Re: Bb on a C harp...why?

["Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

- --- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Roger A Gonzales <gonz1@xxxx> 
wrote:

=====
OK, I would like someone to explain the advantages of playing in the 
key of Bb on a C harp.  W.Va. Bob, this has nothing to do with your 
question about positions so please don`t take offense but I have to 
ask this question.

<snip>

Unless you have completely exausted 1st, 2nd, and 3rd positions then 
there is alot more expression and technique to discover in just those 
positions.  

I still am wondering the advantages of playing in these positions 
instead of using a harp that will give you more of the notes and 
chordtones that will make your playing fluid and the intonation 
correct.  
=====

One of the ways of discovering the possibilities of positions 1, 2 
and 3 is to come at them from a different angle. 

On a C-harp played in any of the three main positions, that Bb chord 
will come up in a lot of different ways (see below for examples). One 
way to master it is to concentrate on Bb as its own tonal center 
(key). Then, once it comes along in the context of C or G or D, you 
know exactly what to do.

What about second position? On a C-harp, this would be G. Bb is the 
relative major of G minor, and a lot of minor-key tunes go to the 
relative major in the chord progession. If you use 2nd position for 
minor key playing, which a lot of players do, you're going to get 
lost if you haven't explored the relative major chord. Even some 
tunes in G major will go to a Bb chord. Lots of rock tunes do this, 
but closer to blues, think of the Help Me/Green Onions riff. Put a 
major chord on each of the three main notes of the riff and you get: 
G major, Bb major, C major. Even when you're playing a plain old G7 
chord, you can actually explore the Bb major 7 chord as an extension. 
Feeling and hearing it from the vantage point of Bb instead of G will 
give you new ways to approach it.

What about first position? Well, there are lots of tunes that have a 
chord progression with just two chords, like C and Bb. This lies 
fairly easily on an F harp (C in second position) but what if the 
melody over the C chord requires B-natural instead of Bb, then 
switches to Bb melody notes over the Bb chord? First position might 
make this easier, in which case, having a good command of the Bb 
chord on a C harp will come in handy. Also, some otherwise perfectly 
major tunes with jazz-type progressions will include the IV of the 
IV - Bb in the key of C. Again, nice to have a command of this chord.

What about third position? Again, many players use third position for 
minor keys. The problem is that a true minor key requires a minor 
6th - Bb instead of B if we're playing in D minor on a C harp. By 
exploring the Bb chord, we're strengthening our ability to play third 
position in a fully minor key.

Roger astutely raises various technique problems - mainly the 
unavailability and awkwardness of the notes Bb and Eb on a C-harp. 
You're right, Roger, these are challenges. But as various respondents 
have noted, these can be worked around - i.e. they force you to be 
creative, just like first, second, and third positions do with their 
various stumbling blocks. 

Are the challenges and inconveniences worth the result? The answer to 
that question will vary, not only from person to person, but even 
with the same person in different musical situations. I often find 
that in specific instances, unorthodox solutions are the most 
interesting and yield the best results. In a different situation - 
tune, arrangement, whatever, something different will work better.

Winslow