Richter harmonica

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Richter harmonica

A Richter harmonica (also blues harp ) is a diatonic harmonica in "Judge mood," the ten Kanz Ellen has (blow ports). A total of 19 different tones can be created by blowing and pulling. The blast tone on cell 3 and the draw tone on cell 2 are identical.

With a normal Richter harmonica, both melodies and chords (especially the tonic triad and the dominant seventh chord ) can be played. However, an instrument is always designed for one key. The following schemes illustrate the arrangement of the notes in the judge's tuning: 

C-Dur
Kanzelle  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10
        .-----------------------------.
Blasen: |C |E |G |C |E |G |C |E |G |C |
Ziehen: |D |G |H |D |F |A |H |D |F |A |
        '-----------------------------'

D-Dur:
Kanzelle 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10
        .-----------------------------.
Blasen: |D |F#|A |D |F#|A |D |F#|A |D |
Ziehen: |E |A |C#|E |G |H |C#|E |G |H |
        '-----------------------------'

E-Dur:
Kanzelle 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10
        .-----------------------------.
Blasen: |E |G#|H |E |G#|H |E |G#|H |E |
Ziehen: |F#|H |D#|F#|A |C#|D#|F#|A |C#|
        '-----------------------------'

The following diagram shows the distribution of the twelve semitones (numbered from 1 to 12) on the Richter harmonica with any fundamental tone. This is determined by tone 1. 

Kanzelle 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10
        .-----------------------------.
Blasen: | 1| 5| 8| 1| 5| 8| 1| 5| 8| 1|
Ziehen: | 3| 8|12| 3| 6|10|12| 3| 6|10|
        '-----------------------------'

It should be noted here that at cells 1 to 6 the blaston is lower than the draw tone. For cells 7 to 10 the scheme is reversed. A full C major scale can only be played with slots 4 to 7 . The tones F and A are missing in the cells 1 to 4. In the cells 7 to 10, the tone H is missing. In addition, all tones in other keys are missing on the diatonic harmonica: e.g. B. in C major: C # / D ♭, D # / E ♭, F # / G ♭, G # / A ♭, A # / B

The standard diatonic harmonica pitch scheme works well for simple songs, and there are playing techniques that can be used to achieve all of the missing semitones of the chromatic scale, called bending and overblowing . These ways of playing were invented by blues players, which is why the diatonic harmonica is also called the blues harp . Various blue scales are known.

Playing blues songs

When playing or accompanying blues songs, the blues harp is usually "cross", i.e. H. Mixolydian , played. The keynote of the major key of the harmonica is a fifth below the desired blues key; The draw tone in the second cell is used as the new keynote. For example, a harmonica in C major is chosen for a piece in G major. Similarly, for a blues in E major, a harmonica is played in A major, which diminishes the seventh of the blues key. 

F-Dur zur Begleitung eines Blues in C
Kanzelle  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10
        .-----------------------------.
Blasen: |F |A |C |F |A |C |F |A |C |F |
Ziehen: |G |C |E |G |B |D |E |G |B |D |   b = a#
        '-----------------------------'

In this way, the tonic seventh chord (here c – e – g – b) and the triad of the subdominant (here f – a – c) are available; these are especially important in the blues.

The following table shows the assignment of all keys to their harmonica tunings:

Keynote 2nd position
C. G
D ♭ A ♭
D. A.
E ♭ B.
E. H
F. C.
F # D ♭
G D.
A ♭ E ♭
A. E.
B. F.
H F #

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ C. A. Seydel and Sons: The 1st position. Retrieved November 5, 2018 .