Harmonica Key on Bring It On Home

[MrMusic]

What key is the harmonica that Plant used on "Bring It On Home"?

[StringBender]

What key is the harmonica that Plant used on "Bring It On Home"?

I would expect someone named Mr.Music wouldn't have to ask.

[BonzoLikeDrumer]

I think it's in "E" but I may be wrong.

[sailor86]

I didn't know harmonicas had keys. Okay, not that funny. But it would make sense that it would be an "E".

[sam_webmaster]

What key is the harmonica that Plant used on "Bring It On Home"?

The song is in E, so I think the harmonica key would be A.

reference chart here: http://www.fetherbay...rpTutorial.html

[beatbo]

playing the harmonica in the same key the song is in is common for most types of music, but in the blues, playing the harp in the corresponding key is called "cross-blowing" and is quite common and sounds really cool. of course, the king of the "cross-blowers" is sonny boy williamson....

for a really excellent harp/blues background history, i recommend "moaning at midnight-the life and times of howlin' wolf" by james seagrest and mark hoffman....

[namregoob]

This is a harmonica cross harp key ref. Song key on left,harp key on right.

A-------D

Bflat---Eflat

B-------E

C-------F

Csharp--Fsharp

D-------G

Eflat---Gsharp

E-------A

F-------Bflat

Fsharp--B

G-------C

Gsharp--Csharp

If you are learning blues harmonica,search Adam Gussow.

Namregoob

[PhxHorn]

So it looks like the harp should be pitched a fourth higher than the song.

[namregoob]

Yeah,big guff on me. I didn't notice the link to the chart. That'll teach me to log on late at night.

Any way, the blown cord on a 10 hole,20 note diatonic harmonica is a natural 1,3,5 cord,the draw cord is a 7th,five chromatic steps higher.(5 guitar frets). This allows it to be played in either coresponding key. An A harmonica can be can be used to play a song in the key of A (straight harp),or the key of E (cross harp). This is normal blues method,almost playing backwards. It's also called second position. When I teach a new player,I tell them to whistle by drawing in,and learn a scale. This helps them develope the note bending ability necessary for blues playing. There is also a third position in blues playing,where a D harmonica can be used in the key of E. It produces some interesting sounds.

[huw]

There's a simple bit of music theory behind why blues harp players use a harp from a different key:

Blues tunes in "major" keys are mostly actually in the Mixolydian mode (with the flattened 7th note), rather than the normal major key. So to play blues in E you don't need an E harp, you need an E mixolydian harp.

As E mixolydian is derived from the notes of A major, so that's the harp you need.

[beatbo]

Yeah,big guff on me. I didn't notice the link to the chart. That'll teach me to log on late at night.

Any way, the blown cord on a 10 hole,20 note diatonic harmonica is a natural 1,3,5 cord,the draw cord is a 7th,five chromatic steps higher.(5 guitar frets). This allows it to be played in either coresponding key. An A harmonica can be can be used to play a song in the key of A (straight harp),or the key of E (cross harp). This is normal blues method,almost playing backwards. It's also called second position. When I teach a new player,I tell them to whistle by drawing in,and learn a scale. This helps them develope the note bending ability necessary for blues playing. There is also a third position in blues playing,where a D harmonica can be used in the key of E. It produces some interesting sounds.

awesome post. thanks!