Re: [Harp-L] 5th positon

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"John F. Potts" wrote:
>	I think 5th position is better for most minor key material than 3d  
>position, because in 3rd position, you must bend to get the minor 6th  
>which is the third note of the IV chord... and if the IV chord is  
>minor (as it is in most, but not all, minor tunes) you don't fool  
>anyone if you don't flat the 6th. I never understood why most  
>instructional materials recommend 3d position for minor keys instead  
>of 5th.  There's not much recorded material in 5th position, though.   
>But playing in 5th allows the player to fit harp parts to all sorts  
>of  tunes that don't have harp on the original and which most harp  
>players would not be able to handle on a diatonic. Overblows (which I  
>have not learned to do) are not necessarily required.

This is all true, and 5th position is certainly nice for lots of things.  I feel obliged to point out that you get the same scale playing in 2nd position on a Natural Minor harp, while 1st position on a Natural Minor yields the same scale as 3rd position on a standard harp.

The advantage of the natural Minor, of course, is that in addition to being able to play the scale tones easily, using the same spatial reference points that you have in 2nd position on a standard harp (i.e. the 1st degree of the scale is in the same place, 5th is in the same place, etc.), you have lots of great-sounding chords to work with.  It's pretty hard to play a chord on a Natural Minor that doesn't sound gorgeous.

Regards, Richard Hunter
latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp