Going beyond third position? (updated with links)
Third position is king in the world of blues chromatic. Its D minor draw chord has a great sound that creates a rich, stable platform for playing blues, just as second position does on the diatonic.
So I'm curious to know who else on this list (aside from known recording artists) besides me is playing blues chromatic in positions other than third.
Some approaches used in the past:
- Holding the slide in to raise third position one semitone (technically that's 10th position) is one approach, and starting with Little Walter ("I'm Ready" w/Muddy), players have used that approach (for one, Paul deLay on "The Other One").
- Playing in first position is something that George Smith did now and then, using the blow chord as the home base, and often using the slide to play blue notes ("Boogiein' With George"); and some artists have emulated that approach (e.g., Mark Hummel's "Humble Bug," and, in a jazzier vein, Paul deLay's "Second-Hand Smoke").
- Using the draw notes and the slide to play a blues scale in first position (C on a C chromatic), which is how Stevie Wonder developed his approach (Check out the live version of "Fingertips"). Little Walter experimented with this approach ("That's It," alternating with third-position Bb diatonic) and similarly on Muddy's "My Eyes Keep Me in Trouble" where he used the slide-out approach, playing a C chromatic in B, working off the draw notes for his solo (but using a first-position B harp for most of the song) but didn't seem to make the connection that you need some additional notes to make it work fully.
- Playing in second position, as Paul deLay did on "Why Can't You Love Me" and "Great Round World," where he also used some Stevie-ish slide moves.
- Raising second position one semitone with the slide (technically 9th position) as Paul deLay did on "You Ain't Got No Heart."
- I've recorded in fourth position, per the instrumental "Blue Rant," which I posted here earlier. Also in 6th (B on a C chromatic, but using the side-in notes F# and C#), as on "Blue Chrome."
Of course, jazz musicians like Toots Thielemans can play 12-bar blues in any key, but it sounds more like the jazz version of blues than the kind of blues we're involved in here. For instance, here's Toots taking Duke Ellington's C-Jam Blues and raising the key every verse or two, going from C to Db to D to Eb to E to F to F# to G, in C to G Jam Blues.
So I'm curious to know what some of you have been up to.
Hi Winslow,
I don't know why I didn't see this post earlier than now and hopefully you see this response. I had actually emailed Dave about this same question. Thanks for all the links to others playing in different positions!
As I started doing the Music Theory lessons last year (and my daughter started playing piano), I realized I really wanted to learn to read music and expand my range as a chromatic player (to play some jazz and other styles) and get a better understanding of musical theory, in general. This started with sitting at the keyboard and working out how to sight read and then applying that sight reading to my work on the chromatic harmonica. This opened the door to playing different scales, from the major to minor and blues scales. I'm still in the exploring range and although I can improvise here in there, mostly if I just do a pentatonic minor scale, I am nowhere near comfortable enough to do it in a jam scenario.
However, my first focus was to learn to play in 2nd pos. and I realized that if I just took the study song "Take it Easy" which is a diatonic in 2nd, and just read the notes and work on it as a chromatic piece, suddenly I was easily able to play it and make it make sense. I'm still working on my version of it as I'm adjusting when I can add cool chromatic articulation to it, like slides and adding fake octaves or real octaves. I am thinking that I could take other study songs from the site and work this way, as well.
I do find, in my trying to learn jazz tunes, that it is hard to add those type of bluesy articulations when you have to keep in mind the scale.
After I get a feel for 2nd position, then I'll work on 1st position and then expand so I'm comfortable with other keys.
By the way, I saw on some harmonica players website, and now I can't remember who it is, that if you want to learn to read music for Chromatic, pick up some sheet music for the flute--its a similar octave range. There is a website flutetunes.com that provides free sheet music and midi files and the beginning songs have been very helpful to me in learning how to sight read for the chromatic.
Dennis