All well and good, but what value is it for a harp player to know the names of the notes? Isn't it sufficient to think in terms of scale degrees; root, third, fifth etc? The only time I've needed to know the name of a note is when a guitarist has asked me to give him an 'E' (2 draw on an A harp), and only because he forgot his tuner. ---------- Lucky Lester
I prefer the order of flats/sharps and the wholesale slaughter of Charles's father transposed over the circle of fifths. I think it's a couple extra steps, but it hurts my brain less and I've got easy mnemonics for it.
Thanks for positing this Michael. There are a lot of ways to look at key signatures and scales. This is a method I have not used and I find thinking about it the way you presented it helps my understanding.
The material presented is useful if you want to be able to sight read music. I know that is not too useful in blues, but in some types of music the basic communication tool is notes on a staff. If you have this down and can read music, you're good to go if someone hands you a chart.
There is a bit more work to learning sight reading on a harmonica compared to other instruments. However, one of the advantages of the harmonica is that you don't have to work too hard to transpose on the fly, just change harps!
Stan, are you saying the lesson wasn't very clear? Have you watched my videos leading up to it? If you have not, it will be difficult to understand because music theory builds upon itself. If you have watched all the videos and you truly do not understand, let me know and I'll set up a free skype lesson to try and clarify it, although it might be difficult to catch you up in a short time.
