More Lower Notes - Tremolo Lesson 15

We have so far played the middle notes, using a major scale with a few notes either side. Now for the lower notes.

First, a starting point. Blow hole 3, if you have a 24 hole tremolo, or hole 2 if you have a 21 hole tremolo. The note is a low C, it sounds like this

Starting from this low C, play a major scale, an octave lower than the one from earlier lessons. The note layout for this scale is

Bottom Scale Note Positions

Play the scale slowly. Note that the low 6 and low 7 are both draw notes, so the breath sequence is blow, draw, blow, draw, blow, draw, draw, blow. It sounds like this.

Notice also that for the first six notes, the higher note (the draw) is to the left of the lower note. For example, the low 2 is to the left of the low 1. In contrast, the first 6 notes of the middle scale have the higher note to the right, as shown below.

Middle Scale Note Positions

So, you may struggle when first trying the low major scale, because the notes are not where you expect them to be. If the scale comes out wrong, then try just the first 3 notes, up and down, very slowly. If you miss the draw note, then trying moving your mouth a little to the left.

Once the low major scale is working, try the tune "Drunken Sailor". We did this on the middle holes in an earlier lesson, now we repeat it on the lower holes. It sounds like this.

The notation is

You may land accidentally on the the low 7 instead of the low 6 on the last line of the tune. Not surprising if you do, the low 7 lies where the 6 would be in the middle notes. Again, you may have to move your mouth a little further to the left to get the low 6. These small adjustments are part of learning tremolo harmonica.

When you can manage the tune, try it with the accompaniment only.

The low notes are great. A common move is to "change registers", that is, switch from middle notes to the low ones or visa versa. Good music relies on contrast, the low notes provide plenty.

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