I want to tab out and play Stevie’s ‘for once in my life’ harmonica solo. I know its on a chromatic but not a ‘C’. . Please can anyone tell me what key his harmonica is before I buy. . Thanks. Well, I have your answer right here. Whoa, hold on. The sharps and flats on a chromatic harmonica are not only for playing the sharps and flats in the key of C. Harmonica players change positions on a C and use the sharps and flats on the chromatic in order to get the key they want to play. You better think about what you are asking here. Go to Anglefire HarpOn and look over how the chromatic harmonica is played. If you want to play in a key other than C, you use the sharps and flats. There are 12 notes in the western scale, more or less equidistant apart. 95% of the music is played in the Ionian mode. The mode has to do with the spaces between the notes. The key you play in has to do with the first and last note in the scale. The notes are: C Db D Eb E F F# G Ab A Bb B C In the Ionian Mode, you play the first, third, fifth, sixth, eight, tenth, and 11th note in the scale. In the key of C that equals; C D E F G A B C The twelve notes are equidistant, not the seven. If you play the Ionian scale in the key of A you play A B Db D E F# Ab A. There are 12 keys in music, so you would have to learn 12 patterns for playing the Chromatic harmonica in order to derive all the keys. Add in 12 more positions for the Aolian mode [minor keys] for the other 5% of the music in the US. If you really want to be slick, play all 7 modes in twelve keys for 84 patterns of scales you have to learn. If this is not what you have in mind, I suggest you not use the Chromatic. They are not very good harmonicas. Chromatics are expensive. Stevie’s chromatic may have been the Hohner Super64. It only comes in the key of C. The Hohner 270 comes in about nine keys, and the Seydel comes in about eight keys. The rest of the chromatic harmonicas in the world come in the key of C, or maybe G. If you want to learn how to play the harmonica, go to my profile and look around.
This song is played on a Lee Oscar harmonica in the key of F major. Its called What a Wonderful World,this song belongs to Louie Armstrong.
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