[Harp-L] re: minor thread

[Steve Baker <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

John Potts wrote:

> I am self taught, play no other instruments  and have no formal
> music training.

Neither do I

> A musician who doesn't know where the notes are on
> his/her instrument is not a basically competent musician.

How true, and you certainly don't have to absolve a formal course of  
studies to learn that.

> Being able to PLAY those notes competently is an advanced skill.
> It's simple on harmonica, because if you know the locations of the
> degrees of the scale in different positions on ONE harmonica, you
> know them all because it's the  the same for all 12 keys.

Absolutely, it's the great advantage of the instrument

> The problem is that all the published instructional material teaches
> POSITIONS (not scales) and teaches the positions one at time
> (usually stopping at third).

Some may do, mine certainly doesn't and never has. I've always  
emphasised that different scales or modes can be played in different  
positions, just as John suggests below

>  A simpler and easier way to do it would be to teach scales and
> teach the student to play the particular scale in several positions
> simultaneously since none of the 6 most common positions is any
> more "advanced" than another.  In fact, it's easier to play the
> blues scale in third position than in second because fewer bends
> are required.  It's easier to play the minor scale in fourth
> position than in third because if you start on draw 6 NO bends are
> required and there are no avoid notes.  If you can play the major
> pentatonic scale in second position, the same breath pattern is the
> minor pentatonic scale in fifth position.  If you can play the
> minor pentatonic scale in third position, the same breath pattern
> is the major pentatonic scale in twelfth position.  The major
> pentatonic scale in first position is the same breath pattern as
> the minor pentatonic scale in fourth position.  So, if a player can
> learn the breath patterns for THREE 5 note scales, the player can
> automatically play in SIX positions well enough to improvise. It's
> easier than learning to play the blues scale in seond position well
> enough to improvise.

How right you are

> This is NOT hard--we think it's hard because all the instructional
> books make it hard by teaching in a manner that make s it seem a
> whole lot more difficult and complicated than it actually is.

All the instructional books? That's a rather sweeping generalisation.  
As long ago as 1990 I addressed exactly that point in the Harp  
Handbook, listing a number of basic scales or modes in different  
positions and explaining how to execute them. The subject has also  
been covered since then by other serious instructors,

Steve Baker
www.stevebaker.de
www.bluesculture.com