Playing chords on two diatonic harps

Technique
1

I am learning to play chords to Turkey in the Straw which is in G.
Using two harps G and C it is possible to play I (G) IV (C) and V7 (D7) starting with the C harp in 2nd position:
G chord: I draw chord on the C harp.
D7 chord V7 draw chord on the G harp
C chord IV blow chord on the C chord

There is a lot of drawing necessary to play this tune and when its fast its very hard to keep up.

If instead I do the following in first position:
G chord: I blow chord on the G harp.
D7 chord V7 draw chord on the G harp
C chord IV blow chord on the C chord

Playing in 2nd position is the standard way, particularly for the Blues? But is there any reason why I cannot play the chords in 1st position i.e I chord being a blow chord on the G harp etc? It is a lot less drawing throughout the tune….
I was just thinking that playing the Blues requires cross harp chords but maybe a folk tune/bluegrass tune doesn’t.
Any thoughts?

Gill

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This may interest you it’s a tunning developed by Tony Eyers called Major Cross. He developed it for fast playing of Blue Grass and fiddle tunes.

https://www.seydel1847.de/majorcross

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@Spotter welcome to the forum my friend, and I’m so sorry for the long delay on my reply here. Yeah when it comes to chording, do whatever ya feel man!

You may find with time that there’s something more percussive about the attack of draw chords that you prefer. One other option you could try, of curse, is use the C harp for I IV and a regular D harp for the V cord. It doesn’t have the 7th, but that’s really no biggie. I think it’ll sound great. Something about I-IV in 2nd position sounds and feels good to me.

You could also simply do a -14 split for the V chord which is a technique I discuss here.

Hope that helps. LMK if you have further questions on the subject! Rock on! :sunglasses:

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