve brought him an Oscar nomination for his work on the soundtrack (though his name was originally kept off the credits in the United States due to blacklisting).
Our loss was definitely Europe’s gain.
And kudos to Lee Oskar for manufacturing a “low F” harmonica. Usually, G is the lowest pitched 10 hole harp, with F# being the highest. E and F harps are normally up in squeaky territory. The Lee Oskar low F is pitched a step below the G instead. Of course, they also make a “high G”. Presumably for people to call their dogs with …