I’m a absolute beginner to music theory and I apologize in advance for the remedial question.
In Harmonica SCALESfor Beginners - it teaches 7 notes is an octave and a 10 hole harmonica has 3 octaves 7 x 3 = 21. But the harmonica I have has 10 holes, 10 x 2 (notes) = 20. Can you see where this is leading?
By the way, I’m the person in elementary school who asked, “If there are 4 times zones from west coast to east coast (United States) why is there only 3 hours difference between the west and east coast?”
The short answer is many holes on your 10 hole harmonica are bendable creating additional notes thus expanding the range to 3 octaves
I’m going to attach a chart for your review - you’ll see the addition notes
I would highly recommend @Luke Beginner to Boss course which will teach you all the basics and intermediate stuff you need in a well organized and progressive format. As you advance through the modules there is an entire section on bending and another on music theory .
Thank you and I got my first 3 free lessons too; thanks again. I think I understand. When I reference @cloves-fibsof chart above, it seems -2 is a half step, is that correct? Which hole/note is the other half step?
The term “half step” does not refer to any particular note. A “half step” refers to the “tonal distance” from one particular note to some other particular note. You need to learn about scales to understand this. I suggest that you read carefully this article in Wikipedia to get a detailed explanation.
Well there seems to be a lot to unpack here. LOL. Thank you. If I reframe my question; on my diatonic harmonica in the key of C, the half notes are E to F and B to C, correct? And on follow on question after reading the source you provided, is there an appreciable difference between the terms diatonic scale and heptatonic scale as it relates the diatonic harmonica in key of C? Thanks again for helping me wrap my mind around this.
However, you are almost correct. Just change your sentence by changing the word “notes” to “half steps”.
At your stage of knowledge I would say that you can look at these terms as being the same. Technically, they are not the same because not all heptatonic scales are diatonic. As an example, the “melodic minor scale” is technically not a diatonic scale – even though some people simplify this and say that it is a diatonic scale. This scale’s ascending form can be played on a C diatonic harmonica, but requires that you can play the difficult hole one overblow (in the low octave), or the also somewhat difficult hole 4 overblow (in the middle octave). The ascending scale’s seven notes are:
Alright! I don’t know if I have a complete understanding, but I have a better understanding than before your contributions. Appreciate you @Carlos1 I have enough to do in practicing fundamentals and will slowly digest more theory as it is very interesting. I have already gone on a tangent correlating frequency to notes and there is a mathematical component I find very interesting. Thanks again!
@Draw2Blow you are correct, there are “Natural Half-Steps” between B & C and E & F
A “half-step” is just the distance of moving from one key on a piano to its adjacent key, and there are no black keys between B&C or E&F! Thus “natural half-step.”
. Today is the first time I’ve heard of a heptatonic scale.
correct, there are “Natural Half-Steps” between B & C and E & F