[Harp-L] Isn't She Lovely... on Diatonic?

[Jonathan Metts]

Does anyone play this song on a diatonic? If so, does it still sound
good? Any suggestions? I'm okay with overblows, at least more than I am
with my chromatic bending skills.

Jonathan Metts
Prairie Dog PR
Ph: 205.435.0991
p...@jasonricci.com / prairi...@gmail.com
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[Alberto Robles]

Michalek does a great job with that one in one if his videos. I believe he
plays it in 12th position. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

A.

[Emile Damico]

Not a 100% sure but I think Chris Michalek does it.  

--- On Tue, 11/10/09, Jonathan Metts <prairi...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Clayton Gary Lehmann]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE1SFdptoRo

This is Chris . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpJcHMQg1Ic

Pretty darned good--it's Christelle!

[Clayton Gary Lehmann]

I'm doing it on the chrom in Bb, with the bebop tuning-

It's a good key for the chrom, and a good key in which to sing (for me).

Stevie is in the key of E-four sharps, not my favorite chrom key!

G

_____

From: Emile Damico [mailto:oatss_o...@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 7:30 AM
To: Clayton Gary Lehmann
Subject: RE: [Harp-L] Isn't She Lovely... on Diatonic?

Neither are in the Stevie key. Just an observation.
Chris's is more of a teaching too on 12th position.
The Stevie version lays nice on the chromatic so
you can get those half step colors.

--- On Tue, 11/10/09, Clayton Gary Lehmann <h...@cox.net> wrote:

[Jérôme P.]

I play it on a C Harp, from a jazz version played by Bireli Lagrene and
Sylvain Luc (my prefered jazz CD : Duet), so I'm not sure it is in the same
key as Stevie's version, but it works really fine.

Jerome Peyrelevade
www.youtube.com/JersiMuse

-----Message d'origine-----
De : harp-l-...@harp-l.org [mailto:harp-l-...@harp-l.org] De la part
de Jonathan Metts
Envoyé : mardi 10 novembre 2009 08:38
À : har...@harp-l.org
Objet : [Harp-L] Isn't She Lovely... on Diatonic?

[Richard Hunter]

On a slightly different but related topic, I discovered the other day that almost all of Stevie's chromatic solo on "For Once In My Life"--a few passing tones in the second 8 bar section excepted--lays out very nicely on a country-tuned diatonic in 2nd position. If you're a very solid overblower, you might be able to make it work on a standard-tuned diatonic, but I think it's a lot easier and better-sounding to just tune the draw 5 reed up a half step--that major 7th is an important note in the solo, and you want it to sound sweet.

The original solo is in F#, so the harp in question is a B country-tuned diatonic.

author, "Jazz Harp"
latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
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Vids at http://www.youtube.com/user/lightninrick

[Richard Hunter]

I wrote:
<On a slightly different but related topic, I discovered the other day that almost <all of Stevie's chromatic solo on "For Once In My Life"--a few passing tones in the
<second 8 bar section excepted--lays out very nicely on a country-tuned diatonic in <2nd position.

I forgot the most difficult note in the piece on diatonic--the high A# that ends the solo, which on the diatonic has to be played as a half-step bend on blow 10. Not an easy note to hit with the powerful and clear tone that Wonder puts on the note--blow bends on that reed tend to collapse into the full-step bend pretty quickly. I would be very, very tempted to tune the blow 10 reed down a half step just to be able to play that big note with the right sound. As a straight blow note in the top octave, you could certainly put plenty of power on it.

That would create a new tuning, of course: the Wonder tuning, or maybe the Once In My Life tuning. Now that I think of it, there are a lot of things you could do with that note sitting on top of the instrument. Hmmm...

Thanks and regards, Richard hunter