Re: Re: [Harp-L] First position blues

["Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It seems to be mostly a semantic debate about what positions you are 
actually playing in when playing over the changes in a song.  For 
me, personally, it's easiest to think about the scale notes for the 
chord superimposed on whatever harp you've selected.  

In the most common cross harp approach, you would be playing, say, a 
C harp against a I-IV-V in G, which changes through G (I), C (IV) 
and D (V).  In my simple world, this means playing G mixolydian 
scale notes on a C harp over the I chord, C mixolydian scale notes 
over the IV chord, and D mixolydian scale notes over the V chord.  

In a typical 1st position approach, you would be playing a C harp 
against a I-IV-V in C, which changes through C (I), F (IV) and G 
(V).  Playing F scale notes on a C harp is 12th position.  

In practice, you really only need to *resolve* a riff or lick or 
melody line on a component note (usually the 1, 3, or 5) of the 
chord (if even that), and what happens in between is pretty open.  
This is a way of thinking about it that's helpful to me.

-tim


--- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Mark Wilson" 
<markwilson53@xxxx> wrote:

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxx>


> When playing 1st position, playing over the IV chord is 
particularly 
> challenging, because it's basically like playing 12th position, > 
> I've also tried just playing songs in 1st, which is much easier 
then 
> filling the two bars.  I know the scales, but I am having a hard 
> time getting past just using the scale.

I got the mpression Mike was talking about playing 1st position 
licks 
over the IV chord in 2nd pos when he said,

>I've also tried just playing songs in 1st, which is much easier 
then 
>filling the two bars.  I know the scales, but I am having a hard 
>time getting past just using the scale.

Either way, it's good to know that 12th fits over the IV in
1st position..

Mark 


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