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From: Mike Curtis
Date: Sat, 7 Sep 1996 09:25:43 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: 3rd position vs. Natural Minor Keys

On Sat, 7 Sep 1996 Hunterha~ol.com wrote:



And I agree - different tunings all have their advantages.

> Both third and
> fourth position are mostly useful for lead work, and in this respect they are
> not noticeably superior to second position on a natural minor. (That said,
> of course any position offers certain effects that are unavailable with other
> techniques. A good player will not avoid one in favor of the other; he or
> she will pick the one that's right for the material.)

Agreed, with one minor (excuse the pun ;-) clarification. I think Richard
alludes to this (or certainly has made allowances above :-), but in many
cases a song will require position changes internally. For example, in
"How High The Moon", assuming the key of A, the key signature goes from A
major to A minor to G major to G minor, etc. There is no common diatonic
tuning that will accommodate this. A diatonic player wishing to play this
song properly will need to be fluent in positions, especially for the most
effective improvisation.

So I think that short harpers should know positions (but you knew I'd say
that, didn't you ;-)

*BUT* I *ALSO* think that the various tunings of harps are ALSO highly
useful. If you use chords (which I don't make much use of myself - I have
nothing against it except it sometimes clashes with my guitar chords;
it's just my "style"), minor, major seventh variations, etc., offer things
not available on major diatonic.

But IMHO the BIGGEST advantage to the primarily first/second position
players is the ability to use these to EASILY and INSTANTLY achieve minor
keys. The "trick" to using these harps for playing in minor keys is to use
natural minor (already labeled in cross harp - just use the same key
you're playing in!) in second position to play dorian minor in that key
(e.g. for A minor, use an A natural minor harp and play second position).
Harmonic minor is designed to be played in first position, and is "almost"
an Aeolian minor (minor third, flatted sixth), except that it has a major
seventh, giving a three semitone interval. Both harps give some
interesting bending possibilities, and both allow you to instantly play in
minor keys using the same licks and techniques you're probably already
using.

> I am baffled by the refusal of many harmonica players to expand the range of
> sounds and emotions available to them by using alternatively-tuned
> instruments. It is so easy to do, and adds so much to the player's emotional
> range; I simply do not understand why so many players are apparently eager to
> ignore this low-hanging fruit.

And I know many will find this surprising coming from me the "king of
one-harp", but I agree. Yesterday I (and many others - Max Bangwell, Flat
Top Tom, Stan West, Rick Holmstrom, Jamie Wood, and others) played for the
final "Drive Time Blues" show on KSPC FM 88.7 (it's moving to Saturday,
3-5pm, and a new name, "Down Home Blues"), along with many others, and
swapped licks and such with a lot of other very good harp players. Jay
Loeffel (Stan Wests harp player), an incredible harp player (he's also
into jazz, as am I) did some really tasty stuff on his A natural minor
while I played my C major in A minor fourth position. Both of us did
stuff the other couldn't do - which emphatically proves Richards point! I
honestly think most diatonic players would benefit greatly from the
addition of alternate tuned harps. This is one case where throwing money
at a problem is indeed an excellent solution.


-- IronMan Mike Curtis
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