The Lee Oskar Harmonic Minor tuning has a very soulful, Eastern European sound and was used for one entire side of Lee Oskar's highly acclaimed first solo album.
This harmonica is tuned to the harmonic minor, which is mos prevalent in traditional Eastern European, Gypsy and Asian music. The harmonic minor differs from the natural minor, which is more commonly used in Western music, in its seventh scale degree, which is raised by a semitone.
As an example, the E natural minor scale uses the following notes: E-F♯-G-A-B-C-D. The E harmonic minor scale is virtually the same, but with a raised seventh: E-F♯-G-A-B-C-D♯. That is to say, the seventh note in the scale is raised by a semitone, from D to D#.
The effect of this small change is quite considerable; the raised seventh provides a distinctly Eastern sound, and makes this tuning perfect for playing traditional Eastern European and Asian folk tunes. Conversely, it is not generally recommended for blues players, who will be better served by major diatonic or natural minor tunings
Lee Oskar Harmonic Minor harmonicas are labelled in first position and are designed to be played in this position primarily.
- Model: 1910H - Yellow Label
- Available in 12 Keys (Listed low to high): Gm, Abm, Am, Bbm, Bm, Cm, Dbm, Dm, Ebm, Em, Fm, F#m
- Manufactured by Tombo in Japan
About Lee Oskar
Lee Oskar is widely regarded as one of the world's finest harmonica players, and since the 1980s has been collaborating with Tombo of Japan to produce a range of modular harmonicas, of which this model is one. Lee Oskar harmonicas are unique in that their modular design enables any set of reed plates to be used in any of the harps. Although this approach has been imitated by other manufacturers, such as Hohner, with its MS Series, none offer the range of tunings that Lee Oskar does.
