http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_minor

I also understand the Hertz tuning that goes into a harp as well as theories of chords, Equal Temperament, Just Intonation, bending and overblows.

I can read music a little and am still practicing with my LO Melody Maker. I would recommend it to anyone. It makes reading music really easy. I haven't noticed anything in my fake book that would require a minor tuning. People that should know don't know the answer to this question. It seems that minor harps are not big sellers.

I have taken to tabbing out everything that I want on a melody maker, then transposing them to Richter, solo tuning, or whatever, with the find and replace function of microsoft word. Just travel from the low notes to the high notes when you are tuning down. Travel from the high notes to the low notes when you are tuning up. This makes you avoid changing the same note twice and coming up with something inaccurate.

I can change the harp and or the key using this method. That being said, what is with the natural minor and harmonic minor harps? Is it one of those deals where you change the key by changing the harp itself? That would be easy enough, but somehow I don't believe that is going to be the answer!
Dan

2 2 1 2 2 2 1 8 note scale with notes starting on C
2 1 2 2 2 1 2 8 note scale with notes starting on D
1 2 2 2 1 2 2 8 note scale with notes starting on E
2 2 2 1 2 2 1 8 note scale with notes starting on F
2 2 1 2 2 1 2 8 note scale with notes starting on G
2 1 2 2 1 2 2 8 note scale with notes starting on A
1 2 2 1 2 2 2 8 note scale with notes starting on B

Now let’s take the A scale and superimpose it onto a C instrument.
2 1 2 2 1 2 2 8 note scale with notes starting on A
C D Eb F G Ab Bb C
Get out your file, work on the base of the reeds until the E, A, and B are flattened out, and what you would have is a natural minor harmonica.
Or you could just imagine that you are playing between the C’s as you play between the A’s. To answer my own question, Yes, you can play in the minor key simply by changing the harp into a minor keyed harp. The difference in the chords doesn’t appear to be much more than inverting the draw chords and the blow chords in most places.

MAJOR TUNED HARP
C E G C E G C E G C
D G B D F A B D F A

MELODY MAKER
F A D F A C F A C F
G C E G B D E G B D

NATURAL MINOR
D F A D F A D F A D
E A C E G B C E G B

Unfortunately, I still don’t get it. I received the following email from a frenchman named Mox Gowland. I rearranged some of the info.

Unfortunately, I haven't figured out a simple way to depict the corresponding modes (and the notes of those modes) on that same tool, so I limited it to the MAJOR scale (Ionian mode) and NATURAL MINOR scale (Aeolian mode), since that encompasses the majority of Western music. Certrain genres of music include other modes, particularly Mixolydian and Dorian.
I've provided the following explanation to try to work around that omission of other modes on the tool. For purposes of explanation, I will ASSUME that you are using a MAJOR scale harp, and not an alternatively tuned (Melody Maker, Natural Minor, Harmonic Minor, Paddy Richter, etc.) harp.
The diatonic harmonica is set up to produce the eight notes of a single key (using only the blow and draw notes that occur naturally - no bending or overbending) in three octaves. Only the middle (2nd) octave contains all 8 notes of the scale. The first octave is missing two notes from the scale, and the third octave is missing 1 note from the scale. Those missing notes CAN be added through various bending techniques, but that has nothing to do with modes and positions.
For example, the following notes occur on the "C" (major) diatonic 10-hole German-tuned (Richter-tuned) diatonic harmonica:

Blow C E G C E G C E G C
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Draw D G B D F A B D F A

"C" Notes: C D E F G A B
Scale Degree: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

There are 7 modes (starting points) associated with every major scale, named in relation to the scale degree on which the mode starts:

Starting Scale Degree Name of Mode

1 Ionian (same as the MAJOR scale) 1st position
I'm going to use the "C" MAJOR scale above to identify the modes and notes associated with that scale. Any MAJOR scale can be used to identify the scale degree of the notes, and subsequently, the notes of the corresponding modes. Ionian Mode notes, beginning on scale degree 1 of the "C" scale, ending on the octave note:
C D E F G A B C
If playing these notes on a "C" harp, then you are playing in 1st position (relative to the key of "C"). Start with hole 4 blow and play up the harp, alternating blow and draw notes.

