[Harp-L] 4th position

["Mick Zaklan" <mzaklan@xxxxxxxxx>]

   I think 4th position is an excellent blues position.  The fact that
people don't use it very often is not puzzling.  Obviously, getting the 3rd
hole bend in tune takes a little work.  Not as hard as you might think,
though.  And Joe Filisko once told me he thought the constant shifts from
draw to blow in the position make it difficult for speed or legato.  There
is a kind of a choppiness to navigating around in 4th.  Sometimes it can
feel like you're "sawing".
   But I think, if you're a blues player, you're missing out on a lot of
cool stuff if you skip this position.  I'd suggest to anyone with some time
to kill: grab a G harp, and spend an afternoon playing in the key of E to
some of your favorite slow and moderate speed blues tunes.  You don't have
to be fumbling around.  Draw an A harp out on a sheet of paper.  Obviously,
that's the harp you'd normally be playing in E, cross position.  Then draw
out a G harp.  You'd be surprised how much of your cross harp stuff you can
move over to 4th.  You can see the possibilities right away on paper; it's
like paint by numbers.  Eventually, you won't need to refer to the paper.
   Start out with easy riffs and tunes just to get you through the blues
changes.  Stuff like "Rock Me, Baby" or "I'm Ready".  You'll find that
Howlin' Wolf tunes like "Smokestack Lightning" and "Wang Dang Doodle" are
very playable in this position.  Tunes associated with Big Walter like
"Walking By Myself" and "Walter's Boogie" can be reproduced in 4th with a
few modifications and still sound very good.  Lots of riffs and songs from
the Junior Wells playbook sound just as good in 4th as they do in 2nd
position.  You can fake a pretty decent "Mojo" in 4th also, on the upper
end.
   I'll admit that I'm not a sheet music guy; but over the years I've messed
around with "Autumn Leaves", "Take 5", Moondance", "Chickenshack", "Mess of
Blues"(the Elvis Presley hit), "Blues in the Night", "Tequila" and "The
Worksong" in 4th position and they all sound pretty good.  At least, to my
ears.  I've been procrastinating on "This Masquerade" and "Brother, Can You
Spare a Dime" but inititially, they sound doable also.  Occasionally, you
have to jump into another octave to finish a phrase or, as a last resort,
substitute another note on this stuff.  But to me, that's just part of
playing diatonic harp.

Mick Zaklan