Blues Session Circular Tuned Harmonica - Circular Tuning.

Circular Tuning enables the player to play all kinds of melodies easily. Difficulties occuring on a Richter Harp are circumvented by a 'logical' order of tones. The major scale can be played simply by alternating draws and blows (no bending is needed). On a Circular up to 12 different chords can be played depending what holes are played at a time. Therefore it's not so easy to label this tuning correctly. At Seydel we follow the principle of usually taking the first note in Hole 1 blow, for naming the key of the harmonica. Using a G harmonica for example, in this case hole 1 blow is a G, Hole 1 draw in a A, and hole 2 draw is a C, the basic note for the key C major. Thus the major scale playable is 5 half-steps (a fourth) higher than the key the harp is labeled in! To make is simple, to play in a major scale on a Circular Tuning, use the draw 2 note as your base note for your scale, so to play in C major, use a G harp. If you think about the key you would normally select on a Richter tuned harmonica to play in cross harp, this is the reverse. On a Richter tuned harp to play cross harp in G you would use a C, to play a Circular tuned harp in C, you use a G.