Hello @scott4,
I played the song (3 verses) a few weeks ago with my Low - E, G and Low - F harps.
Why? This song also lives from its feeling in the lyrics. So I played with three different pitches of the harps to express this.
This allows you to use any harp that is important to you for this song. You don’t have to look to others who have already played the song. Experiment, listen and feel what your harps are telling you.
I’ll copy the link to my video here because I also show the required tabs in the video:
It is not important which key the harmonica has unless you wish to play along with musical accompaniment and still be in tune. If you just play alone then follow Astrid’s @AstridHandbikebee63 advice:
When playing alone I usually select the harp whose tone fits either my current mood or the “feeling” that the song has. If you like playing harps that have lower pitched notes then common ones would be (in order of decreasing pitch): A, G, Low F. Common harps for higher pitched music are (in order of increasing pitch): D, Eb, E, F.
Thanks. I listen to yours. I have the tabs but I do not know the timing well yet. Its been many years since the song was played often. I find myself playing to fast when using an I Pod ( one ear ) to learn to play it correctly. Just need more practice.
The whole “key” thing was extremely confusing to me when I started
Then, I accidentally bought a Special 20 harp in Db, thinking it was a C… I didn’t notice the # sign after the C… I now call that harp OOPS
It was then I realized that everything I had learned on my C harp, which I was replacing due to a busted reed, transferred over perfectly over to my new Db Harp. Wonder of wonders, and what a relief despite my mistake.
As @Slim says, the “correct key” only really matters if you want to play along with the original, or with others, and be in tune. Otherwise, any 'ol harp will do!
I like @AstridHandbikebee63’ s advice! It depends a lot on my mood which harp I will pick up on any given day. Higher tunings for me tend to sound “happier” and lower tunings “sadder”, but not always.
Because the intervals remain the same, on similarly tuned harps (major - minor - etc), the same song will sound similar, but different depending on the key!
