[Harp-L] What is a scale

[Michael Rubin <rubinmichael@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Okay, here goes-
  The person who started this thread said he did not teach the scale for third position.  He had the student learn a solo in third position to understand how it worked.  He wondered what is the third position blues scale and whether or not the solo really represented the scale, just in another way.
   
  First, I think it is extremely valuable to learn solos off  recordings to get a feeling for a position.  However, you would have to learn multiple solos to really get a larger perspective and you would ultimately limit your understanding to the knowledge of the soloists you study.  This is where scales can come in handy.
   
  Second, it sounds like the threadstarter believes there is one scale or one style of playing in third position, using only a certain group of notes.  Many people think third position is only for minor songs.  This way of thinking is not really accurate.  Once you learn to play a full chromatic scale on a diatonic harp, you can play any scale you want.  As long as 1 draw, 4 draw and 8 draw is the tonic, you are in third position.  Even before you learn to play fully chromatically,  it is still possible to play a wide variety of scales in third and to suggest all the scales by playing only the notes that are in the scales, even if some notes are missing.
   
  What is a scale?  A scale is group of notes, starting and finishing with the note that has the
  same name as the key you are in.  In general, scales ascend in a way that will include all of the letters in the musical alphabet.  For example, on a C harp, third position is the key of D.
  In general, the first and last note of any type of D scale is D.  The next note will be some type of E, whether it be E natural, E flat or E sharp.  The next note will ascend alphabetically and be some type of F, then G, etc until you return to D.  
   
  There are exceptions to this rule.  The D blues scale, for example, has no E nor B and has
  both an A flat and an A (or a G and a G#, depending on your viewpoint)
   
  When a song is played, if the player strictly adheres to one type of scale, the solo will create a specific feeling or flavor, for lack of better terms.  For examples,  a major scale will create a happy solo.  A minor scale will create a sad solo.
   
  In addition, the scale that will harmonize the most with the chord progression will include notes that are in the chords the rhythm players are playing.  For example, a song in C major
  may include the chords C major, F major and G major.  The notes that make up these chords are C, E ,G  then F,A,C and G,B D, respectively.  
   
  If you played those notes in an alpahbetically fashion (A being the note after G)beginning on the note C, you would have C D E F G A B C, otherwise known as a C major scale.  Of course the soloist could choose to play any note he wanted, but the notes in the C major scale would be the safest choices harmonically (excuse the pun).
   
  If you were to transpose a solo off of a recording, the likelihood is you would discover many notes that are not in the scale whose notes dominate the solo.  For example, the D blues scale does not include E, B, F# or C# yet all of those notes are extremely common in the third position blues style commonly played on a C harp.
   
  Here are the scales I find most commonly used during major blues in the key of D:
  Blues scale
  D F G Ab A C D
  Minor Pentatonic
  D F G A C D
  Major Pentatonic
  D E F# A B D
  Major
  D E F# G A B C# D
  Myxolidian
  D E F# G A B C D
  Dorian
  D E F G A B C D
  Bebop
  D E F# G A B C C# D
   
  All of these scale can be played in the lowest octave on a C harp.  The F# and C# are not available in the middle octave without some method of chromaticality.  The Ab and C# are not available in the highest octave without chromaticity, and the highest D is just plain not available unless someone has figured out how to get a D out of 10 overdraw.
   
  If you need a C harp layout written for you, I will be happy to oblige.
   
  Hope this helps,
  Michael Rubin
  Michaelrubinharmonica.com