How to play blues harmonica #8: Around 90% of blues playing is done in second (crossed) position - playing the harp a fourth down from its designated key. But other scales are available. Of these, Third Position is probably the most useful. Here, the keynote is found at the four draw hole and a complete minor triad (basic three note chord) is found at draw notes 4, 5 and 6. Blues players use Third quite a lot, particularly when playing chromatic. On the face of it, chromatic is a tricky business, but blues guys normally just leave the slide where it is and aim largely for those Third position draw notes. A moody vibe ensues, as this classic piece from 1982 demonstrates. Here, Carey Bell plays a chromatic in third position whilst Billy Branch and Phil Wiggins respond on regular diatonic harps: youtube/watch?v=2aXbM1YlChs
Posted on: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 20:48:00 +0000
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