In the next we will describe harmonicas with hexatonic scales and two only chords
(See also https://simplerguitarlearning.blogspot.com/2020/01/291-hexatonic-scales-for-harmonica.html ) or posts 291 and 274
THESE 2-CHORD HEXATONIC HARMONICAS ARE NOT DESIGHNED SO MUCH TO PLAY ALL POSSIBLE MELODIES ON A SINGLE HARMONICA BY BENDING AND OVERBLOW BUT TO MAKE EASY IMPROVISATION ON HEXATONIC SUBSCALES OF THE SCALES DIATONIC, HARMONIC MINOR, 7-NOTES BLUES (INVERSE HARMONIC MINOR) , DOUBLE HARMONIC MINOR, MELODIC MINOR ETC .
SUCH 2-CHORDS IMPROVISATIONS ARE COMMON IN CUBA AND LATIN JAZZ FOLK MUSIC, GREEK ISLANDS MUSIC, IRISH MUSIC ETC
ALL OF THE HEXATONIC TUNING IN THIS DISCUSSION HAVE A SINGLE CHORD AT THE BLOW ROW AND ANOTHER SINGLE CHORD AT THE DRAW ROW.
I have ordered in Seydel company and play all of the next harmonicas of diatonic gendre chromatic gendre and enharmonic gendre hexatonic sub scales of the diatonic scale of the harmonic minor scale and invererse harmonic minor scale (Blues 7-tonic scale ) and when I will find time I will upload sound files with improvisations of them. Of course I think it is much cheaper instead of ordering so many custom 2-chords hexatonic harmonicas as below, to just tune the digital harmonica Lekholm DM48 which I also have and it is fun to try these tunings and easy improvisations on them
In the examples below for reasons of simplicity I use the C major scale and the A harmonic minor scale, but my hexatonic harmonicas are in many scales like Bb major , Fmajor G major , G minor etc
The best sounding are the next from the 3 list below
a) LOCRIAN:d1M B-C-D-E-F-G-B in semitones 1-2-2-1-2-4 and over the Blow-Draw 2 chords Bdim-Cmajor (also called enharmonic major) It is also called Genus Secundum 6-tonic scale.
b) the 3.7) 7th mode in semitones 1-2-1-2-2-4 based on the 2 chords
G#dim-Amin (hexatonic enharmonic minor)
c) the IONIAN/MYXOLYDIAN: M2m C-D-E-F-G-A-C in semitones 2-2-1-2-2-3 and over the Blow-draw 2 chords Cmajor Dminor
or G-A-B-C-D-E-G and over the Blow-Draw 2 chords Gmajor Aminor (also called Celtic minor hexatonic)
d) 3.5) 5th mode E-F-G#-A-B-C-E in semitones 1-3-1-2-1-4 based on the 2 chords
Emajor-Fmajor
and the
e) 2.3) 3rd mode Eb-F-Gb-A-Bb-C (or in semitones 2-1-3-1-2-3) based on the 2 chords Ebmin-Fmajor (Erik Satie hexatonic scale)
ALL OF THE HEXATONIC TUNING IN THIS DISCUSSION HAVE A SINGLE CHORD AT THE BLOW ROW AND ANOTHER SINGLE CHORD AT THE DRAW ROW.
ACTUALLY ANY TWO SUCCESIVE CHORDS IN THE DIATONIC SCALE (E.G. 7DIM-1M, OR 4M-5M, 3M-4M, 5M-6m , 6m-7dim) CAN BE USED FOR AN APPROPRIATE TWO-CHORD HEXATONIC TUNING HARMONICA.
THUS WE WILL HAVE THE NEXT 6 TYPES OF CHORD PAIRS IN THE HARMONICA WHICH ARE CHORDS IN DIATONIC CHROMATIC RELATION (the roots are separated by an interval of 2nd)
e.g. if the 7-notes diatonicscale is the C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C in semitones 2-2-1-2-2-2-1 then
M=MAJOR m=MIOR d=DIMINSIHED
1,2,3 etc =number of semitones that the roots are apart
1) IONIAN/MYXOLYDIAN: M2m C-D-E-F-G-A-C in semitones 2-2-1-2-2-3 and over the Blow-draw 2 chords Cmajor Dminor
or G-A-B-C-D-E-G and over the Blow-Draw 2 chords Gmajor Aminor (also called Celtic minor hexatonic)
2) DORIAN: m2m D-E-F-G-A-B-D in semitones 2-1-2-2-2-3 and over the Blow-Draw 2 chords Dminor-Eminor (also called Celtic major hexatonic)
3) FRYGIAN: m1M E-F-G-A-B-C-E in semitones 1-2-2-2-1-4 and over the Blow-Draw 2 chords Fmajor-Eminor (also a hexatonic version of the
akebono 5-notes scale)
4) LYDIAN: M2M F-G-A-B-C-D-F in semitones 2-2-2-1-2-3 and over the Blow-Draw 2 chords Fmajor-Gmajor (also called an alternative
version of Celtic major scale)
5) AEOLIAN: m2d A-B-C-D-E-F-A in semitones 2-1-2-2-1-4 and over the Blow-Draw 2 chords Aminor-Bdim
6) LOCRIAN:d1M B-C-D-E-F-G-B in semitones 1-2-2-1-2-4 and over the Blow-Draw 2 chords Bdim-Cmajor (also called enharmonic major)
But we also present many other non-diatonic chromatic pairs that involve also augmented chords and a re met in the harmonic minor (which apears also in the overtone sequence) double harmonic minor, melodic minor (which apears also in the overtone sequence) etc
E.G.
m2M (Erik Satie hexatonic of the harmonic minor heptatonic)
M2dim (hexatonic from melodic minor)
m1m
M3m
M1M (Hexatonic from the harmonic minor)
aug2M
dim1m
m6m
aug3aug
dim1aug
etc
In the future I will upload sound files that show how such harmonicas sound as I have more than 30 different such hexatonic scales 2-chords harmonicas with different emotional moods. With a simple 2-chord backtrack they are an excelelnt simple way to learn and practice improvisations of any type of emotional mood.
