This is my first 3rd position video that I've ever done and its the first time I've ever really got to grips with 3rd pos.
I've been putting 3rd position off for a few years now. I learnt the blues scale in 3rd pos years ago but i didn't know what to do with it really. Its been cross harp groundhog day for me for a good while now.
I'm playing a 3rd position slow blues from Dave Barretts 3rd pos study 7 using the backing track that comes with the study.
3rd position is finally starting to make sense to me now and i feel like its a breath of fresh air.
Let me know what you think:o)
http://www.youtube.com/user/fiendant?feature=mhum
Last Edited by on Jul 22, 2012 2:54 AM
That's very nice! Almost perfect third position and you have that tone the size of an elephant! You can take that playing up on stage and no one's to know that your not full time pro.
I've felt my playing had become very stale lately, felt like a zombie when I've been practicing. I think finding something new to work on has really helped.
I might even give 1st position a go in a few years time, you just never know! ----------
Translated in french language a groundhog's always asleep, so I didn't first dig what you meant. I figured it out when I heard you playing, and was really pleased, realizing how you managed the 3d position. I have recorded your Dymond wood shuffle. I think you play "bull's eye" blues: again: do you understand what I mean?
Last Edited by on Jul 22, 2012 5:56 PM
Thank you Laurent2015 I understand what you mean:o) I'm glad you liked my Dymond wood shuffle. I do feel I need to break out of 2nd position more. That's what i meant by "Groundhog Day" playing 2nd position every day in the same way.
I'm on my phone which makes me too lazy to hyperlink it but Laurent - this is what ant meant: Groundhog Day (1993): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107048/ ---------- Pistolkatt - Pistolkatts youtube
Groundhog Day refers to a movie where the character is reliving the same exact day over and over. Finally he changes his behavior and the next day comes.
third position was covered by tony glover in the first instructional blues harp book....I only play 1st 2nd and 3rd...love third position,resolving on 1 draw and 4draw,always bending 2 and 3 draw and wailing in 6 draw...it sure does work well...
Good work ant! Your low end bends are fat, full, and on pitch. Your splits sound big and smooth as well. Your playing sounds confident. I like it a lot.
Very nicely done, bro! I certainly would never have guessed that that was your first attempt at third! You sound perfectly fluent in it! Nice job indeed!
As an aside, it's really interesting to hear that you really haven't tried position playing until now... What I mean to say is that a lot of us MBH old timers that joined up here when we were all beginners 4 or 5 years ago seem to have taken divergent paths... Me, I tackled positions right away, and have felt fairly fluent in 2nd, 3rd, and 12th, and comfortable in 1st and 5th for some time now. But I don't know that I have yet achieved the level of Blues fluency that chaps like you have achieved in 2nd, so that's something I'm just starting on now (tongue blocking and 2nd pos vocabulary). It's funny that we've all been on different paths to (perhaps) the same place, and we have achieved our milestones out of order from eachother, even though we've all basically learned all we know from the same sources! :) Cool stuff! ---------- =========== I S A A C ===========
@Isaac, i know what you mean. I have tried to dabble with 3rd pos before but i didn't know what to do with it. I would run up and down the blues scale and that was it. I would always find myself back in 2nd pos.
Thanks to Dave's lessons he gave me a song to work on and that made a big difference to me. I feel alot more comfortable with what notes to play and not to play and i feel i have some structure in 3rd now.
I will tackle other positions in time but i can't rush it. Like i said its NOW that i feel ready for 3rd position so hopefully i'll know when i'm ready to tackle other positions.
Its like overblowing for me. I can do it but i don't really know what to do with them yet. I guess its a case of not being ready for them yet. Hopefully i'll know when the time is right and it will just happen or click into place. ----------
@Ant138 Ant wrote: “I will tackle other positions in time but i can't rush it” --- --- ---
Ant, you may know this already, but “just in case” here it is.
Look at the patterns in these 2 scales in different positions. They are the same patterns and in the same key. Notice how the blow/draws stack one above the other perfectly. The tonics are just 1 hole away, (right/left), between the two positions. I underlined the tonic notes. There are 12 such instances of Major/Minor (Pentatonic) pattern similarity. If you can play in 3rd position, you’re already knocking on 12th position’s door. Hope this helps you....
Third Position MINOR PENTATONIC SCALE 1B 1D 2D** 2D 3D** 4B 4D 5D 6B 6D 7B 8D 9D 9B 10D 10B
Twelfth Position MAJOR PENTATONIC SCALE 1B 1D 2D** 2D 3D** 4B 4D 5D 6B 6D 7B 8D 9D 9B 10D 10B . . .
Last Edited by on Jul 23, 2012 12:40 AM
