I started playing a little over a year ago and have watched many U Tube video’s on playing cross harp. Luke players Amazing grace in four different positions on a U Tube video. from what I can tell different positions require your start of on a different note, say-2. The song is the same but it is in different pitch. Can someone explain exactly what is involved in playing different positions. I got a brief lesson from Buddy Greene and he ask he to play Ghost Riders. I did and he told me I played it in 12th position, which shocked me. I had a C harp and started with a -3 ( first note ). I am confused even after watching U Tube discussions on this topic. Any help would be appreciated.
12th position cool! It’s these happy accidents that make stuff worthwhile. I’ve been playing for 30 years I don’t think I’ve ever gone near 12th position!
@scott4 - Yeah it’s just what hole is your home base (the place of greatest resolution, aka the “key” of the song, as explained here:
You can download a positions chart, or look at the circle of 5ths in which case moving 1 space clockwise from key of the harp is your next position. So on a C harmonica, playing in key of F is 12th position, which is -2" and -6 are your root notes.
It just so happens, according to many comments I’ve gotten on the Amazing Grace video, that 12th position turns out to be the easiest place for beginners to play that song. Kinda crazy, but different songs just layout hard or easy in different positions.
It’s a bit of a mind-bender. It’s normal to be confused by positions at the beginning! For anyone doing the Beginner to Boss course, this post may be helpful:
Thanks I have watch your U Tube post of Amazing Grace many times and note it is played in four positions as each sound different. I recognize the song in each had the same rhythm but different keys. I looked at the songs I have been playing and several are in 2nd, 3rd and 4,th. never knew it but the theory is coming slowly. I play the Yellow Rose From Texas and it starts with a -4. Ghost Riders a draw 3, just to name a couple. I was glad I did not know it. Its coming slowly but I feel to be a complete player one should know something about theory. I like the two riffs above in these positions as they just sound better.
Be aware that the first note of a song or melody is not always the root (or “home”) note that tells you which position you are playing on your blues harp. Many songs begin on a note that is not the root note.
Sorry that this makes it all more complicated, but that’s just the way it is.
Good to hear from you and hope you are well and hitting all your notes. I know little about music and do not plan to learn much more. I looked at the tunes I play and many are in 1 through 3. Seems easier when you are not caught up in all the technical aspect of playing, which I do solely for the enjoyment. This reminds me of getting a business , which of no help what so ever once I got into the real world. Like playing a harp only then did I begin to learn what I should have been taught in school. At least I went to the beauty capital of the world, Austin, TX before the tech industry ruined the city. Money and greed ruins about everything.
@Slim - good lookin’ out! Thanks for correcting my typo - 12th position roots are -2" and -6.
Also, you took the words out of my mouth, the 1st and/or last note of a melody is not necessarily the key. If you play the melody, and then hum what feels like what would be the place of greatest resolution, you will probably naturally feel the key, and then from there find what hole that is on the harmonica, and then - boom - you know what position you’re playing in.
Hi @scott4 ! I find it easiest to think of a position on a harmonica as a blow and draw pattern. It’s also useful to think of the solfa syllables–Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti do. The old “Do is a deer, a female deer” song is great for remembering these. The key note in any major scale is Do (which you can also call Scale 1 or Scale First). The key note in any minor scale is La (Scale 6 or Scale 6th). Count them yourself: DO is the first note in the major scale and La (do re mi fa sol LA) is the sixth. The next thing to consider is that ANY note on the harmonica can be Do. But in order to play the scale starting on that Key note you will have a different blow and draw pattern than if you make some other note Do (aka "the KEY note}. There are 12 of these blow-draw patterns on the harmonica and each (as @Luke already pointed out) produces a different “color” or emotion.
By custom the First Hole Blow Reed is the KEY REED of that instrument. And the harmonica will be tuned so that you can play the entire scale in that key WITHOUT ANY BENDS. Think of the BLACK keys on a piano as being like the BENDS on a harmonica. So a C harmonica will play the entire C scale (the white keys on the piano) without any need for a bend (a black key on the piano). The other 11 keys can also be played on ANY harmonica, but they will all require at least one bend (black key). And each of those 11 keys will have a different blow-draw pattern than the one for 1st position. Those patterns are the positions, The Key of C may be played in 1st position on one harp and in 2nd on another. Second position will always be the same blow-draw pattern on all harps, but this same pattern may produce a different key on each, depending on what the First Position key is on that harp. If the 1st position (known as straight harp) is C, then 2nd position (known as cross harp) will be a fifth higher (which is G). But if the harp plays in the key of D in 1st position (straight harp), then 2nd position will be in the Key of A.
Each position is a Fifth higher than the position before. This produces the Circle of Fifths. Which ever position is 1st will be tuned to play with NO bends. Second will require only one bend, third will require two bends. I believe when you reach 6 bends it changes and starts being one less bend required till you reach 12th position. If you start on C, the 12th will be F, which requires only one bend in 12th position. Second position only requires one bend as well. That’s why 2nd position and 12th are easier than the others.
NOTE: Some of what I said above has to be modified if you are using MM tuning, This is because Melody Maker (aka Melodica Maker) makes SECOND position the one that requires no bends. The main advantage of this is that it makes it possible to play every note in the scale without resorting to an overblow. I have read (you can’t prove it by me because I doesn’t do overblows ) that this is not possible on an unmodified Richter tuning.
Been gone for a while and my previous P C died. Thank you so much for the reply. Its starting to fall in place now. I gather you can play a tune in lower or higher keys but the note pattern remains the same but the key varies one where you start. I suspect a minor key is somewhat seemingly sad sounding, like the theme song for Yellow Stone. I was watching it last night and my wife told me the theme song was a minor scale.
) that this is not possible on an unmodified Richter tuning.