Each mode has its own particular scale. Each mode has a position on the harp that works best, depending on what note of the harp you start on...but in reality you can play any mode in any position if you can play chromatically, but some work much better than others. hvyj is great at explaing all this.
positions are nothing more than different key centers on the harp.
Every scale has modes, even modes have modes.
Most people are familiar with the greek modes ie; ionian, dorian etc... these are all the SAME scale
The C Ionian = D Dorian = F Lydian they are all the C major scale that is started on a different degree of the C major scale.
In 3rd position on the harmonica, you can play any scale. D major, D Dorian, D myxolydian, D Lydian Augmented, D Diminished etc... 3rd position on a C harp is simply the key of D and nothing more. It's not any more major or minor than 1st position or 2nd position. Its all in how you play it and choose your notes.
---------- "Music in the soul can be heard by the universe." - Lao Tzu
Last Edited by on Dec 07, 2010 9:26 AM
Yes Harpengr without making it so complicated I won't do you any good this is it in a nut shell. 1st position on a "C" harp is ionian mode. All the notes without bends or overblows are notes of the major scale. 2nd position on a "C" harp is "G" and is indeed Mixolidian mode because the seventh note is minor. Meaning the draw five is a F and the blow six is a G. The F# is the major sventh, but is not available without overblowing the 5 hole. 3rd position on a "C" harp "D" and is dorian mode. Draw 4 thru draw 8 is dorian mode because the third and seventh notes are minor (half note low) compared to the "D" major scale. 4th position is Aolian which "A". Draw 6 thru draw 10 have the third, sixth and seventh notes minor. 5th position is phrygian mode on a "C" harp is "E". holes blow 5 thru blow 8 are the "E" scale having the second, third, sixth and seventh notes minor. The one thing to keep in mind when trying to understand people talk or post about this is: The term minor means half note(semi-tone) low compared to the Major scale for the scale in question. Augmented means half note(semi-tone) higher than the note of the major scale. It seems like the more I type the more complicated it gets. Like Budda said in third position you can play anything with the use of overblows and over draws. D Major on a "C" harp draw 4 blow 5 blow 5OB blow 6 draw 6 draw 7 draw 7OD D dorian we already did. D mixolydian is the same as the D Major with just playing the draw 5 instead of the blow5OB. The next one means (Lydian) the forth note is raised or augmented. Usually when someone uses the phrase Augmented or diminished that means the fifth note of the scale is half note sharp or flat. I'm not sure if he meant Lydian Augmented because the forth note is sharp or Lydian Augmented scale which has the forth and fifth sharp. A good scale for all you overblowers to mpractice is the Lydian Augmented Major scale. More commonly refered to as the whole tone scale. I think Miles Davis used this scale alot. D E F# Ab Bb C D I use to practice that on the chromatic jsut trying to get good with the botton.
As simply as possible, it's theoretically, with overblows, blowbends and bends and all that you should be able to play any mode in any position. The modes are patterns of steps and half-steps. Positions are just where you start on the harp.
The reason modes and positions are so closely linked is each position has a mode that goes with it if you play it without bends/overblows/drawbends etc. In practice most players will play in a different position to play a different mode. It involves less music theory and scale memorization, but it doesn't mean it can't be done.
Once you have that idea in your head you can tackle which positions are which modes and learn the patterns you need to start crossing modes and positions into different combinations. (The blues scale would actually be an example of using bends and position to change the scale to create a variation.)
Modes and positions are NOT the same thing. But, as harpdude61 points out, certain positions correspond to a particular mode. This does NOT mean that if you are playing in that position you are playing in a particular mode. But, it is possible to play the particular mode that corresponds to that position somewhere on the harp WITHOUT HAVING TO BEND OR OB if you are in that position.
But, as Buddha points out, you can play modes in different positions besides the position that corresponds to that mode.
I agree with most of what's written above, that you can play any mode in any position with overblows, bends etc... but I don't play different positions to play different modes, except perhaps cross harp or 4th
3rd I use for most blues-sounding minor songs, but generally avoid the defining "dorian note" - the 3/7 draw (major 6th)
Similarly I never play a 5 draw in 5th position, which I would guess is the key note in a phrygian mode.
As a non-OBing blues player, I would choose a position by the bends available, and how that would sound tonally or expressively in a song. If I'm playing a minor song, I generally use 3rd, 5th, 4th in a descending level of "bluesiness", if that makes sense. Also if the minor key song has a major IV chord I'd lean towards 3rd position. Or simply use trial & error
Anyway, a bit long-winded but my point for what it's worth is that I haven't yet found the modes useful for harp playing - they're just a description of the unbent note layouts, aren't they? But this view may be more about being a limited intermediate player.
Really interesting post and clip from Buddah, though
Last Edited by on Dec 07, 2010 1:19 PM
harpengr scroll down in this link to a forum post awhile back and you will find a backing track for each mode, which harp to use, which position, and where the root notes are. http://www.modernbluesharmonica.com/board/board_topic/5560960/706750.htm
Although 5th position corresponds to the Phrygian mode, you can play Aeolean mode in the lower register in 5th position by bending draw 2 a half step to get the major second. But whether or not you do that, simply avoiding draw 5 and draw 9 (which are the flat second) makes playing natural minor blues in 5th position pretty easy.
I don't OB, but I do play multiple positions. Modes are useful to help me decide what harmonica to play in what position for a particular tune. I select the position that gives me a mode that provides most of the notes i need to play the particular tune, bend for the other notes i need and hope i have the good sense to lay out on passages that have notes i just can't get. There's other ways to do it, but modes give me a useful practical reference point for position selection.
If you are sitting in with a band and a tune gets called in a particular key, you have just a few seconds to select a harmonica and decide on what position to play in. Modes are a convenient shorthand to aid that decision making process.
Last Edited by on Dec 07, 2010 4:01 PM
