Re: A beginner's question (fo...

[Mike Curtis <wd6ehr@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> I've never been any good at getting a blues scale to comfortably come off
> when I'm doing straight harp.  Cross harp seems alot more natural because
> you've got your flatted 7th already there on draw 5;  the draw 4 bends nicely
> to get the flatted 5th; and draw 3 can bend like a pretzel to make the major
> 3rd all the way down to a flat 2nd.  And it's all right there in the low
> middle where you can get a pretty good resonance.  

Listen sometime to Charlie Musselwhites "38 Special" on his "Signature" 
album if you want to hear some nifty low-notes first position in the intro.  
Charlie does a lot with positions other than second.  I highly recommend 
him as a study in position playing.  He also has a killer tone and one of 
the warmest vibratoes around.

I use first position a lot for blues, as well as most other positions,
although I'm not too crazy about 7th and 8th.  Each position has its
advantages, and gives one much more versatility than playing everything in
second position.  Using just one position severely limits ones sound. 
Some of the bands I've worked with complained that most harp players use
all their licks in the first song.  By using different positions, you can
actually use many of the same licks - but because they're in differently
harmonic relationships to the song, they SOUND different. 

One can get the extra notes by using different harp tunings,
overblows/overdraws, or (the way I do it) by using diatonics with
windsavers which allows ALL notes to be bent. 

A few hints for blues in first position using stock diatonics: 

Draw 3 bend gives you the blues 7th, as well as 6th and flatted 6th.  The
upper octave (blow 8, 9, and 10) has blow bends, all of which give
traditional blues notes.  Also experiment with draw 1/4 and 6 bends (Db
and Ab), which can be very bluesy. 

If you use a valved harp, blow 5 bend (3b) is incredibly effective, and 
of course, draw 7 bend (7th) is very handy.

Jimmy Reed did a lot of nifty stuff in first position, perhaps being most
famous for this.  This was mostly on the high reeds, but sounds great.


 -- mike