So when I practice these days, part of my practice is spent on scales. My scale "vocabulary" is pretty limited however, and I would like to not only move around the harp but also learn to plays blues scales in different positions.
I am looking around myself, but thought I'd ask if anyone knows where I could find some tabs or videos to help me expand my scale vocabulary. Thank you in advance.
You’re probably going to have to make your own tabs. Here’s a couple of basics on what you can try.
I’ll assume you already have Note Charts for all the different harp keys, (including over blows). _____
Click my name and go to my Profile Page. You’ll see my Scales by Interval chart. Lot’s of scales there, all launching from the C scale.
Find the Blues Scale. You’ll se the notes for the Blues Scale in the key of C. Those are the notes. _____
>>>Now, using your Note Charts…
First Position – find those exact notes on a C harp. Write down your tabs. Second Position - find those same, exact notes on an F harp. Write down your tabs Third Position - find those same, exact notes on an Bb harp. Write down your tabs Fifth – Ab Harp Twelfth – G Harp Etc, etc
You can do this with any scale listed on the Scales by Interval chart on my profile page.
When you change Positions, you are finding the same notes across a variety of harps.
You have probably already found this......, http://www.jazclass.aust.com/scales/scablu.htm
It's not necessarily aimed at harmonica, but we must consider the possibilty that the guitar or bass player standing next to us might very well possess this knowledge and if they whip it out, i'd like to have some kind of response.
Something I am doing while I work on scales is put the notes to music paper and follow along on a keyboard to try imprint on my mind exactly what's going on with the harmonica. And throwing a chromatic harp in the mix.
I am hoping this takes me to the next level. Though considerably less fun, it makes a lot less noise than running through every lick I can remember + variations I might stumble into on a 2x12 @ 6.
Last Edited by on Sep 09, 2012 3:23 PM
It's a nice way to visualize what you are doing. It's similar but more complete than the competition. (I haven't played with the finished version yet. Some of us got to play with the beta though and it was fun.)
I think there are several (many) around. I worked them all out as an exercise a few years ago and you can find the chromatic scale charts there. I highlighted the blues scale in each position, and you can work out the tabs for any scale of interest from the chromatic scales. Have a look in my profile. ----------
I probably should have said something about my skill level. I am mostly self-taught and only have a minimal background in music theory. What I learned about the blues scale for harmonica, I learned from some of Adam Gussow's earlier lessons. So what you all have directed me to has been above my head. Sorry/how embarrassing. Perhaps I've asked my question in the wrong way? I guess I'm still at the mechanical level and am looking for patterns? I purchased some Ronnie Shellist lessons that gave me some great licks in other positions, but figured I should learn some scales in those positions.
I'm originally self taught and was minimal on music theory for quite a while, so know where you are coming from.
Have a scroll down the HarpNinja Help to the Tuning Dojo to see an example of a scale overlayed.
Quick demo without scale overlay.
Also currently working on more short quick demo videos to explain quickly how to do things.
Otherwise just download a demo and play around with it. (pc only atm, OSX offline atm as I look into a possible tech issue with it) Any questions there is a support forum ready to go..ask away! HarpNinja Support Forum
Here are some blues scales in different positions. I've tabbed all available notes in each scale and bolded the tonic notes. Complete scales run between any two bold notes.
If you are trying to learn about scales, do not even try to read about position. They don't mean nothing after the 3rd and the first 3 are limited. Juggling between position and scales will hold you back because they have nothing in common. even more true if your journey lead you to a different tuned harp (other than richeter).
Here is what you should do : 1- learn where are the notes on your harp
2- pick a sort of scale (majo, minor, harmonic, pentatonic, blues, ect...)
3- choose a key and try to do the scale you pick earlier in that key
4- that's it, depending on how random you chose your scales, you may just have learn the blues scale of Bb or the major scale of C
5- After toying around with scales, understand that for every type of scale you choose, they are built the same way for every key. From then, go look up intervals (step/half-step) to understand how they are built.
Once you understand that and begin to know which interval goes between each notes, you will be able to "know" every key of one type of scale if you know in what order the step/half steps come.
It's not exactly learning music theory, it's more about being able to count notes.
That may seems to be the "hard way" to learn how it works but in the long terms, it's way easier than learning every key of every scale you come up against. A scale can be done in 12 key (one for each notes) and there are many scales. So that way you just have to learn one sort of scale and then work around your harp to play it.
Side note: Some scale will have lotes you won't bre able to play. You can first learn to bend note on the harp. That won't be enough because notes will still be missing. You will have to learn how to overblow if you are serious about learning scales.
As for the working around your harp, you have to be able to see where each note is and app like harpninja's one may be usefull.
I prefer to use that java tool : http://www.rougepied.com/harmap/index.html
It's base on the scale finder at overblow.com, that's why it may seems familiar to some of us. Except that it also show double and tripple overblow and some other nice stuff.
Hmmm. I'm not really sure what to do at this point. I can make sense of timeistight's post, but other posts have me confused. I guess I thought scales were a good way to learn the notes in a position up and down the harp. And I thought what timeistight posted would be clearly defined. But I guess there are no clearly set blues scales to learn? Also, scales may not be the best to go? Also, I find the charts hard to make sense of. FYI. Thanks to all for your posts.
Arcadiandj, you are not alone in feeling confused after reading Kaining's post. I thought I was making progress and was getting a reasonable handle on this. I can't make a lot of sense from kaining's advice. It's true there are various scales. Position is just a term harmonica players, particularly diatonic players, use in a particular way. If you know what it means, it isn't meaningless. But you could practice mixolydian scales for instance, in positions 1 2 and 3. Say you did that on a A harp. And once you can play the scales Up and back with reasonable proficiency, you can play them with a backing track to help you keep time and get really proficient. Then you could play bass lines built out of those scales for instance. That would develop your sense of timing and relative chord tones, I mean the equivalent scale degrees across the chords. Learning those 3 scales will give you the 3 most common chords used in a 12 bar blues, in second position as they say. So it gets you moving. I dunno you may be all over this already and looking for something more?
"But I guess there are no clearly set blues scales to learn?"
The scale we call the "blues scale" around here consists of the following six intervals: tonic, minor third, perfect fourth, diminished fifth, perfect fifth and minor seventh. That's what I tabbed out. In the key of A, for example, it's A, C, D, Eb, E, G.
I don't see any real conflict between the various posts here, just different approaches to the same result. Can you elaborate on where we're confusing you?
Last Edited by on Sep 11, 2012 7:20 AM
