chromatic - irish vs standard tuning?

[Mr Nilsson]

Hola harpteam!
was thinking of getting a chromatic, but feel slightly discombobulated
after reading up on these things on wikipedia.

there seems to be the standard tuning where the button will sharpen
the notes, and the irish one where they will be flattened.

to me it sounds more logical to have the notes flattened (esp for
blues playing)

what do you prefer?

what harps are sold with this "irish" tuning?

cheers
Gusty

[M]

Post by Mr Nilsson
Hola harpteam!
was thinking of getting a chromatic, but feel slightly discombobulated
after reading up on these things on wikipedia.
there seems to be the standard tuning where the button will sharpen
the notes, and the irish one where they will be flattened.
to me it sounds more logical to have the notes flattened (esp for
blues playing)

That's what the wikipedia page says too, but I don't see why this would
be the case. But then again, I'm not a blues player.

Post by Mr Nilsson
what do you prefer?

As standard as possible: solo tuned without any mods. Makes swapping to
another harp (regardless of brand or age) far more easy.

Post by Mr Nilsson
what harps are sold with this "irish" tuning?

For the Seydel chromatic deluxe Irish is one of the (factory) options
(http://www.seydel1847.de/epages/Seydel.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=3595&Locale=en_GB&Currency=EUR).
For other brands you'll have to have it retuned aftermarket (or do it
yourself if you're brave or skilled), or "flip the slide" which is -
depending on how symmetric the slider is - incredibly easy to moderately
difficult to do.

Have a peek at http://www.angelfire.com/music/HarpOn/ for some basic
knowledge on chromatics, and then head on and ask your question on the
slidemeister forum http://www.slidemeister.com/forum/. You'll get
response from people that play _chromatic_ harmonica on a regular basis.

Post by Mr Nilsson
cheers
Gusty

[Mr Nilsson]

Post by M

Post by Mr Nilsson
Hola harpteam!
was thinking of getting a chromatic, but feel slightly discombobulated
after reading up on these things on wikipedia.
there seems to be the standard tuning where the button will sharpen
the notes, and the irish one where they will be flattened.
to me it sounds more logical to have the notes flattened (esp for
blues playing)

That's what the wikipedia page says too, but I don't see why this would
be the case. But then again, I'm not a blues player.> what do you prefer?
As standard as possible: solo tuned without any mods. Makes swapping to
another harp (regardless of brand or age) far more easy.> what harps are sold with this "irish" tuning?
For the Seydel chromatic deluxe Irish is one of the (factory) options
(http://www.seydel1847.de/epages/Seydel.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=3595&Locale...).
For other brands you'll have to have it retuned aftermarket (or do it
yourself if you're brave or skilled), or "flip the slide" which is -
depending on how symmetric the slider is - incredibly easy to moderately
difficult to do.
Have a peek athttp://www.angelfire.com/music/HarpOn/for some basic
knowledge on chromatics, and then head on and ask your question on the
slidemeister forumhttp://www.slidemeister.com/forum/. You'll get
response from people that play _chromatic_ harmonica on a regular basis.

Post by Mr Nilsson
cheers
Gusty

yeah i actually found that seydel harp last night and ordered it
already :)
cheers for the advice tho. will check out them websites you gave

[D***@DeerInTheTraffic.com]

Post by Mr Nilsson
to me it sounds more logical to have the notes flattened (esp for
blues playing)

I have a rarely-used chromatic in C.

I, too, thought that using it with the slide IN for the majority of the
time,
then releasing the slide to go a semitone lower,
would be good for blues.

It actually sounds incredibly SQUARE.

A semitone BEND-AND-RELEASE would be much BLUESIER.

My chromatic is VERY difficult to bend on
(whereas I can hit nearly every chromatic pitch by bending on a Diatonic
harp).

Elmo' 7#9.

[Spider]

Post by D***@DeerInTheTraffic.com
My chromatic is VERY difficult to bend on
(whereas I can hit nearly every chromatic pitch by bending on a Diatonic
harp).

you very well maybe using to much force to get the bends from your chro.
chro's are easy to bend but requires a different technique

[E***@DeerInTheTraffic.com]

Post by Spider

Post by D***@DeerInTheTraffic.com
My chromatic is VERY difficult to bend on
(whereas I can hit nearly every chromatic pitch by bending on a Diatonic
harp).

you very well maybe using to much force to get the bends from your chro.
chro's are easy to bend but requires a different technique

While it's a pleasant surprise to see ANYONE on this channel nowadays,
no amount of technique will fix it...

My cheap East German chromatic has too much leakage/constriction in the
slide section
before my airstream gets to the reeds.

There's a front plate with round holes and no separation between notes.

Then, 3mm behind that, the thin metal slide allows 1/4 of the hole area to
be open to a reed.

A lot of wind bounces off the slide and escapes sideways.

As if that isn't bad enough -
Embouchre isn't helped by the straight lines of the front plate breaking the
seal.

I know this because I've played it when it was disassembled.
Draw bends in the bottom octave are possible but the tone is awful - sounds
like air escaping from a balloon.

Elmo' 7#9