I'm looking to play some more 12th position blues. Do any of you have some video or recordings of tasty 12 position that I can imitate and learn from? I've mastered madcat's 12th position Down and Out. At first i was frustrated learning it then I was amazed at how awesome and soulful the bends sound once you get them. Here' the madcat song of which I speak.
Did you see this excellent breakdown of a 12th position song. Not everyone considers that blues, but I find doing anything, even just scales, in a position helps to solidify your understanding of that position. Another piece I like to play in 12th position, though probably not blues, is "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim.
I think Dennis's "12 o'Clock Jump" is in 12th. "Jumptime" sounds more like crossharp - a bit too bluesy for 12th?
@kham - I'm curious why you (and Madcat) play Nobody Knows You in 12th - is there a certain part of the melody that needs some missing notes e.g. the B? Or just that it sounds better?
Last Edited by GamblersHand on Mar 12, 2017 6:12 PM
Madcat plays it in 12th so he can get all the notes without overblowing. I just wanted to learn some 12th position and stumbled across this. It really makes you master the bends and you inadvertently get a little of the bluesy in between notes which I like the sound of. Can you play on a G or C harp without overblows. I haven't tried...
For what it's worth I play it in 2nd position on an F harp
I don't have a particularly good ear, so I was curious if say, playing a Bb instead of a B would clash (to those with a better ear than me)
Last Edited by GamblersHand on Mar 12, 2017 6:15 PM
@kham: I´ll se if I can rustle up something, and if so I´ll mail it to you. I believe I somewhere have a recorded acoutstic backing track that´s never been completed with vocals and if you can accept some free-styling it could give you a notion of a way to proceed.
@Jim Rumbaugh: Way too many sour notes in that sample of "Georgia". It´s like harmonica players sometimes are immune against the notion that they are out of pitch.
I see, I see, or I hear I had not listened all the way through. I hear what you're talking about. Still, I find 12th is an easy place to do Georgia. I just do a lazy man approach and stay on holes 4 through 10 and have fun. I CONFESS, I stay away from holes 1-3 because I don't like to the way it sounds when I try to bend to the needed pitch.
---------- theharmonicaclub.com (of Huntington, WV)
Last Edited by Jim Rumbaugh on Mar 14, 2017 9:34 AM
@Jim Rumbaugh: I hear you, I hear you. Nothing at all against 12th -- in fact I use it all the time. And even in the bottom octave, although for some tunes it can sound a bit mushy. But I´m not wild about the hole 5 OB so I tend to stay away from tunes where that is a prominent note, as often in 2 pos.
Hearing that version of 'Nobody knows you' sounds great. Reminds me of Eric Clapton playing it on his accoustic live album. Really good.
Last Edited by hot4blues on Mar 22, 2017 9:35 AM
