[Harp-L] Positions and Modes - a few thoughts...

["Ben Hewlett" <ben@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Message: 5
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 13:01:36 EST
From: TomEHarp@xxxxxxx
Subject: [Harp-L] positions and modes
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Message-ID: <e8.104e86f4.2f7ee680@xxxxxxx>
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can somone tell me all the positions and modes??

12 positions. one for each key.

Modes are nearly infinate if you include all of the makums.

Start with the seven greek modes these are the most basic.

C - ionian
D - dorian
E - phrygian
F - Lydian
G - Mixolydian
A - aeolian
B - Locrian

There are modes of modes of modes etc...

if you're into jazz

ii-v-i is huge

when you see that then you should know to play (key of C)

Dorian scale - Mixolydian scale - Ionian scale

I think it's best not to even get into this stuff unless you're
willing to make yourself crazy.  Nobody will argue with the fact that
I'm crazy!! And I don't even know this stuff near as well as
Peloquin. :-)


Chris Michalek
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Modes and Positions.

>From Ben Hewlett.

Here's my tuppence worth.

Chris wisely talked about the about the 12 positions and the man is right -
one for each key, and modes - there are 7. I have to admit I've never heard
of your makums but they sound fascinating, Chris!

The thing about this for me is the simplicity; that means my little brain
can grasp the concept, and I LIKE that.

I think about modes as coming from the white notes of the piano keyboard as
a starting point and use this model with a C harp when teaching about modes
and positions.

I first heard of these from music college in London and again from Howard
Levy's video 'New directions for harmonica players' of which you should ALL
have two copies - one to give to less enlightened beings!

The 7 modes seem to be nothing more than the scale of C (for this example,
but can be from any scale in reality) played from any of the 7 different
starting places.

So playing C to C is the first mode, D to D the next, E to E, F to F, G to
G, A to A, and B to B would be the last one.

And that's it really.

It's all the scale of C but you start in a different place for each mode.

And maybe that's all you need to know.

Or is it?

If you want to go in deeper...the RESULT of altering the starting place (or
tonic note) is that all the other notes now have a new relationship to their
new start note.

For example in the C to C mode the relationship between the first and third
note is a major 3rd as it is in the F to F, and the G to G modes. This gives
them a 'major key' identity (with some alterations) and the other four modes
have a minor 3rd between the first and third notes so they are essentially
'minor key' modes

So let's elaborate a little

C to C;  major; C Ionian; - your basic doh, re, me scale [FIRST POSITION] -
great for major key tunes.

D to D; minor; D Dorian; - a beautiful minor scale with a distinctive
flavour/mode; a tune like Scarborough Fair would give you a strong Dorian
flavour [THIRD POSITION]

E to E; minor; E Phrygian - another beautiful minor scale with a very Arabic
or Spanish feel, think of belly dancing. It is the scale on which most of
the flamenco/oriental music is based. Try playing EFA or EFAFAFE to feel
that north African pull [FIFTH POSITION]

F to F; major; F Lydian; this scale has a raised 4th which lightens it with
a spacey feel. It's used a lot in jazz. The Simpson's theme tune is written
in this mode, FABDC., but also try it for blues and jazz. I have a Carlos
del Junco album called 'Big Boy' where he uses this mode a lot with great
style. Try it out, it's very cool! [12th or 1st flat POSITION] Is it the
'new' 2nd position???

G to G; major; G Mixolydian; Crossharp; - a major scale with a flatted 7th,
so it's great for tunes that use a flat 7 chord - like blues (97% of
recorded blues is in 2nd position), Irish, some jazz, and a million other
forms! [2nd POSITION]

A to A; minor; A Aeolian; the Natural Minor; the 'Relative minor of C major'
; [4TH POSITION] This position is great for many jazz tunes, minor tunes
like Summertime, Autumn Leaves, or Mr PC would work well here.

B to B; minor; B Locrian; - a minor scale with a flatted 5th. Probably least
used but well worth a look. It's great for blues, surprisingly, as most of
the blues scale is available to you without bending notes. [6TH POSITION]

To go into 7th thru 11th positions is pointless really as they offer you
only a tonic note and it's up to you what you do with it. So learning a tune
in all 12 positions is an excellent and tough 'positional' exercise but is
not a 'modal exercise'.

Modes always give you a 'modal pull' towards a flavour provided you don't
bend notes too much. Perfect for beginners and people having trouble bending
notes! I mean that the way they sound will have the stated modal flavour
UNLESS YOU SELECT/BEND THE NOTES TO ESCAPE FROM THIS STRUCTURE.

You can learn to play 12 major scales, 12 Dorian scales, 12 Phrygian scales
etc (and you should if you are at this level) but for most of us that can
come later.

For blues, most people use 2nd position all the time (historically) with
brief forays into 1st and 3rd, but I figured it could be done in all the 4
minor modes by simply using a minor pentatonic scale (one step away from a
proper blues scale) so that even people who can't yet bend can play blues.
To be effective playing 2nd position blues you need to bend quite a lot.

I wrote (with Paul Lennon) two tunes each in Em, Dm, Am, Bm and recorded
them with backing tracks on an album called 'Bones of the Blues' available
from my website - www.harmonicaworld.com - to show exactly this point. These
tunes are melodic and improvisational BUT involve no bending (in the middle
octave) and are all played on a standard C harp.

You will find the chordal playing becomes less possible in blues the further
away from 2nd position you get, (so that's a 2nd position advantage) but the
melodic playing is fine although I have found this is not necessarily true
in other forms of music, it all depends which chords go with the music you
are playing.

I am often in a situation where I am asked to play along with some people
and my two questions are;

a) what key is it in,
b)  what is the flavour/mood/mode of the music?

>From this I can pick the key and the mode/position and from that I can fish
the right axe out of the box. I may have to change my decision but it's a
great starting point.

The really useful thing about the 7 modes is that they are universal, so 3rd
position feels like 3rd position no matter what harp you fish out, 4th will
always feel like 4th and so on.

Once you have grasped these 7 positions and know their tonic notes you will
soon realise this mode business is a gift from God!

Hope this helps a little.

By the way I am testing my new website this month and would appreciate any
of you guys paying it a visit (no visa required!) and giving me some
feedback whether it's good or bad.offline might be better to
ben@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Also, if anybody would like to trade links please get in touch - if it
helps, it helps!

Ben Hewlett
www.harmonicaworld.com