Re: [Harp-L] am thinking about adding a new position

[Tom Albanese <reedwrecker@xxxxxxxxx>]

I agree with Brad about 12th having a lot to like. I just recently stumbled
into it because there were a couple of tunes that I had to learn where 12th
just seemed to work real well. I posted recently about playing Lou Rawls'
"You'll never find another love..." in 12th and more recently have
been using it on the tune "Clean Up Woman" (Betty Wright) . Funny thing is
that both tunes also work out well in 1st but it just seems like more fun to
do them in 12th - the horn lines just lay right there. Plus, nailing those 2
and 3 hole full step draw bends is a great thing to work on and 12th
facilitates that nicely.

I like 5th position a lot too. Try it with Horace Silver's "Senor
Blues". Also there seem to be a fair number of songs that have bridges or
choruses that are in the relative minor of the tonic. For instance, on a
song in G that has a relative minor part in Em, you can play the whole thing
on a C harp switching between 2nd and 5th positions and it works like a
charm.

This is relatively new stuff for me. There's more to learn all the time.
Gotta love it.

tom albanese

On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 3:57 PM, Bradford Trainham <
bradford.trainham@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Don't know if 12th is an "obvious next" position, but it's the one I was
> going to suggest.
> I like it because...
> It gets you solid on all your draw bends on holes 2 and 3.
> There's (for me) some intangible melodic quality it has,  lots of old
> school
> folk rock/roots-rock lays out well.
> (The latest for me is The Byrds - Drugstore Truck Drivin' Man.).
>  It's more "major-ish" feeling, so if that's not what you want, then it may
> not be the next position for you.
> But I like it a lot!!
> Brad Trainham
> P.S.
> Fifth is more versatile than you'd think. And it can go either way, major
> or
> minor.
> (How much more ambiguous might I get about my preference?)
> Brad Trainham
>
>
>