Harp arpeggios

[larm]

So I was listening to some old SNES music spc:s and there was some nice harp arpeggios/strums in a nice style that I wish to replicate. Anyone has any tips (www sites or similar) on how to put notes + similar things to think about so an arpeggio/strum becomes harp-like and not "synthesizer-tarncy"

edit..

well found one site anyway GPO has a harp tutorial. Would like to know more though

[guitargeek9]

are you talking about the cascade technique? like taking chord tones and adding open strings to make a harp sound?

[Electric Chair Orchestra]

Remember that harps don't have all the notes of the scale, and they are best for white note glisses, usually traversing eight to fifteen notes (or thereabouts) at a time. If you lean towards 69 chords or pentatonics it tends to sound better.

[JumpingJackFlash]

Remember that harps don't have all the notes of the scale

This is a bit misleading.

Harps can play every chromatic note, but they can only play one version of each note throughout the range. - In other words, you cannot have B-flat and B-natural in different octaves, every B has to be either flat, sharp or natural. (The same with every other note).

This is due to the way the pedals work on harps; each note has a pedal which works every version of that note. Pedal up make the notes flat, pedal down makes the notes sharp, and pedal in the middle makes the notes natural.

The exception to this is the two lowest strings, C and D, which are not controlled by the pedals (and sometimes the highest G string isn't either).

You can however get clever with enharmonics. So, if you want a C-natural in one octave, and a C# in another, you have to spell one of them differently. So, you could make the C# a Db instead, and then it would work. (Because you would be altering the D strings, not the C strings).

[Electric Chair Orchestra]

I guess I intended to indicate that the string tuning on a harp is not comprised of every semitone you'd find on (say) a piano.

[jcivil]

Garritan Personal Orchestra, no I am not shilling for dude, has a MIDI file included for the typical harp-eggiated effect, though me, I prefer to do everything by hand, pretending to be a harp player hones chops as well as any other exercise I think

[JumpingJackFlash]

I guess I intended to indicate that the string tuning on a harp is not comprised of every semitone you'd find on (say) a piano.

Yes, it is. A harp can play every single note, just not necessarily at the same time.

[Exie]

Who can say how quick harp pedal positions can be changed in practice? Does it take half a second or so?
Never tried this on a real harp, heh.

[VicDiesel]

This is due to the way the pedals work on harps; each note has a pedal which works every version of that note. Pedal up make the notes flat, pedal down makes the notes sharp, and pedal in the middle makes the notes natural.

That's the concert harp. Folk harps (which appear in quite a few sample sets) have levers. Takes longer, and you need a hand for it. Apparently on some very early harps there aren't even levers, you press the string to the frame with your nail to sharpen it by a semitone.

Victor.

[Electric Chair Orchestra]

I guess I intended to indicate that the string tuning on a harp is not comprised of every semitone you'd find on (say) a piano.

Yes, it is. A harp can play every single note, just not necessarily at the same time.

OK, at the point of being pedantic, please point out a classical piece with a harp playing a truly chromatic gliss.

[JumpingJackFlash]

I guess I intended to indicate that the string tuning on a harp is not comprised of every semitone you'd find on (say) a piano.

Yes, it is. A harp can play every single note, just not necessarily at the same time.

OK, at the point of being pedantic, please point out a classical piece with a harp playing a truly chromatic gliss.

You can't have a chromatic glissando because that would require about two different version of each note. As I said, you can only tune the strings to one or the other at any given time. So, you couldn't go C-C#-D in a smooth motion. (But you could go E-F-Gb quite easily).

But that doesn't mean a harp can't play C#s, or Cs, or Ds, - or whatever. As I said, all notes are possible, but not at the same time.

I'm just trying to clarify the issue.