From: Winslow Yerxa <76450.32~OMPUSERVE.COM> Date: 27 Mar 96 17:43:07 EST Subject: Blues in Db - oops, Eb
TO: INTERNET:harp~arply.com
Jack Ely holds forth on why chromatic players like to play in Db, giving a number of tried-and-true reasons. I have one more to add, in a minute.
However, he took as his point of departure an earlier discussion of why blues chromatic players play in *Eb* instead of *D*. I never added my 2 cents to that one, so here goes.
If you play in 10th position - Eb on a C chromatic - and just hold the slide in the whole time, it's identical to playing on 3rd pos (D), just a semitone higher. And Eb is a much less guitar-friendly key than D, in a medium - blues bands - that tends to be guitar-based. So why use Eb?
Well, suppose you *don't* hold the slide in the whole time? You can let it out and dip the note down, then bring it back up. Or you can start with the slide out and jab up into a note. There are also bluesy riffs and licks available using slide-out notes that are completely different from the riffs available in D. For much more detail on Blues chromatic in Eb, get HIP No. 3 and read the blues chromatic article . . . .
Now for my little Db nugget. In the late '50's Toots used to like to play in Db a lot. In the rare instances where he recorded with other than a C-harp, his choice of key, like Bb on an A harp or Ab on a G harp (as in East of the Sun) tended to put him in Db position.
Again, Db major can be played exactly like C if you just lock the slide in. But once you put it in play, you can use the slide to dip notes down instead of up, and all kinds of smooth runs become possible in Db that are choppy or awkward in C. Here's one of Toots' favorite Db licks from the period:
This plays a little turn around the note Db. In any hole this action will play a little turn around a blow note, and with the slide in, all the blow notes are part of the Db major chord. Just move it up one hole at a time, playing very fast. Wow! Try moving this little turn down a semitone to C and it becomes choppy and much harder to play.
