Re: [Harp-L] Help me position/key

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

In third position (G on an F harp), the only avoid note would be unbent Draw 3 (bend it down) and Draw 7. I know I've heard players use third on this tune. Fourth position (G on a Bb harp) has not avoid notes, but you have to bend Draw 3 down to get the home note. Fifth position (G on an Eb harp, home note is Blow 2) also has some juicy possibilities but you have to treat Draw 5 and 9 as avoid notes most (but not all) of the time.

Natural minor tuning would totally work, with no avoid notes (not that you can't make a note sound "wrong" if you really try). But you already have plenty of choices with standard tuning.

Winslow

Winslow Yerxa

Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5

--- On Tue, 2/24/09, Seth Galitzer <sethgali@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Seth Galitzer <sethgali@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Help me position/key
To: "Harp L Harp L" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tuesday, February 24, 2009, 10:04 AM

My band does this in Gm and I was just talking to our harp player about this the
other day.  For you folks who play this one, what do you use? Does 2nd on a
natural minor tuning work OK, or do the other flat notes get in the way?  Does
3rd also work, or are there likewise other problems to be had?  Do you
"fake it" like Sonny Boy in 2nd on a major tuning?  Do you do
something else entirely?

Seth

Winslow Yerxa wrote:
> The organ chords playing behind Sonny Boy on the original studio recording
are definitely minor. So is the bass lick. So is the melody. So are the
harmonica licks.
> 
> I'd have to say the tune is unambiguously in a minor key.
> 
> Sonny Boy played it in second position, F using a Bb harp. He bent draw 3
down most of the time (sometimes he let it roll upward during certain licks) and
avoided Blow 2 and 5, to help preserve the minor feel even though second
position defaults to a major feel overall.
> 
> Winslow
> 
> Winslow Yerxa
> 
> Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
> 
> --- On Mon, 2/23/09, Blueharp1@xxxxxxx <Blueharp1@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> From: Blueharp1@xxxxxxx <Blueharp1@xxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Harp-L] Help me position/key
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Monday, February 23, 2009, 9:40 PM
> 
> And then again, if the guitarist calls it in A minor on a given night ~ 
then it's in A minor.  Learn both approaches. I like the minor  version, a
> little on the "Green Onions" side. If you like the original,
learn to  sing
> it, call out your own key and make it yours.  JG
>    In a message dated 2/23/2009 8:52:35 P.M. Mountain Standard Time, 
harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx writes:
> 
> Gary;
> It's been a while since  I've had my old SBWII records on the
> turntable, but I am not so sure that  'Help Me' is minor. I
suspect it leans heavily
> on the pentatonic blues scale  giving a strong impression of a minor, but
I suspect there are dominant  sevenths (ie with major thirds) being played down
at the bottom end.
> There is a lot of blues that sounds minor, but is  not; the flat 3rd in
the blues scale, when stacked on top of a dominant 7th  with it's major
third, creates what you'd have to call a 'sharp ninth'  harmony.
> Having said that, it is  possible to play 'Help me' in third
position
> over dominant 7th chords (I know  someone is going to jump on me here for
my terminology)
> It works for some tunes and not for others though; you  just have to be
careful, 'cause in the blues. there are no strict rules beyond  taste.
> RD
> 
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