Blues Pinoy

Here comes my favorite Blues instrument! Originally, the Blues harp wasn't designed to be used for Blues. Properly called richter-tuned harmonica and also known as 10-hole harmonica, the most widely known type of harmonica has ten holes (not eleven) which offers the player 19 notes (10 holes times a draw and a blow for each hole minus one repeated note) in a three-octave range. The standard diatonic harmonica was designed to allow a player to play chords and melody in just a single key. Over time, Blues players found a perfect use for the instrument. Employing the cross-harp technique, they totally debunked the above restriction by playing the harmonica in a key a fifth above its intended key. Playing just the unbended notes, this position gives the mixolydian scale between 2 draw and 6 blow. However, bending the 3 draw allows the player to play a minor third (or a blue third), allowing a player to use a C harmonica to play in G mixolydian or G minor. On a diatonic, starting n...