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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
without thinking...
without thinking...
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1
1847
4630 posts
Jan 10, 2018
10:02 AM
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the bandleader calls out the key of G
without thinking, you reach for your trusty C harp. have you ever thought about why?
we all play crossharp, is it something you figured out along the way, or did someone tell you... this is how its done? why not F# or Db?
have you ever wondered why it works so well?
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WinslowYerxa
1505 posts
Jan 10, 2018
10:09 AM
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It works so well for three reasons:
1: The notes on a C harp are an almost identical match for the G major scale. (F on the C harp doesn't match the F# in the G scale, but blues and a lot of other music tolerates or uses the F natural). An F# or Db harp would have notes that mostly don't match, meaning you'd have to work harder to play it by using bends and overblows.
2. The chords on a C harp give you two of the most important chords in the key of G, the G major chord (the I chord) and a C major chord (the IV chord). The D minor chord in Draw 4-5-6 is a minor version of the V chord, so it's kinda-sorta fits - again, it's that F versus F# thing.
3. The main notes of the home chord all bend down for that bluesy sound everybody loves. That's why you find players reaching for a C instead of a G even when the tune is in G and the C scale doesn't quite match.
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Winslow
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