Ben Talks Harmonica

Equal or Just? Melodies or Chords?

Equal temperament is a better tuning if most of what you play is melodic, and if you like to play melodies in many positions on a diatonic harmonica. Just intonation is a better tuning if most of what you play is chordal music and in second position. The difference in these two tunings or temperaments is quite subtle and if you cannot hear the difference between the two you probably do not need to know much about this. BEN TALKS I discovered this concept after writing my first book on the harmonica called ‘Get Chugging’ and sending it to various HARMONICA well known players to give me some feedback. One person who replied to me immediately was Larry Adler Ben Hewlett Vice-President who basically said “it stinks”! Actually it was something like ‘whilst I applaud your educational aims, I cannot get excited about an instrument with missing notes. It’s true I once did a duet with Sonny Terry at the Albert Hall and enjoyed it, but it is not something I seek to repeat. So with regret I cannot give you a useful quote for your book’.

Another person who commented, significantly, was Joe Filisko. I don’t recall his exact words but it was something favourable about the concept of chugging, rhythms and trainsounds, followed by whether I knew I had chosen the exact wrong instrument for the job? I used a Hohner Golden Melody, which has equal temperament, to play chords; it would have sounded much better if I’d used a just intonation tuned harp. So what is the physical difference between the two tunings, and can you even hear the difference between the two tunings? I have recorded some videos and put them on sonnyboysmusicstore.co.uk under the ‘Temperament’ tab if you would like to explore, and I would also recommend looking at PatMissin.com under ‘Tuning’ for a forensic description and audio examples of the differences. We asked Kongsheng if they could produce a just intonation Mars harmonica, and they asked for a tuning map. The only map I had at the time was from Kinya Pollard, David Barrett’s Harpsmith, so we sent that to them and the result turned out to be excellent. The tuning chart is on this page for your information and education! But what’s in it for me, I hear you ask? If you like the sound of the pre-war blues players, and the sweetness of the chords that they used, this was the tuning that I am told they used, so it gives you a chance to sound more like your heroes than before. And if you enjoy playing chordal music such as Folk music, Cajun, Blues, Old Timey, Bluegrass, Country and a host of others, you should definitely check this concept of fine tuning out.