2 Dorian 3rd position
Dorian Mode notes, beginning on scale degree 2 of the "C" scale, ending on the octave note:
D E F G A B C D
If playing these notes on a "C" harp, then you are playing in 3rd position (relative to the key of "C"). Start with hole 4 draw and play up the harp, alternating blow and draw notes.

3 Phrygian 5th position
Phrygian Mode notes, beginning on scale degree 3 of the "C" scale, ending on the octave note:
E F G A B C D E
If playing these notes on a "C" harp, then you are playing in 5th position (relative to the key of "C"). Start with hole 5 blow and play up the harp, alternating blow and draw notes.

4 Lydian 12th position
Lydian Mode notes, beginning on scale degree 4 of the "C" scale, ending on the octave note:
F G A B C D E F
If playing these notes on a "C" harp, then you are playing in 12th position
(relative to the key of "C"). Start with hole 5 draw and play up the harp, alternating blow and draw notes.

5 Mixolydian 2nd position
Mixolydian Mode notes, beginning on scale degree 5 of the "C" scale, ending on the octave note:
G A B C D E F G
If playing these notes on a "C" harp, then you are playing in 2nd position (relative to the key of "C"). Start with hole 6 blow and play up the harp, alternating blow and draw notes.

6 Aeolian (same as the NATURAL MINOR scale) 4th position
Aeolian Mode notes, beginning on scale degree 6 of the "C" scale, ending on the octave note:
A B C D E F G A
If playing these notes on a "C" harp, then you are playing in 4th position (relative to the key of "C"). Start with hole 6 draw and play up the harp, alternating blow and draw notes.

7 Locrian 6th position
Locrian Mode notes, beginning on scale degree 7 of the "C" scale, ending on the octave note:
B C D E F G A B
If playing these notes on a "C" harp, then you are playing in 6th position (relative to the key of "C"). Start with hole 3 draw and play up the harp, alternating blow and draw notes.

As you can see, there is one complete octave for each of the modes, occuring naturally (without bends) in the middle (octave) of the harp. You MAY be able to play a complete modal scale in the first or third octave, but it WILL require bending or overbending techniques.

The same process given above can be used to determine the notes associated with a particular key, position and mode, given any MAJOR scale as the reference key.

Mox Gowland

http://jmredon.free.fr/monsitewebebcountryblues/entree.htm

I received this one from Richard Hunter. I’ll let him brag. If you click on the link, you’ll see that he really does well with the minor harp. I have to believe that is mostly him, not the harp.

Natural minors make it very easy to play lots of chords that are
impossible to play on a standard tuning, and the chords sound very
sweet. If you're playing a minor blues in first or second position,
and
you want to use a lot of chords, the Natural minor is a very good
choice. (It sounds very good on lead too.) Because the scale tones
are
in the same layout as a standard tuning -- even though the quality of
the tones, i.e. major 3rd and 6th vs. minor 3rd and 6th, is not the
same
-- it's relatively easy to learn too.

For examples of pieces played in 1st position on a natural minor that
would be impossible to play on a standard Richter in any position,
listen to my recordings of "When Johnnie Comes Marching Home" and
"Widow's Walk" at this URL:
http://hunterharp.com/mp3s.html

My recording of "How Long Have I Loved You" on the same page is played
on a natural minor in second position, and shows some the lead
possibilities.

Harmonic minors are a bit less useful, in my opinion, unless you're
playing a lot of eastern European-sounding stuff.

Thanks, Richard Hunter

Some conversion charts below. I got them from Lee Oskar's web site. No Lee Oskar didn't write me!

Straight Major Positions
1stMajor 2ndDominant 3rdDorian 4thMinor
can play in these keys of music
Ab Eb Bbm Fm
A E Bm F#m
Bb F Cm Gm
B F# C#m G#m
C G Dm Am
Db Ab Ebm Bbm
D A Em Bm
Eb Bb Fm Cm
E B F#m C#m
F C Gm Dm
F# Db Abm Ebm
G D Am Em
Low F C Gm Dm
High G D Am Em

Cross Natural Minor Positions
1stDorian 2ndMinor 3rdMajor 4thDominant
can play in these keys of music
C#m Abm B F#
Dm Am C G
Ebm Bbm C# Ab
Em Bm D A
Fm Cm Eb Bb
F#m C#m E B
Gm Dm F C
Abm Ebm F# Db
Am Em G D
Bbm Fm Ab Eb
Bm F#m A E
Cm Gm Bb F

