12th pos on a Paddy Richter

[Fred & Sylvia <fsstov@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Geez, harmonica is a facinating instrument.  Being inspired by the blues
jams at the SPAH convention and a recent listening to Brian Curran/Eric
McSpadden at the Big Muddy Blues Festival, I imposed on a guitar-playing
friend to work up some acoustic guitar+harp numbers.  After fooling with
some blues standards, he asks if we can do "Just a Closer Walk with
Thee", since he had his finger-picking down pretty good on that one.
Ok, sure.  Let's see.  2nd pos? nope.  Need those two semitone steps up
to start with.  How about, let's see, 6b-6'-6...ok, but we're still
missing some notes.  How about 4b-4'-4...yeah, that works.  1st pos,
right?  Nope, the song starts on the 5th degree, so were actually
playing in (e.g. F on a C harp) 12th pos.  Starting on the 6 blow was
1st.  Cool.  Ok, back to 12th.  Not bad, but that 3" just sounds too
funky.  Time for an alt. tuning.   How about Melody Maker?  Yikes, got
to bend that (now raised) 5 draw every time.  Ok, so I want the 5 draw
regular but the 3 blow raised.  Ah yes, the old Paddy Richter.  Playing
JACWWT on this harp in 12th is swee-eet.  Bends are in good spots, and I
can throw in that 6' to get bluesy. In the meantime, the guitarist is
looking at me like I've totally lost my mind.

So anyone looking for a song to try on a Paddy in 12th, this is a good
one.  Unfortunately, I've only got a C Paddy, so the guitsrtist is stuck
in playing in F.  Might be time to sacrifice another Richter.  Next,
I'll need to figure out if I need to switch harps (back to 2nd pos) for
chordal accompaniement, or can fake it with the PR.   Of course, with an
XB, I probably wouldn't be having these interesting discussions with
myself, fun as they are.

Fred S