Hi all, this is a repost of a question I asked in the Beginner to Boss course pages. I recently found out about Greg Zlap and thinks he’s an amazing musician. I’d like to aim for learning the song Aux Petits Joueurs (which means I have to get better at bending). But I’d like to know what tuning and key harmonica he plays in so I can get the same. I tried figuring out the key of the song myself as follows. I listened to the song while trying to match it to a keyboard, and recognize which scale uses those keys. I’ve never tried finding the key of a song before, and just recently learned enough theory to do it, although I played keyboards for many years as a kid. It was a bit difficilt because the song uses pitches in the chromatic scale, but I found the song is probably in E minor (correct?). Next question, which I’d like to ask in general, once you know the key, how do you know which harp to use? Especially minor keys, given you can play them in 3rd or 4th position? I just guessed this song was played in a minor harmonica since it is so melancholic. I also recognized the notes AC, CE and BD being played simultaneously, which I understand requires a minor harmonica. Natural minor A harp is played as E minor in the second position it seems, but looking at its layout, it doesn’t seem to work out. For example, theres no Ab in the middle octave, even with bending, and Greg Zlap does play that. Looking at the layout for a A harmonic minor harmoica does seem to fit (played as E minor in the second position). Does this make sense? Is this the right harp?
An update on this. I noticed that Greg Zlap bends the E to Eb which didn’t fit with the Am harmonica so I checked again. He plays AC, BD, and CE simultaneously, so these notes need to be next to one another. That’s the case for G, Gm, Am (natural) and Am (harmonic), but the E also needs to bend to Eb in the mid-lower part of the harmonica, and the F# needs to be accessoble. That only fits the G harmonica. G played in 4th position is Em, which is the key of the song. I now believe it is a regular G major harmonica.
To answer the question: how do you pick the right harmonica and nice you know the key of the song?
First, there is a skill component. Folks skilled enough to play chromatically have more options, and so more considerations to wade through.
But if you are not an overblow player, then first you consider position mechanics, then expression.
For mechanics:
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if the song is a blues in a major key, then you can use positions 1-5 and 12 without too much difficulty.
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if the song is in a minor key, then position 1 is out unless you overblow or restrict yourself to the high end of the harp. Position 2 is workable on the low end and high end. Position 3, 4, and 5 work very well. Position 12 would be challenging.
Be on the lookout for temporary changes of key, that may factor into the plan.
Once you’ve narrowed it down about, factor in expression.
I’ll have to come back for that to explain, might be a few days.
Thanks Hogie.Harmonica that’s some very useful heuristics. I started playing 1.5 months ago, so overblows are way out of reach for me. I haven’t managed a single one. I can mostly manage the draw bends when I do it one at a time, and I can hear when I bend a half step, whole step and occssionally I’ll manage the 3’’’, but actually hitting the right pitch in a song will take some practice. A few times I’ve managed to blow bend but not to pitch. But I suspect Greg Zlap isn’t overblowing in this song, thankfully 
I can hear his bent notes, though, so I will try to find the right harmonica and mimic his style.
@Sigvald welcome to the forum!
@Hogie.Harmonica here is the song he is referencing:
It’s interesting because Greg Zlap plays very much like a chromatic player in many respects. but it looks like a diatonic on the picture on the YT vid. Think he’s playing a half-valved?
I told Sigvald that this song song is in Am, so as a beginner a Natural Minor tuned harmonica would be the fastest way to be able to jam along a bit with this tune.
Luke is right. The song is in Am, not Em. When trying to figure this out for myself (no past experience in that), I played along a section of the melody on a keyboard, and found that it uses F, Gb, G, Ab. A, D and E and tried to choose a minor scale which minimizes the notes outside the scale. Of course, this section has notes outside any minor scale, and Em seemed to fit just as well as anything else. Besides, the melody often “returns” to E. After Luke said it was in Am I went back to the keyboard and tried to play chords along to the beginning of the melody. Sure enough, Am sounded pleasant, Em did not. I guess you can also “recognize”the chord in the melody. First two notes are A and E. Those are both in the Am chord, but only E is in Em.
I guess an Am harmonica would indeed be the easiest way to jam along on some parts of the song but I’m still curious about which tuning Greg Zlap uses. To me a G harmonica still seems to fit, given that one can play AC, BD and CD on it, and get all single notes Greg Zlap plays (I think) by bending. But it’s really interesting with the half valved harmonicas. Never heard about them before (just googled it). What makes you think it’s a half valved harmonica and not a regular G major harmonica?
I guess I should also try to listen/play through the entire song and see if there’s any of thise temporary key changea Hoogie warns me about. Mu git feeling tells me it’s all in one key.