I think I have figured out the answer to the real question I was asking: What notes do I play if given a chord progression?, People can correct me if I am wrong. My answer derives from Luke’s video on 12-bar blues, but that video does not directly express this concept, and this can be used for any style of music where you have the chord progression:
Generally each bar should resolve on the root note of the chord of that bar. I say “generally” because some bars do not really need a resolution if some tension is desired. Now, how do I choose on which note or notes to resolve? The answer begins with the key of the song and ends with the key and position that you are playing along with the song.
So let’s look closer at the 12-bar blues form: The I (1) chord, the IV (4) chord and the V (5) chord. What notes are those? In the blues scale, the notes are are: 1, 2,â™3, 3, 5, 6 for the major blues and 1, â™3, 4, â™5, 5, â™7 for minor blues. I think when we are playing blues in second position (cross harp) and we are bending properly, we are playing in the minor blues scale and the notes are -2, -3’, 4, -4’, -4, -5, (6 is the root again).
Okay, so how do we decide on which notes to resolve? We begin with the key of the song, for example G, being played second position (cross harp) on a C major diatonic harp. Our example song is the 12-bar blues in G and the root notes of the chords are the I (1, root G) = -2 on a C harp, the IV (â™5, root â™D ) chord = -4’ , and the V (5, -4, root D) chord = -4.
The original question is what do I play when I am given the chord progression? We need to reverse the above. Let’s look at a different song; for this I will use Oh Shenandoah in C, 1st position, from the Jam-Along Song System. The chord progression is C (CEG), C, F (FAC), C, F, Am (ACE), C, Am, G (GBD)/C. The relevant bars resolve on the root notes of the chords: 4=C, F=-5, A=-6, G=6. Emphasizing the other notes of the chord while playing the bar helps support the chord, but most notes in the relevant (major pentatonic, minor blues, etc) will also work.
Assuming I got this right, I think this should be a decent intermediate-level overview of how to determine what notes to play if given the key of the song and the chord progression once you decide which harp and in what position to play. Maybe @Luke can synthesize this into an intermediate level video if he wishes.