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

[michael rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: michael rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Feb 24, 2009 3:19 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Help me position/key
To: winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx


To say 4th doesn't have avoid notes is not really accurate.  1 bend
and 4 bend are the major third.  In cross harp, we use 1 and 4 bend
all the time for blues.  I have heard many intermedaite players use
muscle memory and play these holes in 4th.
Michael Rubin
Michaelrubinharmonica.com

On 2/24/09, Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 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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