Zadozica
130 posts
Aug 15, 2011
5:39 AM
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Everyone seems to talk about the 10 hole diatonic but not the 12 hole. Is there an advantage that the 10 hole has over the 12 hole when playing blues?
Why not pllay the 12 hole since it gives you 3 complete octaves?
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timeistight
126 posts
Aug 15, 2011
5:53 AM
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The range of the 10-hole Richter-tuned harp is the same as the 12-hole solo-tuned one; it just misses out a couple of notes of the scale.
You don't get the G draw chord in the bottom octave of C solo-tuned harp.
The 12-hole harp doesn't allow the deep bends on the three and three holes because the blow and draw notes are closer together.
Last Edited by on Aug 15, 2011 5:53 AM
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nacoran
4447 posts
Aug 15, 2011
10:25 AM
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The ten hole covers three octaves, just missing some notes. You can get those notes with bends, blow bends, and overblows.
Of course, you can tune a 12 holer (or 14 or however many you want) with Richter tuning, and get extended range, or solo and get more notes but maybe not as useful chords. If I had really big hands that could easily cup a 12 or bigger harp I might be more tempted to play around with them. If you are playing mostly melody a solo tuning isn't a bad way to go. I've got some solo tuned tremolos I play sometimes. You could tune a 14 with a Richter top and bottom octave and two full octaves in the middle, which would let you play the most important notes in 4 octaves. You could tune a 12 holer for two complete chromatic octaves if you wanted. It's all about what trade-offs you want to make for your particular style of play.
The big thing though is the chords. The main reason they took out some of the notes for the 10 holer wasn't to shrink the harp, it was to make certain holes line up to make easy chords. It still covers 3 octaves, it's just missing some of the notes in the top and bottom octave.
Of course there are all sorts of crazy solutions. In Asia it's not uncommon to play two harps at once, jumping between them for different notes, so for instance you'd have a C harp and a C# harp, both solo tuned. That gives you all the notes without any bending or advanced technique (except switching harps really fast and really knowing what notes are in what scales). You could get one of the smaller chord harps and match it with a solo tuned in the same key and do the same sort of thing, getting all your solo notes and getting all your chords.
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Zadozica
131 posts
Aug 15, 2011
11:38 AM
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Okay, so my question would be as to why BWH would choose a 12 hole solo to play Skip It in 3rd position instead of a 10 hole Richter diatonic?
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timeistight
127 posts
Aug 15, 2011
1:36 PM
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Third position lays out nicer on solo-tuned harmonicas (unless you're trying to play major scales). For one thing, you have octaves all the way up.
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Gnarly
77 posts
Aug 15, 2011
9:15 PM
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I sure wish 12 hole solo tuned diatonics were available in keys other than C--
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isaacullah
1538 posts
Aug 16, 2011
2:12 PM
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Although they are 14 holes, and not 12, you can also get a SBS (steve baker special) Marine Band 365, which has an extended bottom end.
http://www.harmonicastore.com/product/hohner-365-steve-baker-special-sbs.html
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isaacullah
1539 posts
Aug 16, 2011
2:15 PM
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And more on the SBS tuning from the archives here: http://www.modernbluesharmonica.com/board/board_topic/5560960/563249.htm
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