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Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 22:18:46 -0400
From: "John W. Sawyer"
Subject: RE: diatonic to chromatic

Hi, Duane,

I suppose it's all in how you look at it whether a diatonic player
"graduates" to the chromatic, or a chromatic player "slums" on the diatonic.
:-) Seriously, they're different instruments and it certainly makes sense
for a player to be somewhat familiar with both, no matter what his/her
preference might be for a main axe.

I'm primarily a diatonic player and am in the process of getting familiar
with chromatic. I can tell you that it's a different animal and requires
some different thinking. For one thing, it's considerably larger. The
tuning is different, sort of, and there's that slide thing one must learn to
deal with. :-)

Assuming we're talking about a standard chromatic, such as the Hohner 270,
it will likely be in C, although other keys are available, and each octave
is solo tuned. That corresponds to the 4-7 holes on your diatonic. The
note pattern is the same for each octave on a chromatic. It is possible to
bend notes on a chromatic, but they are not the same sort of bends you get
on a diatonic. The slide raises each note a half step so that all the notes
of any scale are available. It will take more air to play a chromatic, but
not as much more as you might think.

If you're a blues player, listen to some of the legendary blues players do
the standard third position Dm riffs on chromatic. It's actually pretty
easy to pick those up and sound decent fairly quickly. You also don't need
to worry about the slide rigbt away in that case. That's a good starting
point and one that is a fairly close step up from the diatonic, especially
if you're already familiar with third position on the diatonic.

Basically, it's a whole new territory to be discovered and mastered, but the
above are a few of the fundamental differences. Those with more experience
on chromatic can give you lots more info.

Chon

- --
ch~honresources.com
http://www.wilygoats.com
http://www.newfrescue.org
http://www.steveguyger.com
http://www.chonresources.com
- ----------------------------
- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-harp~arply.com [mailto:owner-harp~arply.com]On Behalf Of
Duane Graves
Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2001 6:37 PM
To: harp-l-dige~arply.com
Subject: diatonic to chromatic

Tell me, is it nearly blasphemy to ask that once one learns the diatonic
harmonica does he graduate to the chromatic harmonica? and how hard is it to
learn to play the chromatic anyway? This is a fair question as I have never
had a chromatic harmonica on my lips--Duane duane~b.sympatico.ca