Sonny Boy's playing a 1st pos. blues in D. Not common, but not perplexing in itself. What does have me confused is the V chord, where he wails on the 4 draw. That's typical in 2nd pos. because it's the root of the V in 2nd. For 1st, the root of the V is the 2 draw. According to what little music theory I know, the 4 draw doesn't seem to be a good choice but in actuality this sounds just fine. Why? Are we just so used to hearing a 4 draw there? Or is there a theoretical justification for it?
I believe we are talking about a E note over an A chord. So that's the 5th degree of the V7 chord. Right? It's one of the notes of the chord, and if you draw bend it, that adds tension.
Last Edited by Gnarly on Apr 07, 2013 5:34 PM
SuperBee: I do like the using the 5th on the I chord. It's great there. But to me, it's seems like it should be odd to emphasize the 5th of the V chord.
Putting this in 2nd position, it's like wailing on the 6 draw during the V chord. Do you all ever do that? Or do know any songs where that's done?
Nisei, It is one of the most common things to do and sounds great. Here's why:
When playing in the key of D, the V chord is A. The notes in the A7 chord are A C# E G. 4 draw on a D harp is the note E. 4 draw is a note in the chord the guitarist is playing.
Even more interesting: A is cross harp on a D harmonica. While in the key of D, the band plays the V chord, the A chord. All of your cross harp licks suddenly sound great, even though you are playing 1st position, because the chord the band is playing is the same chord the band plays 80% of the time during cross harp. This works for any harp. While playing first position, when the band plays the V chord, play your cross harp licks.
It is the same thing as playing the 6 draw in second position on the V chord. Lots of players do this. I find it an effective turn-around note in slow 12 bar blues. Think of jumping to 3rd position during the V chord of 2nd position blues. Same idea.
What Michael Rubin said in the latter part of his post about the V chord essentially allowing the 1st position player to treat those V bars/bar as Cross harp/2nd pos. is sort of a big deal....
-Additionally in Cross, the IV chord can be treated as 1st pos. and then the V as 3rd pos. Your licks from those positions will win friends and influence people.
-or in 3rd position the IV chord can be treated as 2nd position/cross. A lot of guys do this, old guys too. I THINK the V chord in 3rd can be treated as 4th ...? I dont know I just learned the blues scale off it's root note so I could get around the way I wanted to....But that leads me to this:
So if you can learn the same scale in three positions you can start treating chord changes as key changes and all kinds of other exciting benefits. Great observation Neisi
I could go on a long time on this because it opens up so many things to talk about and ways of thinking about music. Chris Michalek I will say knew how to play a major scale up or down from whatever note he was on at any time (As if that root was the tonic) and fast! If you can do that then you can deduce the flats/#s and then your pretty much ready to go in the jazz/chromatically jamming world.
Last Edited by Moon Cat on Apr 08, 2013 12:18 AM
4 draw in 1st position, 6draw/3 draw full tone bend in 2nd position, 2 or 5 blow in third are all pretty ancient ways of "faking" a regular 12 bar progression. You subsitute the V chord with the II chord (which is the V of the V chord, if you get my drift & harmonises).
You might hear the expression "two five turnaround"? You can also play it: Two (over the V), one (over the IV), one (over the I). ---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
sez Nisei: "According to what little music theory I know, the 4 draw doesn't seem to be a good choice but in actuality this sounds just fine. Why? Are we just so used to hearing a 4 draw there? Or is there a theoretical justification for it?"
A little music theory can be a dangerous thing.
You say in actuality this sounds just fine...that's all you need to know.
As to why it sounds fine, you can accept that at face (or 'ear') value.
If you want to know why based on theory, you'll sometimes need more than just a little theory education.
However, even with a lot of theory education, there are always examples of great notes or sounds that break the theory rules.
When approaching theory, I would suggest starting out with pure theory as it applies to all music and not relating it to position on harmonica. It may make theory less confusing to learn in the long run. ---------- The Iceman
I suggest you use this little tool and look at the different scales in different positions to find out what´s happening. It´s an amazing tool that jim from the forum has on his page. I hope he will give it an uppdate sone thu.
Michael, harpdude, Moon Cat: I see what you mean, treating each chord change like a key change and playing that part in a new 'home' key. Or maybe that's not the right way to say that, but I do understand what you're saying. I know Moon Cat's got a youtube video on that, and Michael too?
I usually play the blues scale for my root position and vary the patterns within it to express the changes. It's a bit simpler that shifting positions all together. As soon as I feel more confident in 3rd and 4th positions, I'll try this.
5F6H: ! Yeah, I've heard about that! That 2-5-1 stuff is on my short list of things to learn soon.
