Luke
March 13, 2026, 12:09am
5
I love Parrott-tuned harmonica (-7 down a half-step for 2nd position blues or 3rd position Natural Minor) Natural Minor and Country Tuned (-5 raised a half-step) harmonicas. I use them all the time!!
Here’s an old thread on the subject:
Welcome to the exciting rabbit hole of alternate tuned harmonicas!
OK, so besides regular tuned harmonicas, I have lot of experience playing the NATURAL MINOR harmonicas.
Of course, I’m a Lee Oskar guy right now so I’m playing LO’s, but Hohner also makes NATURAL MINORS. These tunings are so great not only for playing minor blues, but also for playing harmonica with a lot of Reggae, Hip Hop, Pop, and Latin music, to name a few, that are in minor keys. You can hear me playing one on a hip hop tr…
Another one here:
[Natural Minor Will Explode Your Harp Game]
Standard tuned harps are awesome. MOST of the time I play standard 10-hole diatonic harmonicas.
When we say “Standard tuned harp” we are referring to the Richter tuning, named after the 19th century harmonica maker Joseph Richter:
Blow holes play the chord in the key of the harmonica, and draw holes 1-4 play the dominant V7 chord (a G chord on a C harmonica). The major scale in the key of the harmonica is played between holes 4 and 7.
LMK if any questions…