Gypsy Harmonica

Elliot

Sorry not to post this in a more general section, however I'm having a lot of fun with this thing, and I am finding it helpful when applied to Gypsy stuff and It seems like quite a few pieces in the 25 pieces book work with it.

It is a Lee Oskar harp, in A Harmonic Minor. It is arranged to draw in all minor, out all major, (which I think Anthony might have described as an exercise he uses.) You can play GJ, Klezmer, Reggae, etc. Plus golden nuggets like Inna Gadda Da Vida, a few Doors songs, whatever. I might get another one in Dm or Cm just to cover more tunes in GJ. (There's been an amazing improvement in quality in harmonicas over the last few years across the board).

At any rate it is fun to at least be able to play along with something in GJ freely (read easy) when you don't feel like thinking and just want to jam, and there has to be at least 10 applicable examples in 25 Pieces, along with so much from Django and everybody else. I figure that along with sussing out melody lines you could line up arps more easily on guitar using it as a reference.

Lango-Django

Wow, Elliot, that sounds like fun. The harmonica was the first instrument I took up, back when I was about twelve, so I imagine I could probably manage to play again.

That harmonic minor tuning sounds pretty cool. Do I understand you to say that you are actually playing some of the tunes from Givone's "Twenty-five pieces" book on harmonica?

One thing which I still don't quite understand is how that harmonic minor scale works over seventh chords, but it sure does give a nice gypsy-ish sound doesn't it?

Does playing this stuff on the harmonica help you in any way when you play the guitar?

Will

Elliot

Will -

You'll be pleased by today's harmonicas, no screeching and they are tuned perfectly.

For me knowledge of music theory is itself theoretical but If you get one, remember that the key you get is the key you are playing, unlike blues (crossover) harps.

I just found these - check them out, the first is a demo of Eastern European music, the second is a whole Gypsy course.

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

http://www.harmonica.com/gypsy/

Like I said, I can play along with almost half the tunes in the 25 Pieces book with an Am harmonic minor harp. It is very easy to make up melodies - no bad notes, plus all the arps. They're definitely worth $38, and if you blow a reed you can buy the comb separately for less and replace it yourself.

Lango-Django

OK, Elliot, since you brought it up, I'm going to give you a little homework assignment with your gypsy harmonica---

1) Make up a cool phrase on harmonica

2) Then learn it on guitar

Perhaps this would be a fun way for ***ahem*** some us to get out of our old familiar ruts?

Will