Cross MM Positions
1stMajor 2ndDominant 3rdDorian 4thMinor
can play in these keys of music
Bm A E F#m
Dm C G Am
Em D A Bm
F#m E B C#m
Am G D Em

Straight Harmonic Minor Positions
1stMinor 2ndMajor 3rdDominant 4thDorian
can play in these keys of music
Abm B F# C#m
Am C G Dm
Bbm C# Ab Ebm
Bm D A Em
Cm Eb Bb Fm
C#m E B F#m
Dm F C Gm
Ebm F# Db Abm
Em G D Am
Fm Ab Eb Bbm
F#m A E Bm
Gm Bb F Cm

Yep, I still don't get it. Why buy a minor tuned harp?

Natural Minor Harmonicas

Natural minor harmonicas seem to be confusing to a lot of people. You can get the natural minor on the major diatonic, so do you even need the natural minor harmonica for anything? Is there something special about the natural minor that even makes it an interesting instrument to keep around? How do you even know which instrument to get if you decide to try one? There are a lot of questions.

Initially, the natural minor harmonica appears to be sold primarily for use by crossharp (2nd position) players to play in minor keys. These are people who are most comfortable playing the instrument in the “blues” position and may even be blues players. (Crossharp is one of the most common positions in which harmonica is played.) Since they are targeting crossharp players, they start the natural minor scale in second position (blow 3/draw 2). This also means that, unlike playing a natural minor on a major harmonica, the minor chords they may need for the natural minor are also readily available where they would expect them to be. (The major diatonic, obviously, has major chords in the same locations.)

So now we have a good idea of how useful a natural minor harmonica may be – to a crossharp player. But what about the other common position in which the harmonica is played? What about 1st position (in the key of the harmonica). Well, it can be useful there, too. However, making it useful can be rather confusing at first.

Let’s look at the notes of the natural minor scale. A C major scale has no sharps or flats – like the white keys on the piano. (The black keys would be the off-notes found in bends.) A minor is the natural minor for the key of C. It also has no sharps or flats. The C major scale is played on the white keys of a piano from C to C. The A minor (natural) scale is played on the white keys from A to A. So a C major diatonic and a Am (natural) diatonic play the same notes.

A C major harmonica would look like this:

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Blow C E G C E G C E G C
Draw D G B D F A B D F A

And an A minor (natural) harmonica (keyed in 2nd position) would look like this:

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Blow D F A D F A D F A D
Draw E A C E G B C E G B

So there is the first source of our confusion in 1st position. Where we would expect an A minor scale, we find a D minor (dorian) scale instead (like the one you find in 3rd position on a major diatonic). But, now that we can see it, we can work around the problem. We can also begin to see some usefulness in the instrument. The chords, for example.

Chords (C major): Blow 1 through 10 on the C major play a C major chord. Draw 1-2-3-4 play a G major chord. Draw 4-5-6 and 8-9-10 play Dm. Draw 5-6 and 9-10 can make a partial F major (with no 5th). Blow 1-2, or 4-5, or 7-8 can play a partial Am that has no root (no A note). (It will blend with the other players, but it will have an ambiguous identity on its own.) Draw 7-8 can play a similarly ambiguous G chord with no root (G).

Chords (Am natural): Blow 1 through 10 on the Am (natural) play Dm. (Really, to 1st position players, this is a D minor (dorian) harmonica.) An ambiguous F with no root can be found at blow 2-3, 5-6, and 8-9. Draw 1-2-3-4 play Am. Draw 3-4-5 and 7-8-9 play C major. A partial G chord (with no 5th) can be found at draw 5-6 and 9-10.
So, while the chords have shifted with the notes, the full and partial chords we are accustomed to being able to find are located in the same places. That is a good start.

More confusion falls upon all players when they try to buy their first natural minor harmonica, though. Hohner sells its natural minor Marine Bands in 1st position keys, but tells you in their blurb that the instrument is intended for 2nd position use. (This would be like buying a D major diatonic to play crossharp in the key of A.) So the Hohner Dm (natural) really has an Am (natural) scale as shown above. This same harmonica would be labeled in the crossharp key on Bushman and Lee Oskars (as an Am natural). So the first job of any harmonica player looking for a natural minor harmonica is to determine how the instrument is labeled as to key so that they can get the key they need.

