Re: [Harp-L] Positions Playing

[IcemanLE@xxxxxxx]

We learned to talk and communicate through learning the rules - noun,  
pronoun, adjective, adverb. Anyone remember "diagramming a sentence"?
 
Lots of rules, terms, definitions, just to learn the art of making a  
sentence. 
 
Then, guess what - we proceeded to forget the rules while continuing our  
paths of communication. Not many people learned to communicate (speak/write at a  
high level) through ear training alone - at least not the ones who attended  
school.
 
Why not approach music and harmonica with the same concepts?
 
 
In a message dated 3/12/2009 9:46:15 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
samblancato@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:

I  thought Steve Baker's comments were pretty interesting and it leads me to
a  couple of questions or comments about playing by ear.  I guess I think  it
has to do thinking/playing styles, or even one's learning style.  

First of all, it sounds to me like you are describing is just playing  by ear
rather than playing by applying syntax/grammar rules of the  different modes
to your playing.  You're talking about playing by  instinctually knowing what
will work with a given groove, be it "Help Me"  or "Nobody's Business if I
Do".  Are you talking about playing wholly  with the left side of your brain?
Is that what you mean when you say you  aren't Greek?  If that's what you're
saying than I completely agree  with you. And the last part about the goal of
ear training being ultimately  to serve the song - I completely agree with
that too.  

This is  the way I learned to play the three positions that I know and am
real  comfortable in, completely by ear. I learn everything I do completely
by  ear.  I believe that for blues and other more basic generic song  forms
(and by generic I mean that they follow conventions of a genera, not  that
they are generic like the cheapest toothpaste in the store) are best  learned
by ear and learning to play and improvise to this music is best  done mostly
by ear.  So one has to be a really good listener and spend  a lot of time
listening; not just playing.  Maybe you are like me and  play mostly with the
left side of your brain.  Sometimes I read posts  on this list about theory
and I feel like I'm really missing out on  something by not really being too
up on any of this stuff.  And I  probably am missing out too but I must
really have a disconnect in my  corpus-collosum because my right brain
doesn't get too involved, or at  least not as involved as it does for others.

But see, for some people  the theory really glues it altogether.  I knew a
player locally (he's  recently moved out of the area) who always knew what
note he was playing,  what scale it was in, what mode he was working in - all
that stuff.   His playing style was very different from mine.  He played
blues but  it sort of sounded off the beaten path, long melody lines and very
little  chord work, no tongue-blocking or octaves.  His stuff was always  in
key but it often didn't work in terms of feel; it's like he hadn't tuned  in
to the attitude or posture of the song.  He is a real  'right-brained' player
almost to the complete exclusion of the more  intuitive left brain.  

I'm not saying that all right-brained  players play like that but this guy
does.  I also know a guy, Frank  Franz, a contributor to this list who seems
to have both sides of his brain  completely involved; he knows what he's
playing not for note and digs the  feel of it too, as it were.  

After talking a lot to this other  guy though, about how he plays what he
plays I discovered a couple of  things.  First his playing sounded so
esoteric not because he didn't  understand the grove and the attitude of a
song but because he just didn't  care too much about that.  It's like the
more instinctual aspect of  playing is on the left side of the brain and even
the part that gets you to  CARE about that part is there as well.  

For me, the primary way I  come to a song and play to it is through feel and
instinct.  That is,  when I'm not just 'rote memorizing' songs off records
;-)  .  I'm  a left brain player - to a fault, literally. 

For some people I think  it's the other way around though and they really do
get a better handle on  things by way of the underlying theory.  They like
the Greek, it  anchors things for them. 

Ultimately I'm prejudiced to the left brained  approach and I think blues is
by-and-large left brained music.   Conjugating phrases in a given mode may be
a way to get to it but it's a  round about way.  I believe all the great
players are or were left  brained players.  Kim Wilson said in an interview
that blues what  played from the hips.  I think this is what Mr. Baker is
talking  about.

Or not.

Sam Blancato, Pittsburgh       






Steve Baker  wrote:

"I'm perplexed about the necessity to comprehend the details of  the
Dorian, Aeolian, and Phrygian minor modes, when I'm not Greek!
The  12th position on a ten hole harp also is kinda hard:
I use a single  position, "harp in mouth" and instinctually play whatever
the music  requires, on a harp suited to the guitarists' key.
I've played as a session  harpist, so it works for me.

JJ Cale was once asked: "Did you learn any  music theory?"
His reply "Yes, but not enough to damage my  playing".

Erudition is a wonderful thing, when Art teachers meet, they  talk
about Art;
but when artists meet, they talk about canvas and  brushes.>

I imagine Cale had his tongue firmly in his cheek when he  made the
above comment. Playing instinctually is without doubt also  a
wonderful thing, but the term can cover a multitude of sins and  I've
experienced many players claiming to do this who then proceeded  to
trample all over the chord sequence while ignoring the  modal
character of the song. Most of them didn't notice that they  were
playing notes or phrases which clashed gratingly with the chords  they
were supposed to be accompanying and which had little to do with  the
melodic character of the song. I don't wish to imply that you  do
this, Geoff, but it happens a lot and is one of the reasons  why
"proper musicians" often hate harmonica players (forgive me  for
repeating this pet rant, if it gets on peoples nerves then tell me  to
shut up).

The idea of learning the scales which correspond to the  most commonly
used positions on the harp is to be able to play notes and  phrases
which fit to the song you're playing, either because they share  the
same modal basis as the melody, or because they're more likely  to
harmonize with the chords of that tune than the notes of a  different,
less appropriate mode, due to the fact that they they share  more
notes in common.

For example, on a tune like "Nobody's Business  If I Do" it sounds
better if you avoid typical blues scale licks, because  the song is
much too major both in the melody and in the chording for  the
basically minor blues scale mode to sound pleasing. On the  other
hand, phrasing based on the major pentatonic mode, in any  position
you enjoy playing in, will sound much better integrated into  this
song. Another example recently and frequently quoted here in  Harp-L
is Sonny Boy's "Help Me", where the major pentatonic scale  cannot
help but sound wrong (to my ears at least) due to the  fundamentally
minor nature of the song. Of course if your ear is reliable  enough
that you automatically take these things into account and  play
accordingly then there's no necessity to be able to explain them in  a
theoretical sense, but not many intuitive players succeed in  doing
this on more than a limited range of material.

Ear training is  a significant part of the process of learning to
select the appropriate  mode/position/special tuning for any given
tune, but the basic rule is very  simple: the song comes first and
your job is to serve it, so it's best to  learn how it goes before  you
start,

Steve"

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