Re: [Harp-L] A tune out of left field.....

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"John F. Potts" wrote:
<A lot of reggae material is only two chords.  Quite a bit of it is in  
<minor keys.
<
<Anyway, for major key reggae material, I almost always use 2d  
<position.  For minor key reggae, I almost always use 5th position. 

If you're using 5th position on a standard harp, why not just play in 2nd position on a Natural Minor?  It's the same scale, and the chording options are MUCH better on the NM in 2nd position than on a standard harp in 5th.

A couple of years ago Steve Baker below everybody's minds at SPAH with a reggae tune, and he was playing a Natural Minor in 2nd. I remarked to him afterwards that Natural Minor harps are almost criminally cool for Reggae.  Not that 5th position isn't cool.  But you can do everything 5th position will do, and go well beyond that, on a NM harp in 2nd.

Regards, Richard Hunter

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