Tip of the Day: V Chord Arpeggio Help

One of the challenging bending combinations found in 2nd Position is in playing the notes of the V Chord (known as an arpeggio when you play them in order). As you've learned in Improvising Study 4, the more experienced a player is, the more notes of the chord they use on the V (bar 9 and the last half of bar 12).

For the C Harmonica in 2nd Position they're the notes D F# A. This is 1 2' 3" on the lower octave.

One of the challenging aspects of practicing this is to know whether you're playing the right degree of the bend or not. A tuner is helpful for this, but here's a cool and quick trick...

Grab your D Harmonica... play 1+ 2+ 3+... then grab your C Harmonica and play 1 2' 3"... they're the same notes. The non-bent notes on the D Harmonica will help you dial in your pitch for the challenging bent notes on the C Harmonica.

To make this work, always choose a harmonica one whole step (two half steps) above the key of harmonica you're working your V Chord on.