Noodles
394 posts
Jan 20, 2013
10:15 PM
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Serendipity: Making desirable discoveries by accident
This is probably nothing new to many of you, but to this ear player it was a revelation.
I’ve learned harp mostly by trial and error. Every once in a while I’ll stumble on a new tidbit and then tend to work the hell out of it to maximize its affect. It’s always been that way for me.
I was practicing a tune in 1st position – A harp. To a traditional blues harp player, that darned middle of the harp is a wasteland in 1st without the command of the overblows. So, by chance, I pick up my LoF and magically it all came together. Now, I’m in 5th position, but on a harp an octave lower than I would normally use in 5th. The Lo harp gives me the same notes and same pitch as though I’m in 1st position.
It sounded like 1st and played like 1st
I now had the flat thirds and their octaves to work with, (missing in 1st on the 2 blow)
The middle range missing in 1st is now available. The blues scale is there without OB’ng
If I want to hit the highest notes, I just switch back to the normal 1st position harp. In this case, back to the A.
I just imagine I’m playing in 1st, even though I’m in 5th.
The only perceptible difference (for me) is that the tonic note moved up from the 1B to the 2B
Sure, all the notes move a little, but not much.
I guess what I’m suggesting that one might try is this.
Rather than playing in 1st position, try 5th, but drop an octave, (use a Lo harp, not a Standard). You should get a very similar sound to 1st position, only the middle range may “wake up” for you.
Edit: I forgot to mention that not only do the flat thirds appear naturally on the harp, so do the flat sevenths and their octaves. Overall, it's a very cool sound if you like like 1st position tunes.
Last Edited by on Jan 20, 2013 10:24 PM
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