Re: [Harp-L] Some observations on 12th position on the diatonic



Hi Tom,

Wow, very impressive and an excellent groove and style to use this position on...Bravo and tasty work!

Ofcourse for the jazz player it opens up many possibilities on tunes like:, "There Will Never Be Another You" and "Sweet Georgia Brown" to name a few but you've used it here in a Soul context which works so well. I also think it's an amazing Blues position.

I like to think of 12th as a "close cousin" to 3rd position (Dm on a C harp) as it's the relative minor to the key of F.

The example I show my students is the excellent Howard Levy solo on the film song "Bluestown" which Howard plays in 12th
(C on a G harp)


12th Position is an excellent way to strengthen your holes 2 & 3 draw bends as they will be used alot in this position for sure!


I posted it on youtube so my students could hear it as it's only on a soundtrack CD and hard to find:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3Wbx5adQwo


Dig his opening 4 bars as he starts on hole 9 draw (C note) and ends up on a 2 draw bent to C which is the tonic note.
His placement is brilliant, but it shows what can be done in a blues vein over these funky changes.


Here's a little map of the first four bars, observe how he starts on the high C and weaves his way down to the last C...(and this is only the intro !,-) anyway, thanx for posting your tune Tom you sound great!)

d=draw
b=blow
bb=blowbend ( he works this into a triplet figure on hole 8 blow)
ob=ob
'=1st bend
''=2nd bend
'''=3rd bend

Here is a crude mapping of the First four bars of Howard Levy's solo on "Bluestown"

9d  8bb~  7  6ob  6d~  5d  4d  5d  4d  5d  6d~
4d  3d'''  3b  2d''  2d (or 3b)  1d  2d''  2d
3d'''------3d' 2d''---------

Now keep in mind this tune is NOT a standard blues but what I'd call "Gospel-Funk Blues Changes"

these are your chords of the first first bars:

/ C Dm D#dim / F7 / C D7/ F,C-----/

for anyone wanting MORE Howard, sign up for his excellent lessons at:
http://www.howardlevyharmonicaschool.com/

enjoy,
Rob Paparozzi

----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Albanese" <reedwrecker@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "harp-l" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2012 9:41 AM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Some observations on 12th position on the diatonic



I love 12th position! Here's a recorded example ... Key of F on a C harp. I
recorded this with the Willie Hayes Band last summer. The tune is Clean Up
Woman with Vivian Vance Kelly on vocals.
http://alonetone.com/ibblue2/tracks/clean-up-woman
tom albanese



On Sun, Jan 22, 2012 at 6:56 PM, Jim Rumbaugh <jrumbaug@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:


Some observations on 12th position on the diatonic


If you have not tried 12th position, here's the sales pitch of why and
where. Keep in mind, all my opinions are based on a "lazy man's approach"
to 12th position

1) It's good for playing the major pentatonic scale.

2) I use it as an octave scale, starting on 5 draw, with a half octave
below (down to 4 blow) and a half octave above (up to 10 blow). You can
play all these notes with no bending

3) The root note is a draw note that allows you to be expressive. Compare
that to 1st position, where the root note is a blow note.

4) If you play the major pentatonic in 2nd position, your first note after
that expressive 2 hole draw is a 3 draw bent a full step. If you don't want
to bend in 2nd position, you gotta start on 6 blow, but then you've lost
you're expressive root note.


5) When you play the major pentatonic in 1st position, the fifth scale
tone below 4 blow is that same pesky 3 draw bent a full step.

6) So from #3, #4 and #5, we can say, 12th is the position where you can
be expressive on the root, play below the root, and above the octave with
no bents notes

7) On tunes that modulate to the relative minor, like Georgia On My Mind,
 you're set and ready to play in 3rd position.

That's it. There are some places, where 12th has an advantage over 1st,
and 2nd when playing the major pentatonic scale. I still play most of my
major pentatonic scales in 2nd position, but I'm enjoying using 12th more
and more.






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