[Harp-L] Re: band in key of f

[p89trd@xxxxxx]

That being said it's not THAT hard to do in your head. 2nd position is the name
of the harmonica raised a perfect 5th (ie the name of the first turnaround
chord in a 12 bar blues progression -- G chord in C) while the 3rd is the 5th
of that (ie the first turnaround chord in THAT key's blues -- D chord in G). SO
D is third position in C. Follow?

Or you can think of it as the name of your harp (ie Eb) and go up one whole step
(two frets on a guitar, two notes -- including the black ones on a piano,
singing do followed by re in solfege OR the name of your 1draw/4draw etc on
your harp). That's 3rd position.

To get the KEY and then say "I wanna play it in third", simply reverse the
process above -- you count DOWN one whole tone (two frets on a guitar, two
notes on piano, re to do in solfege). Key of F down a step (F-E-Eb).

Although a chart may help -- i'd learn the chomatic scale if you don't know it
already. It's just the musical alphabet (A-G) with a sharp/flat between each
note except between b-c and e-f. (A A#/Bb B C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab).
SO a whole tone is just going up or down two of those. You'll also want to
memorize the circle of 5ths and 4ths, not just to figure out keys, but also to
help you hear progressions, improvise, etc. It'll take you an hour once in your
life and it's worth it. Musicianship pays dividends. 

Cheers, 

Thom