Hohner Marine Band SBS Steve Baker Signature Harmonica - Key of C

*This item is non-returnable and non-refundable. Please click here to review our store policies in our FAQs*

This harmonica's special tuning was developed by Steve Baker, Hohner-Germany's consultant for diatonic harmonicas, with the intention of extending the range of bendable draw notes, whilst retaining their familiar configuration for the blues player. On a normal harp, only the first six draw notes can be bent, and the playing techniques used on the lower octave can't be used in the same way on the upper octave (holes 7-10), so that many harp players seldom venture above the sixth hole. The SBS enables the first nine draw notes, over a range of 2.5 octaves, to be bent in the same way as a normal harp. Using the 14-hole body of the big Marine Band 365 (the 14th hole is not actually needed, it's basically a standard diatonic harp, plus an additional octave at the bottom end- the notes in holes 1-3 are simply repeated an octave lower, in holes 1-3, and can be played and bent in exactly the same way. This means that the fifth draw note corresponds to the normal root note when playing in 2nd position (crossed), but you can also take the 2nd draw note (hole 2) as your root note, and play many of the smae phrases an octave lower. Another big advantage of this system is that all rhythmic chordal patterns (trains etc.) can be played over a two octave range, or you can play rhythm on the bottom octave, and typical cross harp melody on the middle and upper ocataves. In the key of C the low end is an octave lower than the standard harp. The SBS was primarily intended to be played in 2nd position, but all the other positions function the same as on a normal Richter harmonica. Although it's especially well suited for blues, it can of course be used for other kinds of music - anything that can be played on a standard harp can be played over a greater range on this one

---