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Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 14:55:08 -0800 (PST)
From: Winslow Yerxa
Subject: Re: chromatic playing on the diatonic

Rainbow Jimmy writes:

>Here's my question. I can bend most of the blow notes
flat, and most of the draw notes flat on a diatonic.

yeah, but how flat? Less than a semitone?

Unless the instrument allows you to completely isolate
a reed (valves, Discrete Comb, etc.) Blow 1 thru 6
will only bend microtonally; ditto for Draw 7-10.

>I have a little trouble on the highest few. Doesn't
>this allow one to play chromatically? I haven't
>checked with a tuner as to the accuracy of the notes,
>but they definitely go down in pitch.

This is too vague to say much about. Drag out the
tuner and tell us how far, in semitones, each blow and
each draw note will go down in pitch. Chances are that
half the notes bend only a few cents.

On a standard 10-hole diatonic in C, the following
notes are missing from the chromatic scale, if only
natural notes and standard bends are used:

FIRST OCTAVE: Eb

Second OCTAVE: Eb, Gb, Bb

Third OCTAVE: Db, Ab

This does allow for a lot of chromatic playing, even
if the instrument is not fully chromatic.

Winslow

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