Is it possible to play "Juke - little Walter" on a diatonic harmonica key of C?

Question

My harmonica is a marine band key of C, and i have another cheap Chinese key of D. Little Walter played Juke on a key of A harmonica and i can't find the tabs for a key of C harmonica, so is it possible to play it? Any tabs out there?

Answer 1

Answer

Yes, it is possible to play it. Simply transpose the version in A to C.

How do I transpose?

Move every note up a minor third (three semitones). For example, A would become C (A > A# > B > C). B would become D (B > C > C# > D) and so on.

Answer 2

You may not be able, easily, to play this ,in A, on a C harp.But there is probably no point. Just play it in the key of the harp you have. When you find the tab, it will still be playable, but you will be in a different key. This will only be a problem if other people want to play along with you, but that's a sort of inherent problem for most harmonica players anyhow. That's why most will have an armoury of lots in differing keys.

EDIT: follow the tabs and they'll work, but you will be playing in the key of whatever harp you're using. Providing the tune uses only diatonic notes, otherwise there's some note bending to be done.

Answer 3

You can play any song in any key but that doesn't mean that it's going to sound good because each key has a different tone quality and some harp keys will be more of red less difficult to bend notes. Unless you are poverty stricken I would just break down and buy an a-hop it's the most popular key to play in with a band if you're trying to play the blues.