Harmonica of the month - October 2015
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(valve is on
outside of upper plate).This leads to better air-tightness of the
instrument - bending notes are still playable!
#harmonica_of_the_month_10: SESSION STEEL - dIMiNiShEd - 20 orders needed by October 31, 2015* to start production. Current quantity sold: 110
This is #10 from this year's series of 12 Harmonicas of the Month!
Please share if you know a person who might be interested.
#harmonica_of_the_month_10
SESSION STEEL - DiMiNiShEd LF#
...play chromatically in 12 keys on a single instrument!
small: Bluesette - Jazz improvisation (Alfred Hirsch)
small: Giant steps - Jazz improvistaion (Alfred Hirsch)
For sure it is possible to play fully chromatically on a Richter-tuned diatonic by using all the bending notes and overbends that are available, but besides mastering oberblows you'd need to learn twelve different breathing patterns for playing in 12 different keys.
There exists another diatonic-type harmonica that can be played in 12 keys that follows a more straight forward approach completey different from Richter-tuning: The DiMiNiShEd-tuning.
small: chromatic scale (all notes available)
Diminished is actually the name of a chord and a scale. For example the diminished chord in C contains the notes:
C, Eb, Gb (and A). The scale contains C, D, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, A and B.
The Diminished-Tuning for diatonic harmonicas has the same order of notes (with the typical whole note / half note structure).
This layout makes it possible to reach all chromatic notes with simple semi-tone draw bendings alone - not difficult to learn (requires exact intonation of all the bending notes). For more evenly loud sound of blow and draw notes we added valves on all the draw reeds resulting in improved airtightness and additional blow bendings through the whole instrument that can be used to add even more colour to your playing.
How it works:
The pentatonic scale is extremely versatile and can be used in almost every musical style.
Minor pentatonic in C (including half note steps)*
*if you add the flatted fifth (Gb) the Minor Pentatonic scale becomes the well known Blues scale!
C (3) Eb (2) F (2) G (3) Bb (2) C
There exist only three different breathing patterns on the Diminished harmonica (e.g. for C, Db and D):
small: pentatonic scales in C, Db and D
You will get four keys with the same pattern if you just shift the harmonica to the next hole:
So as a result there are only three different patterns to learn to play in all 12 keys. By shifting the C, Db and D pentatonics you get the notes of the remaining nine pentatonics (that are all 12 in total).
For example: If you switch the D minor pentatonic to the right by one hole, you will get F minor, by two holes Ab minor and by three holes B minor. You could learn these scales without accompaniment first.
If you know them by heart, you might want to use them in various situations, with real musicians or playalong-CDs. The most common pentatonics are possibly E, A, D, G and C.
small: pentatonic improvisation in C, Db and D
We suggest the major scale as the second one to learn. It is helpful to study its structure well, because other scales (modes) contain exactly the same notes. C major, D dorian, E phrygian and F lydian for example have only different root notes and are in other respects identical.
C major scale:
C (2) D (2) E (1) F (2) G (2) A (2) B (1) C
small: major scales in C, Db and D
You also get all 12 major scale patterns by shifting these three breathing pattern.
This should be enough of an introduction - we hope you understood the diminished approach to the harmonica - don't forget to listen also to the sound examples and the video given above!
The #harmonica_of_the_month_10 will be shipped together with Alfred Hirsch's Solo-CD "Motivation" which can be taken as a kind of a standard reference on the DiMiNiShEd harmonica.
&
The #harmonica_of_the_month_10 is available until the end of October 2015 only.
(all sound-examples played by >Alfred Hirsch - text-description taken and partly modified from >www.alfred-hirsch.de)
Order now!
*You will be promptly notified and refunded if the minimum order
is not met for production of this offering.
Perhaps you have a useful tuning variant in mind or you like a harmonica in a special design? Please >send us your ideas and suggestions! Perhaps your desired model will be the #harmonica_of_the_month one day!
This is #10 from this year's series of 12 Harmonicas of the Month!
Please share if you know a person who might be interested.
#harmonica_of_the_month_10
SESSION STEEL - DiMiNiShEd LF#
...play chromatically in 12 keys on a single instrument!
small: Bluesette - Jazz improvisation (Alfred Hirsch)
small: Giant steps - Jazz improvistaion (Alfred Hirsch)
For sure it is possible to play fully chromatically on a Richter-tuned diatonic by using all the bending notes and overbends that are available, but besides mastering oberblows you'd need to learn twelve different breathing patterns for playing in 12 different keys.
There exists another diatonic-type harmonica that can be played in 12 keys that follows a more straight forward approach completey different from Richter-tuning: The DiMiNiShEd-tuning.
small: chromatic scale (all notes available)
Diminished is actually the name of a chord and a scale. For example the diminished chord in C contains the notes:
C, Eb, Gb (and A). The scale contains C, D, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, A and B.
The Diminished-Tuning for diatonic harmonicas has the same order of notes (with the typical whole note / half note structure).
This layout makes it possible to reach all chromatic notes with simple semi-tone draw bendings alone - not difficult to learn (requires exact intonation of all the bending notes). For more evenly loud sound of blow and draw notes we added valves on all the draw reeds resulting in improved airtightness and additional blow bendings through the whole instrument that can be used to add even more colour to your playing.
How it works:
The pentatonic scale is extremely versatile and can be used in almost every musical style.
Minor pentatonic in C (including half note steps)*
*if you add the flatted fifth (Gb) the Minor Pentatonic scale becomes the well known Blues scale!
C (3) Eb (2) F (2) G (3) Bb (2) C
There exist only three different breathing patterns on the Diminished harmonica (e.g. for C, Db and D):
small: pentatonic scales in C, Db and D
You will get four keys with the same pattern if you just shift the harmonica to the next hole:
So as a result there are only three different patterns to learn to play in all 12 keys. By shifting the C, Db and D pentatonics you get the notes of the remaining nine pentatonics (that are all 12 in total).
For example: If you switch the D minor pentatonic to the right by one hole, you will get F minor, by two holes Ab minor and by three holes B minor. You could learn these scales without accompaniment first.
If you know them by heart, you might want to use them in various situations, with real musicians or playalong-CDs. The most common pentatonics are possibly E, A, D, G and C.
small: pentatonic improvisation in C, Db and D
We suggest the major scale as the second one to learn. It is helpful to study its structure well, because other scales (modes) contain exactly the same notes. C major, D dorian, E phrygian and F lydian for example have only different root notes and are in other respects identical.
C major scale:
C (2) D (2) E (1) F (2) G (2) A (2) B (1) C
small: major scales in C, Db and D
You also get all 12 major scale patterns by shifting these three breathing pattern.
This should be enough of an introduction - we hope you understood the diminished approach to the harmonica - don't forget to listen also to the sound examples and the video given above!
The #harmonica_of_the_month_10 will be shipped together with Alfred Hirsch's Solo-CD "Motivation" which can be taken as a kind of a standard reference on the DiMiNiShEd harmonica.
&
The #harmonica_of_the_month_10 is available until the end of October 2015 only.
(all sound-examples played by >Alfred Hirsch - text-description taken and partly modified from >www.alfred-hirsch.de)
Order now!
*You will be promptly notified and refunded if the minimum order
is not met for production of this offering.
Perhaps you have a useful tuning variant in mind or you like a harmonica in a special design? Please >send us your ideas and suggestions! Perhaps your desired model will be the #harmonica_of_the_month one day!
