Applying memorized blows/draws in C to other keys
Hi Dave, I've taken your advice and memorized (pretty well :-) the notes for each hole, draw and blow for the C harmonica. But when I'm playing on a harmonica with a different key, it takes me longer than I have in the moment to figure out what the note is. I've thought of re-learning the C with Do - Re - Mi or with Solfegg which I don't know well at all. But do you think that would make it easier to orient myself when I'm playing a non-C harmonica? Other ideas? Thanks in advance.
Hi Dave,
I appreciate your quick reply as well as your good filling in the blanks where you weren't sure what I was asking. It's not so much that I'm reading music as wanting to play with other musicians in different keys. If I play a 5+ for example, as it is now I have to first think, "E", then if it's an A harmonica, I have to translate to the 3 or A or C#. Your suggestion is a good one since, as you say, all musicians refer to notes by their relationship to the 1. I'll work with that work awhile. Thanks so much.
Great. I'm training you to play in the most common position (by far), 2nd Position. To play with other musicians you'll need to change harmonicas. For a chart of which harmonicas play in which keys for 2nd Position go to http://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/blues_harmonica_fundamentals and download the PDF titled "Position Chart." Anything you learn in your lessons can be played on any of those harmonicas... the harmonicas do the key change for you.
Good morning Nance. In what context are you needing to know the note you're playing? Are you reading sheet music in a particular key?
Yes, there is another system you will memorize as well, called Scale Degrees. C is 1, D is 2, E is 3, etc.
You'll learn this as you continue your Music Theory lessons. This way, if you're on a C Harmonica in 1st Position (key of C) and you're playing 2+ and someone asks what you're playing, you say "the 3rd." This is universal to all harmonicas. If you have an F# Harmonica, 2+ is still the 3rd (F# uses the F# Scale, which is F# G# A#, A# being the note on 2+, so the information to the other musician is the same, it's the 3rd). Scale degrees are a universal language, and memorizing one harmonica is your first step into this understanding.