Author Topic: Key of D (Read 9453 times)

Gene Oh · « **Reply #60 on:** July 22, 2020, 03:27:50 AM »

I have tried to play a tune in D on my Chrom. That was tough! Why? About 75 % of the notes in this D-key tune was "DRAW" and at one place 12 beats were non-stop DRAWS. That made my playing very clumsy. For those who want to try this tune on their Chrom, I attach herewith the music sheet. Anyhow, with this practice of D, I have now completed EXPERIMENTING all 12 keys over 12 months. Taking this opportunity, I convey my heartfelt gratitude to Age and other Meisters who have encouraged me so that I could complete TRYING all 12 keys.

Now, my question: What is your opinion? Do I need to avoid difficult keys (D, E, A, B) and concentrate on other easy keys in the future? Or is it worthwhile to practise these difficult keys as well in the future?

streetlegal · « **Reply #61 on:** July 22, 2020, 04:35:00 AM »

Blow and draw are two sides of the same coin. So a very good exercise would be to play a tune in key of C and then play it in the key of D. It feels a lot different, but a lot of that is psychological. So the more you play that tune in the key of D, the more your mind will reset itself to accepting the intervals of that scale. They will become familiar rather than feeling strange and awkward. There is a lot to be said for daily repetition because that is how these new pathways get time to set.

Keith · « **Reply #62 on:** July 22, 2020, 04:48:23 AM »

Many tunes I like are in D & A, not so many in B or E, so I would definitely continue to (attempt to) play them.

With the practice, they should get easier....

Otter · « **Reply #63 on:** July 22, 2020, 05:49:19 AM »

I've been picking up my G harmonica for any tunes I want to play in D major, as they sit much more naturally on it. I'm not sure if that would be considered a crutch or not.

SlideMeister · « **Reply #64 on:** July 23, 2020, 01:22:06 AM »

Quote from: Otter on July 22, 2020, 05:49:19 AM

I've been picking up my G harmonica for any tunes I want to play in D major, as they sit much more naturally on it. I'm not sure if that would be considered a crutch or not.

Sounds like you're used to playing a suck-harp in second position, eh? That's why G was the first other key I learned my MeisterKlasse

Otter · « **Reply #65 on:** July 23, 2020, 02:07:40 AM »

Quote from: Age on July 23, 2020, 01:22:06 AM

Sounds like you're used to playing a suck-harp in second position, eh? That's why G was the first other key I learned my MeisterKlasse

Possibly - I haven't played diatonic much in the last 20 years, but I did noodle around on it a lot as a kid and through my teens, so it's possible those patterns might be ingrained!

SlideMeister · « **Reply #66 on:** July 23, 2020, 08:35:21 PM »

Yeah, they do kinda "brand themselves" in your personal music box.

beads · « **Reply #67 on:** July 24, 2020, 12:09:14 AM »

Well, I started this thread about 40 days ago and can now answer my own question. Yes, D has become easier with practice. I have even found 3 or 4 slow tunes that I really like to play in D.

Gene Oh · « **Reply #68 on:** July 24, 2020, 01:06:09 AM »

Quote from: beads on July 24, 2020, 12:09:14 AM

Well, I started this thread about 40 days ago and can now answer my own question. Yes, D has become easier with practice. I have even found 3 or 4 slow tunes that I really like to play in D.

Congratulations on your improvement, Beads! What you posted has motivated me to go ahead with practising the tunes in difficult keys including D.
Cheers,
Gene

beads · « **Reply #69 on:** August 14, 2020, 04:47:05 PM »

With more practice D is still getting better. I'm anticipating the button pushes now and also holding on to them when the next note requires it. Also finding the 2 C# notes are both useful depending on the surrounding notes. I am making conscious decisions about those two on the fly now. I'm still just playing easy things like waltzes and hymns, but they are sounding nicer. Even playing in Bm a bit.

This reminds me of a bit of advice I got from Richard Hunters site years ago. He said to learn to use the gear you have before you buy more gear. He was talking about mics and amps and effects, but I think it applies here also. I may eventually decide an A chromatic is the best solution for me to play in sharp keys, but right now I´m going to learn to use the gear I have and reassess if I hit a roadblock.

Piccolo Pete · « **Reply #70 on:** August 14, 2020, 08:17:03 PM »

All right beads, way to go! That's very inspiring to hear that with continual practice it is coming along.

I too am learning to play songs in various keys and happily see and hear my progress! Keep on play'in!

Gene Oh · « **Reply #71 on:** August 15, 2020, 05:51:58 PM »

" I may eventually decide an A chromatic is the best solution for me to play in sharp keys"
I agree: I think D, E and A keys are much easier with a A Chromatic, except for B key.

Gene

wolfman · « **Reply #72 on:** August 15, 2020, 08:12:11 PM »

Good on you Pete and Gene.

Roman

SlideMeister · « **Reply #73 on:** August 16, 2020, 09:11:35 PM »

Quote from: Gene Oh on August 15, 2020, 05:51:58 PM

" I may eventually decide an A chromatic is the best solution for me to play in sharp keys"
I agree: I think D, E and A keys are much easier with a A Chromatic, except for B key.

