Re: 3rd Position

["Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Your enthusiasm for third position is not strange at all. When I'd 
been playing for a couple of years, I wanted to play in third all the 
time. It seemed so flexible; the scale worked in a bluesy way over 
the entire range and it just seemed like a godsend for fluency. I 
remember Charlie Musselwhite was playing an awful lot of third as 
well.

So why is second more popular?

Chords may be a reason. You can play in G on a C-harp (2nd position)  
and breathe out (C chord) and then in (G chord) and it sounds natural 
and smooth.

If you play in G and use an F-harp (third position), high or low - 
doesn't make much difference -  you breath out and get an F major 
chord, then you get a G minor chord (in a major key). This doesn't 
sound necessarily bad, but it doesn't always sound as smooth and 
natural as the C-G progression. Also, the bottom octave gives you a C 
chord but with no smooth way to resolve it back to G major. In this 
context, the C chord comes out awkward. 

Winslow

- --- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Mark Wilson" 
<markwilson53@xxxx> wrote:
Does anyone have any idea what percentage of George Smiths diatonic 
recording were done in 3rd position?  I'm wondering if he was pretty 
much just a 3rd position guy on the short harp.  I'm also curious if 
there were any other artists who played diatonic primarily in 3rd 
position?

I find it interesting that 3rd isn't used more often as it has a more 
complete blues scale than either 1st or 2nd position. 
If you can master the 2 and 3 draw bends you have a usable blues 
scale up and down the harp. The only note I find myself missing is 
the D note (on a C harp) of resolution at the high end of the 
harmonica.  Having that note would be ideal, but it's pretty easy 
just to slide down to the 8 draw and resolve there.  

For me, 3rd position comes more naturally than 2nd.  I'm think I'm 
wired differently than most, as an example, I write with my right 
hand, and draw with my left, eat left handed, throw a ball with my 
right, etc... I think I may be hard wired as a third position 
player??  At times 2nd position feels like I'm writing a book report 
while 3rd feels like I'm drawing a picture.  Could be a left brain 
right brain thing??

I know this for sure, I can play a tune in 2nd for a week and still 
not have it right, but if I try it out in 3rd the music flows out 
faster, and much more naturally. Has anyone else experienced this?  
I'm thinking about putting my focus on 3rd, ala George Smith, and am 
looking for a little validation from my compadres.  

Cheers
Mark
- --- End forwarded message ---