[Harp-L] Fourth Position--Coletrane

["John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>]

Lately, i've been fooling around with playing 4th position for  
natural minor tunes. A couple of John Coltrane soprano sax numbers:   
"Equinox" and "Afro Blue" lay out perfectly in 4th position.  Playing  
4th is particularly easy in the upper register and these tunes sound  
pretty good up there.  Also, it's pretty easy to transpose down to  
the lower register so long as you can hit the 3 draw whole step bend  
consistently, but that's the only bend you really need.  So it's an  
easy position to get around in for soloing.  If you can get that 3  
draw bend accurately, you can use the whole harp with no problem.

Flat third, flat seventh and flat sixth are all available without  
having to bend and the 8 blow bend gives you the flat fifth if you  
want it. Entirely different feel from playing minor in 5th or 3rd and  
there are no avoid notes.

Pretty cool for playing this Coltrane stuff, and not very difficult  
to do at all.  Since playing 4th puts you in the relative minor key  
of the key the harp is in, you are using the same identical scale  
tones as the key of the harp, (just starting on a different note for  
root). So, 4th is actually a straight harp position.

FWIW,

JP