Talk:Richter-tuned harmonica

Is this the most common type of harmonica?

Added information about straight/cross/slant harp
Hi all, I added some info about straight, cross and slant harp playing. This is just what I have picked up along the way, so if anyone has a reliable source, please add it. I also took out references to playing with a band, as you can play cross harp playing solo (and any other position). TheAstonishingBadger (talk) 03:38, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

19 notes on a 10 hole harmonica
Someone recently changed the first para to say that a 10-hole harp plays 20 different notes. But as the intro correctly said, there are 10 holes, two notes per hole, but one note is repeated (draw 2 is the same note as blow 3). So that's 19 notes. I've reverted the change. TheAstonishingBadger (talk) 21:11, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

This whole article is horribly written
Topically it is all over the map. As an example of what I'm talking about, Bob Dylan may play the harmonica, but that fact has nothing to do with blues harp. Also, the straight/cross/slant is not explained very well. --spacebuffalo (talk) 06:44, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Title
I suggest that this article be moved to “Richter-tuned harmonica” (currently redirected here). Richter-tuned harmonicas may be well-suited for the blues, but they were not invented for the blues, and are certainly not exclusively used for the blues. —SlamDiego&#8592;T 09:03, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

It also has an entire section titled "Overview/Valved Diatonics" which is not at all an "overview" and never describes what valved diatonics actually are. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.6.114.189 (talk) 23:17, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

Richter scale
The edit referring to the Richter scale may have been jocular vandalism, or it may have been serious. I'm going to assume good faith and explain why it is not simply redundant but actually wrong. There is no Richter musical scale. A scale arranges notes in ascending order; Richter tuning does not. The notes stall at one point, and descend at another. The only Richter scale of which I know is that for measuring shocks such as earthquakes. (No harmonica plays that Richter scale, as it has no upper bound, though one could hypothetically use the scale to measure the tiny amount of shaking caused by a typical harmonica.) The article itself has “Richter-tuned” wikified, so that any reader who wants to be clear on what that means can read about it. —SlamDiego&#8592;T 08:42, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

Definition of Cross Harp
The article states: "This involves playing music in the key a perfect fourth below the key of the harmonica - for example, on a C tuned harmonica, a second position blues would be in G."

This is confusing. Would it not be better explained by stating that the harp chosen should be a fourth above the song key ie to play in G, a C harp should be used for the cross harp efffect? 57vintage (talk) 16:00, 13 January 2010 (UTC)

Specially-tuned instruments
Do bends, overblows and overdraws work in exactly the same way (I mean, same holes bendable by the same amount of semitones) on those harps as on major ones? Any reference on that? 81.243.222.115 (talk) 07:52, 2 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Some answers can be found here: http://www.angelfire.com/tx/myquill/SpecialTunings.html . I think the article should show which notes are obtained by bending and overblow/drawing, as can be found in textbooks, but that's just my opinion. 80.200.192.228 (talk) 07:30, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Power Benders
"PowerBender" is not a generic term referring to a general class of harmonica, but rather a specific tuning of an otherwise standard 10-hole diatonic. This tuning was invented by Brendan Power and he promotes harmonicas with this tuning here: http://www.brendan-power.com/The%20POWERBENDER.htm. Brendan Power did play a part in the development of the "Suzuki Sub30 Ultrabend" as explained here: http://www.brendan-power.com/History%20of%20the%20UltraBend.htm. However, to refer to the Suzuki SUb30 as a 'Power Bender', is certainly misleading and by any reasonable standard, just plain incorrect. 75.159.152.66 (talk) 18:27, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

Why does this article focus on blues players?
There's absolutely no reason why an article on the Richter-tuned harmonica should be dominated by a history of blues harmonica players. The Richter-tuned harmonica is used by players in the full range of American folk and popular musics: not just blues, but country, bluegrass, folk, jazz (with the help of overblows), R&B...you name it. 90% of the blues material should be relocated to an article--one that doesn't yet exist--entitled "blues harmonica." That would redress the imbalance. Alternately, this article could provide a brief survey of the best known players in various idioms who use Richter-tuned harmonicas.108.11.218.10 (talk) 12:01, 27 July 2013 (UTC)AG

Playing Octaves
This article is incorrect in stated that little walter developed the tongue-blocking method of playing octaves. Chromatic and marine band harmonica players have been playing octave and a few others intervals since at least the early thirties. In particular, the members of Borrah Minevich's Harmonica Rascals and Jerry Murad of the Harmonicats used octave playing extensively many years prior to 1950.

63.152.91.131 (talk) 10:21, 6 December 2014 (UTC)iowaplayer

Paul Jones
I think there should be mention of the British player (and singer) Paul Jones, both in the early Manfred Mann band and in more recent Manfred Mann line-ups. I remember that in the 1960s many considered him the best British blues-harp player.

I hope that someone more skilled than me can add him. GeoffBrueghel (talk) 06:56, 17 May 2016 (UTC)

Richter
There is no such thing as "Richter-tuned" harmonica. This is a common misnomer for a "German standard tuned" harmonica. "Richter" is the construction method used in these 10 hole/20 reed diatonic harmonicas (and others) whereby the comb is sandwiched between 2 reed-plates, with two reeds per chamber, each on separate reed-plates. This is distinct from the Knittlinger construction method which is used on the chromatic harmonica, in which the blow and draw reed are placed side by side on the same reed-plate.

These common diatonic harmonicas using the Richter construction are usually made with "German Standard" tuning, which provides a major triad for the key of the harmonica when any three 3 adjacent holes are blown together, and a major triad one fifth above the key of harmonica when 3 of the first 4 draw notes are played together. Supe Bee (talk) 23:46, 21 July 2019 (UTC)