I'm not sure if I know what you mean - no 'wise guy' attitude intended.
When I TB, I'm usually playing 4 - or occasionally 3 - holes with a pucker and blocking out what lies between them.
What's left is not usually a chord; rather, it's an octave. Having said that, I know there's some scary stuff that can mix chords with single notes at speed, i.e. kudzu's Iron Harp Challenge #1 on YT. At least, I think that's what's going on there.
I'm not trying to be pedantic. Do you mean stuff about how to tongue block better? ---------- 'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchen; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty' - Frank Zappa
hey guys, i am familiar with the more common ones like 1-4 b, 1-4 d, 2-5 d, 3-6 b. I guess what i am looking for is a list of all available chords on the harp.
It was designed primarily to play simple diatonic tunes revolving around I - IV - V. So, I suppose that's about it.
Still, I've never sat down and tried to work out all the possibilities.
I've just started using 4&6< to imply a V7d chord. Still, I don't know of a reference. ---------- 'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchen; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty' - Frank Zappa
I'm still not sure of the question, are you looking for octave/split chords?
Anyway I'll assume that you are. Firstly, the "pure" octaves, assuming a C harp
As the blow notes follow the C chord, any octave with the middle two holes blocked will work. 1b/4b, 2b/5b, 3b/6b,4b/7b etc
There's been plenty of debate in the past whether the opening line of Little Walter's "Juke" actually uses a 6b/9b octave rather than a single 6b, but let's not go there.
So anyway if you're playing cross harp (i.e. a C harp played in G), then you have the fourth (C), sixth (E) and 1st (G) notes of the scale for blow octaves.
For draw octaves, the 1d/4d you know, then you need to block three notes to get the 3d/7d, 4d/8d, 5d/9d, and 6d/10d. I'm not sure if I've ever used those last two, but the 4d/8d is useful, especially in 3rd position.
You also have the 2d/5d that you mentioned. This isn't an octave but it's sounding the 1st note against the blue note flat-7th. Very bluesy, and draws attention with the dischordance.
More dischordant still is the 3d/6d "octave" tongue split. This is the 2nd & 3rd notes in the scale, and I most often use it over the V chord (where, I guess it's the 5th and 6th notes combined) and you sometimes hear it as a jazzier finish to a song.
Also, some genius players such as Jason Ricci can actually bend the lower note in the 2d/5d and 3d/6d to get the "pure" octave. I have no idea how they do that.
I've also heard of some players just blocking single holes, but I've never tried this. Has anyone else out there?
