[Harp-L] All this Positions and Modes stuff

[dh@xxxxx]

And by the way Richard Hunter
Thank you very much for your book Jazz Harp !
I bought it when I was 13 in a small music shop in the South of France and that's how I first heard about the term overblow
This one page was a game changer 😉

-----Original Message-----
From: Harp-L <harp-l-bounces at xxxxx> On Behalf Of Richard Hunter
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2018 12:52 PM
To: harp-l at xxxxx
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] All this Positions and Modes stuff

 Laurent Vigouroux wrote:

<I may sound picky and stupid, but I really think the concept of positions prevent lots of <harmonica players from learning harmony and adventuring beyond the I7, IV7 and V7 <chords. Even if one doesn't master the overblows, he would largely benefit from learning <harmony and use the harp in the key that proposes the best sounding notes.
<
<Of course, this is much less important for harpers who only play classic blues. For them, <positions really are useful.

I play a lot of different stuff, including classical, jazz, rock, blues, etc. I was trained in reading and theory decades ago, and I still find thinking in terms of positions ON THE DIATONIC HARP to be very useful.

Each position has its own sound on the diatonic and its own feel.  The "position" is a quick shortcut to that feel.  Just listen to Charlie Musselwhite switch between 1st/2nd/3rd position on any number of his songs.  Thinking in terms of scales and modes in that case would just add another layer of abstraction between the feel and the harp.

Again, thinking "positions" is a shortcut, and shortcuts can be very useful.  You just don't want them to be the only trick in your bag.

Regards, Richard Hunter
--
Check out Richard Hunter's 21st Century rock harmonica masterpiece "The Lucky One" at https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/richardhunter
<https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/richardhunter>

Author, "Jazz Harp" (Oak Publications, NYC) Latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://hunterharp.com Vids at http://www.youtube.com/user/lightninrick
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