Gene

I'm learning to "hobble" by on D, E and A, but still suck at B.

beads · « **Reply #74 on:** August 28, 2020, 01:42:01 PM »

A sincere thank you to all the meisters who encouraged me and let me know D can be played well. I am playing about a dozen tunes by ear in D now. Here is a video of one of them plus a few things I've learned about D on a C. Your comments made me keep trying. I'm certainly not proficient in D but it is fun to play it now.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2J5VNZS9AVI

SlideMeister · « **Reply #75 on:** August 28, 2020, 03:09:54 PM »

With the possible exception of the key of B, the distance between "clumsy" and "smooth" is measured with a ruler named "Practice." (just made that up; you can have it if you like

)

As it turns out, the ruler I use for the key of B, is more like a yardstick. LOL!

Gene Oh · « **Reply #76 on:** August 28, 2020, 03:56:03 PM »

Quote from: Age on August 28, 2020, 03:09:54 PM

The distance between "clumsy" and "smooth" is measured with a ruler named "Practice."

WOW! This is another golden maxim for SlideMeisters, Age.

Gene

Piccolo Pete · « **Reply #77 on:** August 28, 2020, 05:42:50 PM »

All good stuff there beads, thanks for sharing. I too have been playing around with other keys on my C harp to get familiar with them. The song I use is an church song I learned many years ago and ingrained in my memory. It is call "Our God Reigns" and it covers an octave.
At times it can be tedious for me but I enjoy stretching my brain since I know all it's part of the ground work needed to grow on and move forward in my playing journey.

Yep Age, I like that quote too. My practice and growths spurts vary from day to day so I haven't found my measuring stick yet. Some days it millimeters and some days it inches but the main thing is that I do pick up something.

Grizzly · « **Reply #78 on:** August 28, 2020, 05:44:41 PM »

Quote from: Gene Oh on August 28, 2020, 03:56:03 PM

Quote from: Age on August 28, 2020, 03:09:54 PM
The distance between "clumsy" and "smooth" is measured with a ruler named "Practice."

WOW! This is another golden maxim for SlideMeisters, Age.

Gene

Hear, hear. Not just about music, but about Life.

Tom

Ed McCullough · « **Reply #79 on:** August 31, 2020, 01:25:27 AM »

-One SlideMeister guy in the Houston area was a high school music teacher and professional sax player. He had a stroke and only one hand worked decently, so he switched to chromatic harmonica. He said draw notes sound best, so he loves music with draw notes. Blow or draw does not matter for me.
-Jeepers. Learn Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in the key of D. Practice the bejabers out of it. Do the same with The Bear Came Over the Mountain in D. Then give yourself an exercise of playing the scale. Then play Do Me Sol Do in key of D. Learn more and more extremely simple tunes in D. Eventually playing in key of D will feel easy.

SlideMeister · « **Reply #80 on:** August 31, 2020, 06:22:43 PM »

Sounds like you're talkin' about Don, right?

Ed McCullough · « **Reply #81 on:** August 31, 2020, 10:53:19 PM »

Yes, Don , but I can't think of his last name.

SlideMeister · « **Reply #82 on:** September 01, 2020, 07:32:10 PM »

Bateman! Haven't been able to contact him for over two years; I know he was about 90 and starting to forget stuff pretty bad so I'm not feeling overly encouraged.

Gnarly He Man · « **Reply #83 on:** September 01, 2020, 11:32:42 PM »

Just checked his FB page--he hasn't posted in 5 years.

SlideMeister · « **Reply #84 on:** September 02, 2020, 01:14:49 PM »

Yeah, it's been about that long since his computer broke and his meatball, son never bothered to get it straightened out. He has / had about 300 specially made, (for the Chromatic) backup tracks on his hard drive. I was actually entertaining the idea of driving 2600 miles to fix his computer myself get copies so I could help him market them, but then he kinda disappeared. I only have about thirty of them; I'm afraid the rest are gone forever.

Ed McCullough · « **Reply #85 on:** September 03, 2020, 02:13:52 AM »

A,
I just looked up Don Bateman's address, telephone number from Zabasearch.com. I found other info in other directories and emailed it all to you. Good luck.
-- Ed

SlideMeister · « **Reply #86 on:** September 03, 2020, 01:40:54 PM »

I know his phone number (the one we've talked on for years) has been disconnected, but I check the info you send me.
Thanx, Edward!

SaxonyFan · « **Reply #87 on:** September 03, 2020, 09:41:57 PM »

C, F, Ab, D, F#, Cbb, Q’’ ... I’m glad that stuff never enters my mind when playing my chrom. Good riddance to it.

Ed McCullough · « **Reply #88 on:** September 04, 2020, 10:38:52 PM »

Saxony Fan,
As I was walking along the street an hour ago, practicing a piece of music I have just memorized (Shostakovitch Waltz 2) , I noticed that I did not pay attention to names of notes. I have a mental picture of the the sequence of holes and every note's combination of blow/draw and slide position.
When I read music off the page, I do not know if I think of the names of the notes. I know I look at the note and quickly determine which hole it is in, blow/draw, and slide position.

Can you play a tune in several keys? We always can play a tune in the key in which we learned it. I'm trying to understand how you find the notes in a harmonica. Can you easily play a tune in another key, once you know it well in one key?

SaxonyFan · « **Reply #89 on:** September 05, 2020, 08:30:52 PM »

Quote from: Ed McCullough on September 04, 2020, 10:38:52 PM

Can you play a tune in several keys? We always can play a tune in the key in which we learned it. I'm trying to understand how you find the notes in a harmonica. Can you easily play a tune in another key, once you know it well in one key?

How do I find the pitches I want to play. I don’t go looking for them.

I hear them in my head and then I play them just like I would sing a tune. I couldn’t care less what the key is.

Author Topic: Key of D (Read 9453 times)

Piccolo Pete

Piccolo Pete

SaxonyFan

SaxonyFan