I like how you explained it, I have a chart from hohner and one from some book I got and the positions are different. so I went with hohner since they have been around a while, But the wheel aka circle of fifths is a good way to learn it. Which I have been doing.
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@Luke This explanation really helps round out the Mod 9 videos on modes!! Much appreciated!! Thank you!
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I have been trying to find a good way to see which keys and modes I can cover in the harps I’ve gotten so far and here is the answer!!
Of course, it was here all the time, I just had to search for it.
I mentioned in another post that I am interested in being able to play all of the Major keys in 1st or 2nd position, along with the most common minor keys.
Now I realize that it is as easy as looking at the circle of fifths. So far, here are the Keys of harmonica I have, along with the 2nd and 4th positions (natural minor) for each.
C - G - Am
A - E - Gbm
Db - Ab - Bbm
Ab - Eb - Fm
Bb - F - Gm
I think I’m just missing a B and a D on the Major scales.
Learning to play the minor scales in the fourth position (starting draw 6) is challenging because much of it is in the upper octave, but learning to finesse the upper notes and make them sound clean and full has been great practice 
Thanks for your great explanation on all the positions and how they relate to the circle of 5ths @Luke 
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@HarpinBobbyMcB how come you’re not giving any love to 3rd position Bobby? Much more commonly used position for minor keys.
It’s much easier than 4th position! From -4 to -8 BOOM!
Indiara Safir is the QUEEN of 3rd position (I notice she’s uses it a lot and so masterfully.)
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I’m gonna have to look closer at this!
I have found I often play in 4th position as I search along the harp to find the melody of a minor tuned song.
I’m definitely gonna see how I can start doing some playing in 3rd position…
I like the sound of that 
Boom! 
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Yeah man consider re-visiting Module 3 Lessons 31-40 for review of 3rd position scale and melodies. Such a great position. Links to lesson and other scale links to lessons in this post:
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Seydel have a great page on there site to help us figure positions.
They also have tab tool to reconfigure tabs to different positions
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Cool. Weird though, there’s an error. It says 5th position on an A harmonica is Dbm, when in actuality it’s Cm. 
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Hi Luke @Luke
No, 5th position on an A harp is Db/C# because it is the 3rd note of the A major scale (or equivalently: C# is 4 half-steps above A). I play 5th position really frequently (but not much on an A harp because C# is not so common among the songs I play – and my fellow musicians don’t seem to play anything in C# minor).
Regards,
– Slim 
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Oh yeah, duh. The major 3rd of A is C#. Hello Luke. Thanks for the correction Slim!
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It’s not a perfect tool but works well for some things not others. I don’t know enough about music theory to tell the difference.
#Dai
Excellent tools. I was working on this manually., Making a graphic blues scale chart for each position.
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Luke
There are four different sets of Amazing grace I found online. Is this an example of first and other positions?
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Yes I believe I teach them all here? Did you already see this?
Also do 4 positions on this one I think?
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Jon Gidnick an old British player has an excellent book out showing the various positions and how to use them and some songs. Even the 12th position.
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So how many harmonicas is a “full range?” Right now, I have a C, G, A, D. I don’t play with a band. But I do like to try to jam with Spotify. Sometimes, I’m able to play in key swapping around the above harmonicas and then swapping positions. But I think the above array still misses flat and sharp keys, e.g. Bb, F# (Eb I guess is 7th position on an A harmonica - not sure how to translate that) So…I’m guessing that means I need more harmonicas if I want to do that? Or maybe I unnecessarily bought harmonicas I don’t need (anlthough I like the sound of the G and the A a lot, so in that sense they were were worth it) And If I want to play a song using Bb blues on the piano then I need to get an Eb harmonica?
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@jeevanmd Welcome to the forum! Yes, you are correct you’d need and Eb harmonica to play blues in Bb. Similarly, you’d need an Ab harmonic to play.
There are 12 keys so to have a full set you need 12.
B is a pretty rare key, so you can probably put off F#.
Traditionally your G harmonica is the lowest key, and (because F# is rarely played) F is the highest (commonly played) key. F is very often used in country and gospel stuff, as well as blues. Because it’s so high it cuts through the mix easily, but you also might find it a little shrill sometimes, in which case picking up a Low F is worth considering, which by contrast is mellower tone (but harder to cut through the mix and requires more effort to bend notes.)
So the next keys you probably wanna consider picking up are:
Bb - plays blues in F
F - plays blues in C
Ab - plays blues in Eb
Eb - plays blues in Bb
(Of those Bb and Ab are in the lower range, and Eb and F are in the higher range.)
Hope that helps!
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So, I got overblows semi reliable today!! I noticed that those notes aren’t in the bend it better tool and so I’ve been picking other keys to see how in tune I am. If I get my overblows super reliable then between bending and overblowing I can play chromatically on any harmonica, correct? In which case, I don’t have to pick keys, I just have to pick the tonal quality of the harmonica to play in tune with any song that comes on the speakers?
And overbends don’t necessarily get me other actual notes correct? They are more an effect to get 1/4 tones etc?
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@jeevanmd I’m gonna try and keep my reply here on topic for the thread which is harmonica positions. If you wanna talk more about the details of OB/OD technique, please choose an existing thread on the topic, or create a new one.
But overblows and overdraws DO relate to positions because POSITIONS indicate our root note, BUT NOT the quality of tonality we are playing.
For example, when we think 1st position, we think major tonality like folk music, but you CAN play blues in 1st position (it just requires playing overblows on 1, 4, and 6, and overdraw on 5 as Howard Levy exemplifies in Slow Blues in C.)
I could provide a million other examples, but hopefully this is enough to illustrate the point.
Incorrect. Overblows and overdraws are actual notes that are otherwise missing from a diatonic harmonica.
Incorrect. Each position still lends itself naturally to certain tonalities. For example, let’s say you can play a decent 2nd position blues right now. I just said you CAN play blues in 1st position. Well Howard can, at least. You could go and practice 1st position blues for the next 10 years and still not have it sound as bluesy and sweet and effortless as your 2nd position blues sounds RIGHT NOW!
The way each position lays out lends itself to naturally sound great in certain contexts. That’s why all professional diatonic harmonica players own AT LEAST 12 harmonicas, and most own many more! (Even Howard Levy.)
Hope that helps!
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@Luke thank you so much for taking the time for such a detailed answer. It was SOOO helpful in a multitude of ways.
In the harmonica course we solidly learn up to 4th position. The position AND the harmonica key inform tonality. Therefore, playing in 3rd position on a C harmonica would be a more minor feel whereas playing 1st position on an A harmonica would have that major feel. I could get to A major with overblows etc on the C harmonica but given the ease of playing first position on an A harmonica, it would make less sense to kill myself with those advanced techniques but rather just get the right key harmonica.
And then how do I determine what key harmonica/position I need if I just want to jam along with a track on the speakers?