RE: [Harp-L] RE: Minor Key Harmonicas - Music Theory

["Anthony Smith" <anthony@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks for giving me a headache and confusing me before the weekend.  I take
offense to the down grading tone and the continual jabs towards me and my
blues brethren that simply can't count that high nor follow patterns like a
19 year old Cracker-jack practicing for the LSAT.  Yeah, I made it thru
college and dabbled a bit in differential equations in Grad school, but I
just don't get this and you're making me feel, well, bad and a little bit
stupid.  If I do something bad to myself this weekend it's on your shoulders
my man!

:O)

-----Original Message-----
From: harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Robert Coble
Sent: Friday, June 26, 2009 12:02 PM
To: Harp-L
Subject: [Harp-L] RE: Minor Key Harmonicas - Music Theory
Importance: High


> 
> I have been playing at a jam and one of the guitarists loves to play > 
> in minor keys, Harps of which I have none. My circle of fifths has > minor
keys above ? I think, C=Am, G=Em, D=Bm, A=F#m, E=Dbm, > B=Abm, F# =Ebm, Db=
Bbm, Ab=Fm, Eb= Cm, Bb=Gm, F=Dm, is > this accurate? I have used it some
times and it will sound right, and > other times it doesn't, Is there a
circle of fifths, for minor keys with major harps or should > I sit out,
looked In "Harmonica for Dummies" could not find information. > Is there
somewhere else to look?
>> Thanks in Advance Eric S
> 

May I politely suggest that you make your own? The experience will teachyou
a considerable amount of music theory in a very short time; it certainlydid
that for me.
This is one of those areas where some knowledge of music theory canbe very
useful. (Yeah, I know: I'm "crazy" 'cause blues players just gottaFEEL the
vibes, man, can you dig it? Don't need to know no stinkin' musictheory -
that crap is for strictly white bread players only. AAARRRGGHHH!) Here is
the Circle of Fifths (major keys) laid out in a straight line, with C as the
starting point, using the key names on most diatonic harps. (Sorry, but the
Circle of Fifths is NOT a reference to how to line up your bottles of booze
for testing soaking versus dipping wooden comb harps.)
C-G-D-A-E-B-F#-Db-Ab-Eb-Bb-F (Please note that there are many FREE Circle of
Fifths tools available. Askand ye shall receive.) Now for a little music
theory. The Circle is created by starting on a given reference note (the
tonic or 1st scale degree), determining the 5th scale degree of the DIATONIC
major scale corresponding to the reference note,and then repeating the
process until arriving back at the starting referencekey name.
Since the key of "C" is most often used as the starting point, let's lay out
thatmajor scale. A major scale has the following interval pattern (referring
to thedistance between the notes): 
W-W-H-W-W-W-H
For the key of "C", that corresponds to the notes C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C (with
thatfinal "C" an octave above the starting "C"). Let's number those notes as
scale "degrees". (I don't know why they are called "degrees" instead of
"numbers";some music PHD somewhere probably wrote a doctoral thesis on it.)
C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8
Hey! Guess what?!? The 5th scale degree of the "C" major scale is "G".
Thatmust be the next key name on our Circle of Fifths. Let's repeat the
process using "G" as the reference (tonic) note. Referring back to our
interval pattern, the notes of the "G" major scale are:
G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8
Whoa! Why an F# instead of a Gb? Because in accordance with the "rules" of
music theory, the letter names of notes must be used sequentially and
successively with no gaps. (Once we move away from major scales and
thecorresponding modes, this "rule" no longer applies; think pentatonic,
bebop,etc.) BTW, this is why the key signature of "G" has 1 sharp: there is
one note that occurs in the "G" major scale with a sharp (F#).
The 5th scale degree of "G" major is "D". Anyone care to guess what the
nextkey on the Circle of Fifths is? You got it, it's "D"! Once more through
the process,using "D" as our reference key.
D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8
As Linda Ellerbee would say, "And so it goes." Round and round, where it
stops, nobody knows. (Actually, it doesn't stop theoretically, but it runs
out of practicalusage after one spin around the block.) Somewhere along
about here, some smart a$$ is going to ask about flat keys and enharmonic
keys. Sorry, I'm not going to explain that right now. Suffice it to say that
if you are willing to work your way through all the keys, you WILL end up
back at "C". It's much easier to use a tool to learn this stuff. As a play
on anold saying, "A fool WITHOUT a tool is still a fool."
Having chased this rabbit through the briar thicket once, let's look at
something else. What the heck is this "minor" key stuff? Well, once we have
a particularmajor scale, we can use the various notes of that scale as
starting points and obtain different scales with totally different moods
(er, "modes").
Music theory names the major scale as the Ionian mode. Since there are 6
more notes in a major scale (excluding the octave, which is a repeat), there
are 6 moremodes (scales) available, using the notes from that major scale.
I'll use the "C" major scale as the reference major scale.
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 (Scale degrees)C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C (Ionian - major) (REFERENCE
MAJOR SCALE)
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 (Scale degrees)D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D (Dorian - minor)
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 (Scale degrees)E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E (Phrygian - minor)

