Equal Temperament vs. Just Intonation - Which is Better for Harmonica?
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- Опубліковано 3 лип 2024
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In today's harmonica lesson we'll explore the difference between Equal Temperament and Just Intonation, and discover which of these tuning methods works best for harmonica.
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TIMESTAMPS -
00:00 Intro
00:47 Special 20
01:08 Golden Melody
01:48 Just Intonation
03:50 Equal Temperament
05:18 Harmonica Tunings
06:46 Special 20 vs. Golden Melody
10:48 Fine-tuning
11:23 Chordal issues
12:34 Conclusion
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As somebody who has owned both the Special 20 and the Golden Melody, I prefer the latter. The reason why I got into the Golden Melody because I always wanted to sound like Terry McMillan, a Nashville based session musician who sadly is no longer with us, and he used them for basically the majority of his career. He not only used them for melody playing, but he also knew what made them tick by giving them a clear and warm tone with a bluesy playing style. He also could make that harmonica growl with minimal effort. Terry was and still is my harmonica hero and I owe so much of how I developed my own style to him.
I originally started out in 2018 with a Hohner Special 20 and even though I did like it, it didn't have what I call as the McMillan chord (which is a very jangly blow chord in the middle of the harmonica around 345 blow). Terry used that chord sound a lot in his playing, especially with his bluesier style, and it gave him one part of his signature sound. I felt like the Special 20 wasn't jangly enough to get that chord sound, so when I heard that Terry played the Golden Melody, I knew what I wanted to get for my next harmonica. And that's how I became a Golden Melody player.
Excellent presentation of an often misunderstood subject! I'm very impressed with your clarity of thinking and expression 😊
Glad it was helpful!
Outstanding lesson my Harmonica teacher and friend.
Every new player should listen to this well done and thanks
although i still dont fully understand the topic, your video has definetly gotten me closer to grasping ideas about harmonic series and overtones.
Glad it helped a little!
Very nicely explained. Thanks Liam 😄
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks, educationally valuable. I think Lee Oskars are equal temperament to?
Yes I believe they are 😃
Three things: (1) Thanks for this vid, you're so knowledgeable! (2) I thought you were going to talk about the various tunings in terms of Richter, Minor, Country, Wilde, etc. (I may be the only person who thought that...), (3) Several times you used the term "in tune" -- well, I'm in a pretty good band consisting of seven or eight members, all very musical guys, and I mainly use my old Blues Harps, especially my C harp (chords and single notes), and that harp as well as others have some pretty out of tune notes, and no one ever says, "Man, you're harp's out of tune"! Maybe it's my "amazing" technique (that would be nice...), but again, no one seems to realize that I really should either retune my harps or discard them and replace them with new ones! So much for the significance of tunings and single notes and chords sounding right, etc.
This was very interesting, Liam! Thanks!
My pleasure!
Very interesting Thank You 🌟😀👍 🏆💯
No worries!
I have a Special 20 C, and last week I bought a Golden Melody G. Now I am doubly in love, but probably I like more the Special 20. Hearing you with the same key, it seems the Golden has more clear note, but the Special looks more friendly. Thank you for this video. You answered my question without buying a third harmonica 😂😂
Happy to help, glad you found this video useful!
Nice explanation
Thanks!
I tuned some of my harmonicas to equal in the past. Playing them in 3rd position just didn't sound right. Went back to 19 just intonation.
Thank you, now I know.
No problem!
Anyone know some equal temperament harps other than golden melody and lee oskar?
Excellent info Liam, but what am I doing if I tune a harmonica? If I'm tuning each reed on a Special 20 am I moving it toward equal temperament?
Depends how you're tuning it! You could make the reeds sharper or flatter, so you can tune more towards ET or JI, or anything in between.
@@Learntheharmonica if I'm tuning to specific notes, how do I differentiate how I fine tune each reed of one tuning versus another?
I mean, on a C harp, all the blow reeds are CEGCEGCEGC and the bottom are DG DGBDFABDFA regardless of the tuning, right?
@@Human_Herbivore those are the _names_ of the notes, but the name doesn't fix the tuning. Your low D will ideally have a frequency 9/8 times that of your low C - but only if you tune it to JI.
you were playing the lowest harmonica in the world on one of your past videos. it was the low F . i really like that sound. is that the sedel standard low F ? thanks , bob
Possibly a Low Low one.
@@Human_Herbivore Thank you , you really made that sound awesome , my friend.
THANK YOU, YOU REALLY MADE THAT SOUND AWESOME. GOING TO CHECK IT OUT, THANKS AGAIN !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yep, the Low-Low F (so two octaves below standard F)
@@Learntheharmonica thanks very much. really like the way you played it and sound. any suggestions for blues ? thanks , bob