Re: [Harp-L] Don Les / arpeggios

[Michael Rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx>]

Richard says:
Sure, it's always important to know how a chord relates to the key you're
in.  I'm all for it. Every player should know how chords work. But the
technique for playing an arpeggio does not change when the position changes.

True, but as you move from harp to harp, the technique and hole order for
playing the cross harp blues scale never changes,  barring muscle control
for lower or high harps.  And it is the same for any melodic line, which is
exactly what an arpeggio is, a melodic line.  That is the POINT of
positions, learn it one time and switch harps, you are in the same position
and the harp changes the key for you.

Therefore my concept of knowing that the blow chord is the I chord in first
position, IV chord in second is extremely meaningful.  Sorry Richard, we're
probably going to have to agree to disagree on this one.
Michael Rubin
Michaelrubinharmonica.com


On Tue, Jan 8, 2013 at 10:41 AM, Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> Arthur Jennings wrote:
> "The diatonic chords of the C major scale are much easier to play on in
> 1st position a C harmonica than they are in 10th on an A. Isn't that what
> 1st position arpeggios means?"
>
> Yes, we can find more and more difficult ways to play a given arpeggio.
>  We can torture ourselves by trying to play a C arpeggio on an F# harp, for
> example.  But ON A SINGLE HARMONICA, you ALWAYS play a given arpeggio on
> the same notes.  A C arpeggio on a C harp uses the same notes regardless of
> whether we are using that C arpeggio as the I chord in first position (key
> of C on a C harp), the IV chord in 2nd position (key of G on a C harp), or
> the V chord in 12th position (key of F on a C harp).  It's the same chord
> and the same notes, whether we're in 1st position or any other.
>
> The chords don't change; a C major chord (and the associated arpeggio) is
> the same chord regardless of the key you're playing in.  When you learn to
> play a C major arpeggio on a C harp, you don't have to relearn it for every
> key you play with that harp.  The FUNCTION of the chord changes as the key
> you're playing in changes. But the chord itself does not.
>
> That's why it's meaningless to talk about "1st position arpeggios."
>
>
>
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>