From: George Brooks <gbrooks1@xxxxxxxxx>
Michael Peloquin wrote:
>6 OB gives you the minor 3rd note of the scale-
>BLUE NOTE #1! this is the same note as
>(1 octave below) 3 draw bent down 1/2 step
>(1stbend)
MP can really play, and he knows a lot more theory than I do (he's a great
tenor sax player as well; almost all of the harmonica players that know a
lot of music theory play another instrument, but that's a discussion for a
different time). I would simply add, for those with little or no theory,
that the 6OB gives you the minor 3rd *in crossharp*, also called second
position. This is the most commonly used position for the blues. In other
positions, the 6OB fulfills different roles.
Let's take a C harp as an example. The root notes *in crossharp* are the 2
draw/3 blow, 6 blow, and 9 blow (all "G"). The G major scale is G A B C D
E F# G. The third note (or third degree of the scale) is B. The *minor*
third is the third degree flatted by one semitone (a half step): Bb. On a
C harp, this is hole 3 draw bent down a semitone, hole 6 OB, and hole 10
blow bent down a whole tone (two half steps).
There are two blow bends available in hole 10, a half step bend (B on a C
harp) and a whole step bend (Bb on a C harp). The technique for
overblowing is similar to that used to play the high blow bends. One piece
of advice I have heard is that you should be able to hit and control both
of the hole 10 blow bends before tackling overblowing. I do not want to
discourage anyone from exploring overblows, heaven knows, but I think it is
good advice.
George
_______________________________________________
Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l