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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > 4th Position Harmonica Article by Tony Eyers
4th Position Harmonica Article by Tony Eyers
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Harmonicatunes
130 posts
Nov 29, 2015
4:47 AM
Minor tunes sometimes bring us undone, as vital minor key notes are missing from the standard 2nd position moves most players use.

This is where 4th position comes in. The missing minor key notes are there, along with some new challenges. I outlined these a while back in a Harmonica World Magazine article, reproduced here
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Tony Eyers
Australia
www.HarmonicaAcademy.com
everyone plays...
A440
484 posts
Nov 29, 2015
6:36 AM
Thanks Tony. Interesting article.

As an intermediate player, I have not yet ventured past 1st, 2nd, and 3rd positions. When does 4th work better than 3rd for a song in minor key?
Destin
150 posts
Nov 29, 2015
1:36 PM
Actually learning 4"th position can help you 3"rd position, because when you go to the 5 chord in 3"Ed you can think like your in 4"th.
Also keep in mind the the only not missing in melodic minor in cross harp is the flat 6th, and it is available if you can play the 4 overblow.
hvyj
2836 posts
Nov 29, 2015
2:31 PM
Natural minor has 3b 6b & 7b. In fourth position you have all 3 of these notes in all three registers without having to bend except that you must bend two draw a whole step to get 6b in the low register. Third position has 6b available only at three draw half step bend.

Harmonic minor has 3b, 6b and MAJOR 7. In fourth position major 7 is available at 6 draw bent and 3 draw bent all the way (three half steps). In third position major 7 is available at 1 draw bent and 4 draw bent.

Fourth position is a straight harp position because it is the relative minor of the key the harp is in. Since the relative minor scale (for example, A natural minor on a C harp) has the same notes as its relative major (C, just starting the scale on a different note), you are playing the scale notes of the key the harp is in when you play fourth position, so you are playing straight, not crossed.

You don't need minor tuned harps to play in minor keys. Fourth and fifth positions can very effectively be used for natural and harmonic minors and third and fifth positions can be very effectively used for Dorian (3b, 7b , major 6) minors. Btw, natural minor is Aeolian mode.

Minor harps give you the ability to play minor CHORDS. In third, fourth and fifth positions there is very limited chord availability. So, if you want to do the choo-choo train thing in a minor key you would need a minor tuned harp. Personally, I do quite a bit of minor key playing. FWIW, I've never owned a minor tuned harp.

Last Edited by hvyj on Nov 29, 2015 5:07 PM
Harmonicatunes
131 posts
Nov 29, 2015
4:23 PM
Just like hvyi says.

Put another way, 4th position provides a really important minor key note in both octaves. It's the flat 6th. With 3rd position you get this note in the low octave, but not the high octave.

I mostly use 3rd position for minor tunes, however there are times when 4th position really hits the spot. It would be even more so if I could just get that 3 hole bend totally under control...
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Tony Eyers
Australia
www.HarmonicaAcademy.com
everyone plays...
belfast_harper
406 posts
Nov 29, 2015
4:43 PM
'Hit The Road Jack' is a great song to play if you want to get started in 4th position, the bass line fits nicely and just about everything that you can play at the top end of the harp seems to work.
dougharps
1059 posts
Nov 29, 2015
5:42 PM
I use 4th all the time on chromatic, but on diatonic you really have to hit that bend on pitch with decent tone. Here is a 4th position chromatic song from a radio set I did in 2001 as part of an acoustic trio. I posted this before in a chromatic thread:



I really like 4th on chromatic! (A on a C chrome, etc.)
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Doug S.


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