I’ve searched on this but I’m a bit exhausted, not sure I’m
understanding, and so,
with my apologies, two questions.
There is for sale locally a 12 hole Hohner Chromatic
Harmonica in the key of G.
Is this sufficient to play a complete array of Irish
tunes? You know, jigs, reels, hornpipes.
Does it need to be retuned or is it OK as is?
I figure it has all the notes, so it might work.
If it’s capable of the tunes, will it play in the
standard keys, more or less?
Thanks
A G chrom can be used to play anything, in theory, but in ITM you have to be practical. The best way to go in my (far from unanimous) opinion would be to get a G chrom and a D chrom. You’d then be able to cover just about anything. Using just one harp for everything is tricky because once you stray from the home key of the harp too far you stop being able to do a lot of the little slide and mouth ornaments, and you also end up with some tricky runs and slide work which is a pain in fast tunes. It may be the macho way to go, but even Brendan Power doesn’t recommend it. In mentioning him, it’s perhaps worth saying that he’s just published an excellent tutorial book with CD on this very topic. You need a stock G chrom and D chrom to see it through. A G chrom would be great for G Ionian, A Dorian, E Aeolian and D Mixolydian tunes. C Lydian too if there are any! A D chrom covers D Ionian, E Dorian, B Aeolian, G Lydian and A Mixolydian. The advantage of chroms over diatonic harps, apart from the fact that you can get the occasional accidental without bending, is that you have a slightly larger array of ornamentation available. Chromatics are more temperamental and high-maintenance, however. Do you know the model?
Many thanks, great help. No I don’t know the model,
however it looks just like the 12 hole hohner chromatic
I played as a kid and it costs 160 dollars–was a lot
cheaper then!
Thanks again, much appreciated.
P.S. It’s a trip because I haven’t played harmonica
for something like 50 years, and I picked up
a cheapie and tried it and it’s still there.
Like riding a bicycle, I reckon.
I have a Seydel G that’s tuned specifically for Irish music (dropping a half step on the button push), but the occasional reed buzz drives me up a wall. I just can’t get used to the thing because it’s HUGE.
Still, I enjoy picking it up now and again because ornaments on it are amazingly simple. I may pick up Power’s chrom book sometime and give it a serious look. Until then, I use the diatonics mostly now (like Steve), though I favor the Seydel already Paddy Richter tuned to his Lee Oskars (because the Seydel’s form factor doesn’t rip mustache hairs out like the damn LO does).
Valves can buzz for a number of reasons, but one thing I’ve found that cures 97.753% of valve problems is to warm up the harp before you play it. If you blow into a cold harp you get condensation straight away on the reeds and, more importantly, the valves, those little white flap jobbies. I use a pair of those extremely cheap hand-warmers which have a gel in a plastic bag that gives out a gentle warmth for a couple of hours after activation. You recharge them in boiling water for a few minutes after each use. Put one of these in a pouch with your chrom a few minutes before you need it and you have a nice warm harp with no buzzing or popping valves. I’ve tried to tell the harmonica community about this on several occasions, but they are conservative types on the whole and adhere to traditional warming methods such as putting the harp under your armpit for a few minutes (girls and boys), or putting it down the front of your trousers (boys only, though, dammit, why not girls too…if a only a girl in my band used that method… 
)
Using just one harp for everything is tricky because once you stray from the home key of the harp too far you stop being able to do a lot of the little slide and mouth ornaments, and you also end up with some tricky runs and slide work which is a pain in fast tunes
FWIW I have played a number of concerts with Mick Kinsella in the past and he carries around a case full of harmonicas, a few dozen of them and on each occasion brought two hands full of them on stage to cover everything needed.
When we played the Galaconcert of the Feakle festival two or three years ago, we twisted Mick’s arm to play one on his own and I have put up a clip, because Mick is such a gentleman and lovely musician and because it’s such a gorgeous tune.
The Leipzig Waltz was written by Dee Armstrong, the fiddleplayer with Kila. She claims she dreamt the tune in Leipzig, while on tour and wrote it down as soon as she woke up. We had Maurice Coyle playing the guitar that night.
while rambling: I have recently digitised Joe Ryan and Eddie Clarke’s ‘Crossroads’ and have been listening to it a bit. I had forgotten how brilliant it actually is.
Regarding Mick Kinsella’s playing of the Leipzig Waltz, beautiful music…just beautiful. Thank you for sharing, Peter.
Dennis