Re: [Harp-L] 5th Position

[peter lind <pjazz_peter@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've been playing those same Dm tunes in Bb as well. Alone Together is  
a great song. And I was wondering about that tricky bit. Probably help  
if I looked at the sheet music again. Kenny Dorham does a beautiful  
version of this song. Lot's of great sustained notes. No place to  
improvise really, but a good one to listen to a lot.

Peter

On Apr 16, 2010, at 3:02 PM, Bill wrote:

> I use 5th for St James Infirmary in my blues set at the moment (Dm  
> on a Bb) and i've used it for Summertime now and again.  I've used  
> it for jazz tunes more though, I've done Alone Together a fair bit,  
> again in Dm on a Bb which is nice as it goes to Gm or 4th position  
> in the bridge. The tricky bit is when it goes to D major for the  
> last couple of bars of the A section which took a bit of work
>
> I guess one way of thinking about position playing, would be to look  
> at what i think of as the default modal scale on the harp and work  
> out how many changes you need to play a different scale with a  
> common root.  So to turn your 5th position phrygian mode into a  
> dorian you need to sharpen the 2nd and the 6th, to make it  
> mixolydian, the 2nd, the 3rd and the 6th for Ionian or the major  
> scale, the 2nd, the 3rd, the 6th and the 7th etc.
>
> There's some good exercises you can do moving between them, which is  
> one of those bits of practice i should do more of i think - it needs  
> OBs or valving or whatever though.  What doesn't is the fifth mode  
> of harmonic minor or Spanish Phrygian, play G harmonic minor on a Bb  
> over a D7 chord and you'll get my drift