2) ALL 7 HEXATONIC SCALES FROM THE 7 MODES OF THE 7-NOTES BLUES SCALE (OR INVERSE HARMONIC MINOR SCALE)
Some og these hexatonic scales of the inverse harmonic minor are also hexatonic scales of the diatonic scale or the melodic minor or the double harmonic minor!
7-NOTES BLUES SCALE C-D-Eb-F-Gb-A-Bb (or in semitones 2-1-2-1-3-1-2) also inverse harmonic minor scale, with chords
Cdim, Dminor, Ebminor, FMajor, Gb augmented , A diminished , Bb major
2.1) 1st mode C-D-Eb-F-Gb-A-C (or in semitones 2-1-2-1-3-3) based on the 2 chords Cdim-Dm
2.2) 2nd mode D-Eb-F-Gb-A-Bb-D (or in semitones 1-2-1-3-1-4) based on the 2 chords
Dmin-Ebmin (hexatonic caval double harmonic minor too)
2.3) 3rd mode Eb-F-Gb-A-Bb-C (or in semitones 2-1-3-1-2-3) based on the 2 chords Ebmin-Fmajor (Erik Satie hexatonic scale)
2.4) 4th mode F-Gb-A-Bb -C-D-F (or in semitones 1-3-1-2-2-3) based on the 2 chords
Fmajor-Gbaug ( inverse hexatonic neapolitan )
2.5) 5th mode Gb-A-Bb-C-D-Eb-Gb (or in semitones 3-1-2-2-1-3) based on the 2 chords
Gbaug-Adim
2.6) 6th mode A-Bb-C-D-Eb-F-A (or in semitones 1-2-2-1-2-4) based on the 2 chords Adim-Bbmajor (hexatonic enharmonic major, or hexatonic Locrian mode)
2.7) 7th mode Bb-C-D-Eb-F-Gb-Bb (or in semitones 2-2-1-2-1-4) based on the 2 chords
Bbmajor-Cdim (Hexatonic melodic minor too)
3) ALL 7 HEXATONIC SCALES FROM THE 7 MODES OF THE 7-NOTES HARMONIC MINOR SCALE .
Some og these hexatonic scales of the inverse harmonic minor are also hexatonic scales of the diatonic scale or the melodic minor or the double harmonic minor!
7-NOTES HARMONIC MINOR SCALE A-B-C-D-E-F-G#-A (or in semitones 2-1-2-2-1-3-1) with chords Aminor-Bdim-Caug-Dminor-EMajor-FMajor-G#dim-Aminor
3.1) 1st mode A-B-C-D-E-F-A in semitones 2-1-2-2-1-4 based on the 2 chords
Amin-Bdim (Aelian diatonic too)
3.2) 2nd mode B-C-D-E-F-G#-B in semitones 1-2-2-1-3-3 based on the 2 chords Bdim-Caug
3.3) 3rd mode C-D-E-F-G#-A -C in semitones 2-2-1-3-1-3 based on the 2 chords Caug-Dminor (Neapolitan Hexatonic too)
3.4) 4th mode D-E-F-G#-A-B-D in semitones 2-1-3-1-2-3 based on the 2 chords Dminor-Emajor (Erik Satie hexatonic)
3.5) 5th mode E-F-G#-A-B-C-E in semitones 1-3-1-2-1-4 based on the 2 chords
Emajor-Fmajor
3.6) 6th mode F-G#-A-B-C-D-E-F in semitones 3-1-2-1-2-3 based on the 2 chords
Fmajor-G#dim
3.7) 7th mode in semitones 1-2-1-2-2-4 based on the 2 chords
G#dim-Amin (hexatonic enharmonic minor)
FROM THE 7-NOTES MELODIC MINOR THE HEXATONIC SUBSCALES NOT COVERED BY THE PREVIOUS ARE THE NEXT
E.g. let the 7-notes melodic minor A-B-C-D-E-F#-G#-A in semitones 2-1-2-2-2-2-1 and chords
m-m-aug-M-M-m-d the next are additional hexatonic
C-D-E-F#-G#-A-B-D in semitones 2-2-2-2-1-3 and 2 chords Caug-Dmajor
B-C-D-E-F#-G#-B in semitones 1-2-2-2-2-3 and 2 chords Bminor-Caug
F-G#-A-B-C-D-F# in semitones 2-1-2-1-2-4 and 2 chords F#minor-G#dim
THE WAY TO LAYOUT THE TUNING BASED ON THE HEXATONIC SCALE IS DIRECT BECAUSE 6 NOTES MAKE AN OCTAVE AND THEN WE REPEAT 3 TIMES. FURTHERMORE THE ODD OR EVEN NOTS MAKE THE ONLY 2 CHORDS
E.g. for the LOCRIAN mode above (or Enharmonic major) which is one of the best sounding hexatonic harmonicas
6) LOCRIAN:d1M B-C-D-E-F-G-B in semitones 1-2-2-1-2-4 and over the Blow-Draw 2 chords Bdim-Cmajor (also called enharmonic major)
We would chose the best sounding chord as blow and less good sounding chord as draw (as inhale drawing last in time less and is psychologically natural to resolve in the blow -exhale) thus the natural layout would be
[attachment=0]LOCRIAN_ENHARMONIC_MAJOR_1M_7dim_C3 (1).gif[/attachment]
In the table below valves are at all notes but this is simply indicative and not optimal if you choose which notes you want to bend and overblow.
