[Harp-L] All this Positions and Modes stuff

The Iceman icemanle@xxxxx
Sat Oct 27 18:03:08 EDT 2018


When Miles Davis described his modal composition "So What", he said "!6 bars on the white keys, 8 bars on the black keys, 8 bars on the white keys". 


It was a simplified description, but cut right to the chase and made it very easy to absorb the concept. The "Theory Police" may have had a cow, but - too bad!



-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Rubin <michaelrubinharmonica at xxxxx>
To: Gary Lehmann <gnarlyheman at xxxxx>
Cc: harp-l <harp-l at xxxxx>
Sent: Sat, Oct 27, 2018 5:03 pm
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] All this Positions and Modes stuff

There are many approaches to Giant steps but the simplest is to shift
between three major scales. Why not think positionally?



On Sat, Oct 27, 2018 at 3:41 PM Gary Lehmann <gnarlyheman at xxxxx> wrote:

> When I was young I had a guitar book that explained music improvisation
> using the “box” method.
> Later on, I invented the pentatonic scale.
> This is a similar concept.
> Learn as much as you can, but don’t discount concepts that might be useful
> to others.
> If it sounds good, it is good.
> I would never try to play Giant Steps on a diatonic harp—even the head!



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