Re: [Harp-L] Circle of Fifths (Circle of Fourths) and Positions

[harp <harp@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Doug,

I saw posts about organizing harps this way from several people, so I am
giving it a try.  I have not really put my mind to the Circle yet.  Long
story - I played piano and Spanish classical guitar years ago - very
technical approach and read music 100% of the time, but never played what
I felt.  Got close with Spanish guitar, but never was technically good
enough to just lose myself in the music.  When I started playing blues
harp, I swore I would not look at a single piece of theory - I would just
play what I felt.  The approach has been much more satisfying (much
yielded better results too!).  But as I get deeper into playing different
positions and visualizing in my mind the tonal relationships, I keep
coming back to the Circle.  There is a lot of Œthere¹ there.

Anyway, this is a very long-winded way of asking you why you arrange your
harps that way.  Is it because you can quickly step through different
positions as you work on figuring out a tune?  Is it because if you are
playing harp you ask for the key and then grab the harp next door for
second position blues?  Just curious why this arrangement works for you.
I have been choosing a key and then mentally calculating or consulting a
Circle before grabbing a harp.

Thanks,
Brad

On 12/17/13, 12:15 PM, "Doug Schroer" <dougharps@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Certainly it can be useful to have a Circle of Fifths for reference.
>
>However, years ago I started arranging my harps in order of the Circle of
>Fifths, and without any mnemonics or deliberate effort I soon had
>memorized
>the Circle of Fifths.  I still have them organized this way.
>
>It was an easy way to commit a lot of theory to memory.