[Harp-L] Bones of the Blues

["Dave Murray" <dmurray777@xxxxxxx>]

I downloaded the 'Bones of the Blues' after looking at the link that Ben 
Hewlett sent ( www.HarmonicaWorld.com ).

It's an interesting approach for people who don't bend notes (and those who 
can); bypassing 2nd position and using the blues pentatonic scale that is 
available in 3rd, 4th, and 5th position. The most interesting was that 
rather than using the non-hemitonic pentatonic scale that is available in 
6th position I-bIII-IV-bVI-bVII Ben just substituted the bV for the V in the 
blues pentatonic scale. Since the blues pentatonic scale is leading to the 
blues scale with the added bV anyway, it makes perfect sense.

While it's true that you need to OB to fill out complete blues scales from 
one end of the harp to the other, the book and sounds files show that you 
can play some credible blues with the notes that are easy. That's twice in 
about a week when the idea that "what you can play" is more important than 
"what you can't" (Chris pointed out the same thing with respect to playing 
11th position). The 6th position bV blues pentatonic scale is an eye opener. 
I thought, "What the #&!! can you play without a V note?" Blues!

For blues players who haven't given 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th position a try, it 
is a very good introduction. Standard disclaimers, blah, blah.

Peace and music,
Dave