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 (Scale degrees)F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F (Lydian - major)

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 (Scale degrees)G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G (Mixolydian - major)

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 (Scale degrees)A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A (Aeolian - natural minor)
(RELATIVE NATURAL MINOR)

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 (Scale degrees)B-C-D-E-F-G-A-B (Locrian - diminished)

WOW! Eight different scales based on one major scale! That certainly opens
up a lot of playing possibilities!
Here is where the "secret" (don't let those blues players know about this!)
ofusing "positions" comes into play. The "positions" refer to a relationship
between the key of the HARP and the key of the MUSIC. If you are playing
music in thekey of the harp, you are playing in 1st position (relative to
the Circle of Fifths).So, if you have a "C" harp and you are playing in the
music key of "C", you areplaying in first position. If you have a "G" harp
and are playing in the music key of "G", you are playing in first position.
And so forth, ad nauseum around the Circle of Fifths.

But suppose you want a more "bluesy" sound and you've heard that playing in
2ndposition (cross harp) is the best place to play the blues. On a "C" harp
that wouldbe "G", the second "position" (going clockwise around the Circle
of Fifths. It's actually a major kind of scale, but with a flatted 7th
(relative to the "G" major scale). Since one of the "blue" notes is the
flatted 7th, it gives a more "bluesy"sound. (You still have to hit the
flatted 3rds and 5ths through bending.) Here's where that little bit of
music theory comes into play. On a "C" harp, the"natural" notes (those that
don't require UNnatural acts to create) are the notesof the "C" major scale.
When we switch to the music key of G, the F notes arestill F notes; nobody
has figured out how to switch them automatically to F#.(You chromatic
players stay quiet; blues players are too easily scared by allthose choices
involving mash the button or not.) So the NATURAL "scale" (actually, mode)
that is available when using "G" as the starting note is G Mixolydian mode
(see above for the notes).
The third position mode is the D Dorian. This is a minor key, but it does
not quite match the classical interval pattern of the natural minor scale.
But draw harp is a GREAT way to play the blues!
The fourth position mode is the A Aeolian mode. This is the exact interval
pattern for the natural minor scale. HELLO! Here is the actual natural minor
scale, carvedout of the corresponding (relative) major scale! That means
that we can play ina natural minor key on a major key harp! (Who said that
music theory is worthless?) The fifth position mode is the E Phrygian.
Again, this is a minor key, but it does nothave quite the same flavor as the
natural minor scale. It has more of a gypsy orMiddle Eastern sound.
The sixth position mode is the B Locrian mode. If you are not into jazz, you
are mostlikely never going to find a use for this mode. (I'm sure SOMEBODY
will feel compelled to contradict that statement!) The twelfth position mode
is the F Lydian mode. It's another major scale, with a raised 4th (relative
to the F major scale).
Why did I skip from 6th to 12th position, and referenced nothing in between?
Sincethere are only 7 unique scale notes, there are only 7 modes to be
referenced. Thatdoes not mean you cannot play based on the remaining
possible starting notes. Itjust means that those other notes are NOT
contained within the reference major scale, so there is nothing to be
referenced. (And it also means that the tonic noteis going to be either a
bend or an overblow; if you are Howard Levy, don't let thatdeter you from
playing in any musical key on a given diatonic harp.) If you get one of
those Circle of Fifth tools, you will see that the correspondencebetween
keys, notes and positions are (using "C" as our reference):
Key=C--Scale Degree=1--Position=1stKey=G--Scale Degree=5--Position=2nd
Key=D--Scale Degree=2--Position=3rd Key=A--Scale Degree=6--Position=4th
Key=E--Scale Degree=3--Position=5th Key=B--Scale Degree=7--Position=6th
Key=F--Scale Degree=4--Position=12th

(Adjust the key names to match the starting reference point on the Circle of
Fifths.By now, you SHOULD be getting the idea that you should own and USE
one of those tools. I have one I designed in my harp case; I've used it so
much that I don't actually need it anymore.) And now you know why I prefer
to play Circular Tuned harps. ALL of the notes ofa particular diatonic scale
are available from one end of the harp to the other. If I want to use a
particular mode, ALL of the notes in that mode are available. Because of the
peculiarity of the Circular Tuning layout, all of the chord TRIADS are
available for every scale degree. In short, that means I can play a minor
key tune just as easily as a major key tune USING THE SAME HARP. I don't
have (anddon't need) a special set of harps for playing in minor keys.
That should provide some food for thought.
And now for a "mea culpa": I LOVE the sound of the blues and blues harp.
Pleaseforgive my little tongue-in-cheek jabs at those blues players who
insist that ANYknowledge of music theory is bound to reduce their emotive
experience and interfere with their creativity in communicating those
feelings through their harps.
If that little intro doesn't turn on some light bulbs regarding how to
figure outhow to gain more usage from your harps, then I return you to our
regularlyscheduled discussion of which equipment will make you sound most
like Little Walter, Big Walter, or Medium Walter. More porridge, please,
Mama Bear...
Regards,CRAZY Bob







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