praefect
14 posts
Feb 19, 2010
7:50 AM
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Hi guys,
When I restarted playing harmonica a couple months ago I decided to do it right this time and this involved playing in the right key for second position when listening to CDs.
I'm still completely unable to key a song by hear if there is no harmonica in it. For example, I can try and try I can't figure out which harmonica is the right one to use on Spoonful (please tell me).
Am I hopeless or what?
Any of you have any good resources (list of songs keys), what I need is basically a list of all blues songs ever written with the key (!!!).
Thanks anyway
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Kingley
873 posts
Feb 19, 2010
7:54 AM
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Try the Harmonica Mastercalss site. It has hundreds of harp tunes and the keys and positions they are in.
http://www.harmonicamasterclass.com/artist_listing.htm
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congaron
541 posts
Feb 19, 2010
7:56 AM
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just blow on hole 1 until you find a harp that plays the root of the I chord. Then either play in first position on that harp or use the cross harp for that key.
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shanester
113 posts
Feb 19, 2010
7:59 AM
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I don't have the key to Spoonful, I wouldn't be surprised if different versions are in different keys.
You will be way more empowered if you learn to find the key on your harps, as people shift keys to fit vocal range or instrumentation quite frequently.
When finding the key for cross harp, how I start is to just draw on the low three holes. When you have the right key, it will sound right. You could just chuck along with that draw chord to the rhythm and it will sound "correct" over the changes.
When you thing you have it, test a riff you know like a turnaround at the right spot and you'll know.
Hope that helps.
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http://www.youtube.com/1shanester
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HarmonicaMick
98 posts
Feb 19, 2010
8:05 AM
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There can never be a complete list of songs and their keys. Who would keep it up to date?
What congaron said is correct. If, however, you still can't hear the tonic then listen carefully for the turnaround. In any standard 12 bar, the I chord will follow it. There will be exceptions, but they are few and far between.
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YouTube SlimHarpMick
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congaron
542 posts
Feb 19, 2010
8:12 AM
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You can also use the 4 hole blow if that octave makes it easier for you to hear it...or 7 blow or 10 blow. Or blow a chord for a quick rough check, but that may not work for you if you have trouble picking it out. You might be best off sticking with a single note to hear it best.
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jawbone
259 posts
Feb 19, 2010
8:12 AM
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Hey Praefect - the riff to that song is 2 draw to the 1/4 step bent 3 draw. So what ever fits that should work. If you have a chromatic tuner you could just hum or whistle the tone that fits through out into the tuner and that would get you started.
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If it ain't got harp - it ain't really blues!!!!
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Tuckster
399 posts
Feb 19, 2010
8:47 AM
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Everyone has their own method. For me,its the 2 draw,the root note in 2nd position.
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KingoBad
182 posts
Feb 19, 2010
9:01 AM
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I always find the key in second position out of habit, then switch to 1st or 3rd if needed(I'm bumping up on a time when i fear i must learn some new positions).
Put on a blues cd or an online blues station and practice finding the root note. Much easier to find on the I then waiting until the IV. If I miss it by the chord change, I usually just keep the note in my head as I am trying to match it. Do it over and over and you will have it. You might get it after a little practice, or it might take you a while. While it is important, just remember there is plenty else to practice in the mean time.
Also beware of related keys that might throw you such as A and D, or C and G. You may think you have the root and have just caught something that works in the progression. I usually pick the lowest of the two if I am still confused and it is usually the one.
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nacoran
1161 posts
Feb 19, 2010
10:59 AM
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"There can never be a complete list of songs and their keys. Who would keep it up to date?" HarmonicaMick
How about the bands put it in the metadata along with the composer and all that stuff?
If you listen to your music on Windows Media Player there is a plug-in you can add called Muse-On. It will tell you what key a song is most likely in. Sometimes it will crash the media player, but the next time you open Media Player it will be automatically disabled so Media Player will work fine. It's pretty accurate. Some songs are harder for it than others, but if you use it with the circle of fifths you should be able to find it. I use it and then add the information to the file for each song (that way, if it crashes I have it saved so I can access it without Muse-On on.)
Once you have the keys of songs added to your music you can automatically sort it by key, so you can make a playlist of songs in C, or whatever. It looks like this:
Link to Download Site
(That's the link to download MuseOn. It displays the key and chords as a visualization (instead of those funky screen saver like visualizations, you can switch back and forth.)
Last Edited by on Feb 19, 2010 11:04 AM
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lumpy wafflesquirt
166 posts
Feb 19, 2010
11:53 AM
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should MuseOn work with mindowsmedia player 11?
I've just down loaded it and installed it but haven't even got the viualisations option in the view menu.
or should I have rebooted?
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nacoran
1162 posts
Feb 19, 2010
3:46 PM
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Lumpy- Yeah, it works with 11. I don't know if you have to reboot. In Media Player, go to tools, plug-ins and select Muse-On. Then to get the visualization click the now playing and then right click on the visualization area and select Muse-On.
Sometimes Media Player will crash with it running so usually I'll turn it off unless I'm actually keying songs. When Media Player reboots after a crash it will disable it, but you can just turn it back on.
Remember, it will try to give you the key, not the cross key, and if a song has a lot of accidentals it may have a hard time figuring it out, but it will come up with a best guess. If I'm going through several songs I arrange my harps by the circle of fifths since it's more likely to suggest harps close on the circle (for instance the straight and cross keys.)
In Media Player, you can choose to display the key of a song, but most songs don't have that data entered. You can just right click that field and add the data... (if it's not real sure I put a question mark after it.)
Last Edited by on Feb 19, 2010 3:47 PM
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LeeEdwards
28 posts
Feb 19, 2010
4:23 PM
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@praefect - Howlin' Wolf's Spoonful is in E minor all the way through. No chord changes. To play minor in 2nd position though requires precise control over your 3 draw and its bends. If you've picked up an A harp already and it doesn't fit when played in 2nd position its probably because you are playing the 3 draw unbent.
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"You will never get every possible thing out of an instrument, but the instrument will get every possible thing out of you" - Ray Charles.
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lumpy wafflesquirt
167 posts
Feb 20, 2010
3:02 AM
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@nacoran - that works now thanks, right mouse rather than the view menu. :^)
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