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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Some observations on 12th position
Some observations on 12th position
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Jim Rumbaugh
654 posts
Jan 22, 2012
4:37 PM
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Some observations on 12th position
If you have not tried 12th position, here's the sales pitch of why and where. Keep in mind, all my opinions are based on a “lazy man's approach” to 12th position
1) It's good for playing the major pentatonic scale.
2) I use it as an octave scale, starting on 5 draw, with a half octave below (down to 4 blow) and a half octave above (up to 10 blow). You can play all these notes with no bending
3) The root note is a draw note that allows you to be expressive. Compare that to 1st position, where the root note is a blow note.
4) If you play the major pentatonic in 2nd position, your first note after that expressive 2 hole draw is a 3 draw bent a full step. If you don't want to bend in 2nd position, you gotta start on 6 blow, but then you've lost you're expressive root note.
5) When you play the major pentatonic in 1st position, the fifth scale tone below 4 blow is that same pesky 3 draw bent a full step.
6) So from #3, #4 and #5, we can say, 12th is the position where you can be expressive on the root, play below the root, and above the octave with no bents notes
7) On tunes that modulate to the relative minor, like Georgia On My Mind, you're set and ready to play in 3rd position.
That's it. There are some places, where 12th has an advantage over 1st, and 2nd when playing the major pentatonic scale. I still play most of my major pentatonic scales in 2nd position, but I'm enjoying using 12th more and more.
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HarmoniCollege March 24, 2012
theharmonicaclub.com (of Huntington, WV)
Last Edited by on Jan 22, 2012 4:38 PM
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KC69
205 posts
Jan 22, 2012
4:53 PM
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Thanks Jim: Wish I was gonna be there for your March 24th college. I'm better at understanding this stuff face to face and asking questions.
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And I Thank You !!
KCz
Backwoodz
Bluz
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hvyj
2068 posts
Jan 23, 2012
9:25 AM
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A nice feature of playing in 12th position is the easy availability of both the major (draw 6) OR minor (draw 6 bent) thirds. So, if you are playing a tune with a major seventh and a flat third, 12th can be pretty handy.
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The7thDave
262 posts
Jan 23, 2012
4:05 PM
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Thanks, Jim, this is great info.
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--Dave
* BTMFH *
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Jim Rumbaugh
655 posts
Jan 23, 2012
4:32 PM
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Last night I thought of 2 more.
8)The change of harp can help in some keys. For example, for a tune in C, instead of grabbing that F harp for 2nd position, you grab a G harp and start playing in the middle of the harp.
9)There's a wonderful major 7th note, The 5blow and 8blow, that you can sneak into your solo sometimes.
It's not part of the major pentatonic scale, but it makes your solo sound more melodic.
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HarmoniCollege March 24, 2012
theharmonicaclub.com (of Huntington, WV)
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scojo
281 posts
Jan 23, 2012
8:09 PM
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I love 12th position. A couple of quick observations:
- the 6OB gives you the 4th degree of the scale in the middle octave. With the 4, 5 and 6 OBs, 12th position becomes an excellent mode for improv on a jazzy major key song.
- Amazing Grace lays out extremely well in 12th position, with no OBs required. I think this might be the best song for learning 12th, if that's the way you approach learning a new position.
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