But I haven’t gotten to the most interesting thing about the natural minor harmonicas yet. Looking at the scales written out above you can see that the scale of the instrument between the C major diatonic (labeled in 1st position, or the key of the harmonica) and the Am (natural) (labeled in 2nd position) are only shifted on the instrument one note over. Blow 4 on the C major is a C, but blow 4 on the Am (natural) is a D. That means that all of the available bends have changed. In fact, where, on a major diatonic, you have no bend on hole 5 or hole 7, you have bends on the Am (natural). Every hole, except hole 8 on a natural minor diatonic, has at least one bent note available. So any tune where the melody hits on a note that “falls between the holes” may have that note available as a bend somewhere on the natural minor harmonica. It has the same notes as the major diatonic, but, because the notes have moved over slightly, new bending possibilities arise.

That the two harmonicas share the same notes, but are shifted off of one another also means that both of the types of harmonicas can be played usefully in other positions.

On a C major diatonic, you can find the following positions without bending notes:
1st = C (straight), 2nd = G (blues), 3rd = Dm (dorian), 4th = Am (natural), 5th = Em (Phrygian), 6th = B (locrian), and 12th = F (Lydian).

On an Am (natural) diatonic, using the same position patterns you find on the major diatonic (for ease of reference), you can find the following positions without bending notes:
1st = Dm (dorian), 2nd = Am (natural), 3rd = Em (Phrygian), 4th = B (locrian), 5th = F (Lydian), 6th = C (straight), and 12th = G (blues).

So that means that we can use either harmonica to play the same things, but the patterns we become accustomed to will change and the bends that are available will be different. Let’s put this into action.

Ashokan Farewell: Plays fine in 1st position on a C major diatonic with one bend on hole 3 to get an A, but has an important Bb in the second part that ends up being a 6 overblow. On the Am (natural) harmonica, the Bb is available as a bend. Hmmm… So if I play this tune in C major on an Am (natural) harmonica in 6th position (to get the C major scale), I can play the tune with a bend on 2 to get a G, a bend on 3 to get a B, and a bend on 6 to get the Bb. Now I don’t need an overblow to play all the notes in the song. I just need a natural harmonica that can produce the correct major key. (Since this tune is most often played in D major, a Bm (natural) harmonica would produce the correct major key.)

Miss Molly: Plays with some difficulty in 1st position (C major – no Bb for the blue mode of the tune) and better in 2nd position (G major), but the blue, half-tone shift often sung is usually unavailable. In 3rd position (Dm played with the F# bend on 9 blow to make the scale more major), the tune can be played in the upper octaves and the blue, half-tone shift (in this case, on a C harmonica, between F# and F – the 3rd notes of the D major/minor scales) is available with a bend, but the natural note of the Dm scale (F) becomes the blue note and your normal wailing comes off a little differently since you don’t need to bend to get it. If it is played in 12th position, instead, on a natural minor harmonica, then it is already in the correct blue mode and the blue, half-tone shift becomes available as a bend. So if you wish to play it in G (blues), use 12th position on an Am (natural) harmonica. In D (blues), use 12th position on an Em (natural).

So now I can see a usefulness to natural minor harmonicas. Playing in different positions allows more choices between the major and natural minor instruments as to how the tunes are played and what options are available to add to the tune. You have the chords you need available, if you choose your instruments appropriately. Plus, if you play in different positions, tunes with missing notes might play better on another instrument where the notes are available.

---------------------- --------------------------

Tunes that may work better on natural minor harmonica:

Ashokan Farewell ? 6th position (starting on 5 draw, or 5th note of the scale)

Miss Molly ? 12th position (starting on 5 draw, or 1st note of the scale))

Wexford Carol ? 12th position (I, bVII, I, V, I…I,Vm,IV,I,bVII… I, V, I) (starting on 5 draw, or the 1st note of the scale with 4 blow preamble or 5th note of the scale below the 1st.)

Oh, Holy Night ? 6th position
(I, IV, I, V, I… I, IV, I, IIIm, VIIm, IIIm…V, I, V, I…VIm, IIIm, IIm, VIm…I, V, I, IV, I, V, I, I7, V, I, IIm, I, V, I) (starting on 4 draw, or the 3rd note of the scale)