Re: [Harp-L] 4th tips

[philharpn@xxxxxxx]

I looked over your two posts and probably agree with 105% of what you said.


What possibly makes it difficult to understand is that you're talking head arrangements. And for some people, this is like doing long division in their heads.


Basically, 4th position (A minor) is the relative minor of C. In other words, the A minor scale uses the white piano keys of the key of C. Instead of starting on the C note; start on the A note and play the white keys until reaching the next A.


The key to understanding positions is the Circle of Fifths, which starts clockwise from C (no sharps) and goes up a fifth to G (1 sharp) and then to D ( 2 #s), then A (3#s) and E (4#s). Most people now agree with the Circle of Fifths. So much for the naming convention.


What makes this Circle of Fifths theory/explanation problematic is the fact that due to the limitations built into the Richter layout, some of the keys in the Circle of Fifths are minor.   


What might make 4th position easier to understand is to write on a melody in standard music notation with harmonica under it like David 
Barrett does on his web site and in his dozens of books published by Mel Bay.


By having the tab/notation of a song, it's just a matter of playing it back to understand how it sounds. 


Like somebody once said at SPAH, music is like third grade math. 


Phil



-----Original Message-----
From: Mick Zaklan <mzaklan@xxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Fri, May 31, 2013 5:47 pm
Subject: [Harp-L] 4th tips


   Well Stephen, I almost hate to re-post this.  The first time around, one
of our list members was so confused by it that he emailed me offlist:

"Waa....huh....eh....whasthat....umm???"

   So I guess my convoluted methodology really confused him.  But it's how
I learned it, so here's my original posts. The first one was kind of an
intro to the subject:
http://harp-l.org/pipermail/harp-l/2010-May/msg00011.html.

The second one was actually playing tips, and that's probably where the guy
came to the conclusion I was nuts:
http://harp-l.org/pipermail/harp-l/2010-May/msg00012.html.

Maybe he was right.  And it's not a Jimmy Reed sound, though I think there
are some similarities between 1st and 4th.

Mick Zaklan