Re: [Harp-L] positions you can use on diatonic
I agree with you, Michael, any time that you play you are playing in some position. I can play in a few different positions although I prefer that old standard, the "missionary position"!
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On Mar 30, 2012, at 9:46 AM, michael rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Larry,
> This time I disagree with you. Is the band playing in a key, at least
> for a portion of the song? Are you using a richter diatonic harp?
> Then you are playing in a position. Position are numbered by the
> relationship of the key the band is playing in to the name of the harp
> as measured by the amount of times moved clockwise in the circle of
> fifths. No amount of saying "I've moved a little past positions" can
> change that you play in positions.
>
> Everyone,
> I learned to play in all 12 positions. There is a video of me playing
> at SPAH with Jimi Lee. I play a blues and change positions every 12
> measures. It is my belief that currently, not every position sounds
> good in blues, so it was more of an exercise. Each position shines in
> at least one style of music. Some people did not like it because of
> intonation issues (I definitely should have used an equal tuned harp
> and could spend the rest of my life improving my intonation), some
> because I was played lots of notes and I am sure some people felt it
> an egotistical effort. I am cool with all the reasons of not liking
> it. What I hope happened is that it broke the spell of "Only Howard
> Levy can do that!" and changed it to "Michael Rubin did that and I
> did or didn't like it, but I know I could do it better than HIM!" and
> it encouraged people to learn how.
>
> Because of the way we are rapidly learning about the diatonic I
> believe that in the near future most harp players will play in all 12
> positions and that players will discover ways to make most positions
> shine in most styles. I give it 25 years, max. IMO.
> Michael Rubin
> Michaelrubinharmonica.com
> http://youtu.be/aCbDxn5a3xI
>
> On Fri, Mar 30, 2012 at 9:19 AM, The Iceman <icemanle@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Pretty much depends on the individual.
>>
>>
>> I can, but find certain positions to be not too useful for most scenarios.
>>
>>
>> In a way, I've moved a little past "position" and just go for the notes that I need wherever they may live.
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: philharpn <philharpn@xxxxxxx>
>> To: harp-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Fri, Mar 30, 2012 9:57 am
>> Subject: [Harp-L] positions you can use on diatonic
>>
>>
>> The common rule used to be that there were 6 positions that you could use on the
>> diatonic.
>>
>>
>> The rest were not exactly useless, just impossible. Then along came Howard Levy,
>>
>>
>>
>> Playing 12 positions on one harp, he made the impossible commonplace.
>>
>>
>> But still, most people cannot play 12 positions or can they?
>>
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>
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