4th position blues chromatic
I started watching the blues chromatic lesson and using 3rd position makes perfect sense to me. However 4th position is not mentioned and I was wondering abort that, the notes of the A minor scale is just the C major scale reordered so most notes of the blues scales are easily accessible, the b5 being the exception.
Not so straight forward with the chords though, the A cannot be played with a single breath. Is that the reason 4th position isn't common?
/Fredrik
Last week I played in a blues harmonica show where everyone else played diatonic in second position, in the keys of E, F, and one other key that I forget.
I chose to play chromatic so that I could sound a little different. I used chordal possibilities where they existed (and they do exist to some extent for all keys). B ut by knowing all the positions and what I could do with them, I was able to get around nicely on chromatic.
And I noticed that I got a lot of applause at the end of each solo. Some of it may have been my playing but I think that sounding like something a bit different (and refreshing) must have also played a part.
Thank you for the answer, makes perfect sense. It's what I thought was the reason for blues.
Melodoywise though I guess 4th position is a little easier on the chromatic than on a diatonic as the root note is "free" whereas it takes quite a bit of control to get on a diatonic in the lower octave.
Exactly. Solo tuning really opens up 4th position. Although, if you have good bending control, there are cool things you can do bending into that root note on Draw 3.
Here's a decidedly non-blues clip (and a not very good mix) of me playing first a standard D diatonic in B minor/D major (4th and 1st) on an original tune called The Iron Age, using both Draw 3 bent down as the root notes and also chording. Then the tune changes to a tune from Québec called Clog de Pariseau, this time on a pseudo-solo tuned C octave harp in A minor/C major (with bass harmonica accompaniment and foot rhythm). On that one I have the tonic note for 4th position in the low octave without having to bend.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2901194/Iron%20Age-Clog%20de%20paris...
I've been working on creating a 4th-position chromatic instrumental to show some of the things you can do in that position. I should have it ready to post in a few days.
I find it notable that the three most common positions on harmonica are those that have a home chord. On the diatonic, first, second, and third positions all have a home chord, while on the chromatic only first and third have a home chord.
Look at the note A on a chromatic harmonica (or on diatonic for that matter). The A minor chord os A C E. Yet beside the A note is a B (which clashes with C) and on the other side is F, which clashes with E. So the draw chord notes that surround A are not very friendly to the home A chord.
Now, if you play purely melodically with single notes, chord notes are not a concern. And approaching both chromatic and diatonic that way can open up a huge field of possibilities. Yet most players choose to stick with the three chordal positions.