Re: [Harp-L] My explanation of 5th and 12th position for Steve Hellerman



Hellerman, Steven asked,"Can someone explain fifth position to those of us who don't know much theory " and "And what about this twelfth position I keep hearing about?"

If you are playing a MINOR SCALE tune. 5th position can be fun. Start on 2 blow and work your way up.

Now it's more complex than that, but that will get you started. If the song key is Eminor, grab a C harp. Grab a harp that id 2 full steps lower than the minor key.

12th position is fun for major scale tunes. Start on 5 draw and work your way up.

Yes, there's more to it than what I just said, but that will get you started. I like 12th for what I call "pretty tunes and old tunes with lots of chords". I also call it "revese cross" (my term) because the harp you grab is just the revese of cross. In cross harp you grab a C harp for a G tune, in 12th, you grab G harp for a C tune.

If you and when you want more details, either I or someone will be happy to give them to you.

Jim Rumbaugh




This archive was generated by a fusion of Pipermail 0.09 (Mailman edition) and MHonArc 2.6.8.