[Harp-L] Re: Ninth?

[michael rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx>]

I cannot rock out in 5th as hard as I can in third.  I play fluently
in 3rd, 4th and 5th, I overblow fine to get whatever scale I want, but
third is the rocker for me.  ALthough, I do have one tune on the Kalu
James Dim the LIghts album, called Blanket where I rock out pretty
well in 4th position harmonic minor.  It can probably be heard at
Kalujames.com or download on itunes.
Michael

On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 5:32 PM, John F. Potts <hvyj@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> Per Larry Marks:
>
> Why one would focus on the difficult 3rd position instead of the much easier
> and more useful 4th (relative minor).
>
> Per Michael Rubin:
>
> I see 3rd as much easier and more useful than 4th.  We are all
> different in how we learn.  To me, 3rd is like put a guitar capo up
> the harmonica neck two holes up from cross harp.  It also has more
> rock out potential than 4th, imo.
>
> Maestros:
>
> Why play 4th or 3d when you can play 5th?  5th has all the considerable
> advantages of 4th (except for the lack of a major second in 5th) and  all
> the rock out potential of 3d and is EASIER and more useful than 3d  because
> there are not as many bends and there is no major sixth to worry about.
>  It's like playing 2d except it's easier than 2d (not as many bends). You
> just use blow 2 for root instead of blow 3.
>
> Okay, if i need a major second, i'll use 4th and if I'm playing dorian
> minor, I'll use 3d.  Otherwise, 5th is my first choice for minor key playing
> by a wide margin.   Very easy, very bluesy, very flexible and, IMHO, very
> underused. Despite the conventional wisdom, I find 3d more problematic than
> useful for most minor key playing (unless the material is dorian minor).
>  For natural minor, I'll use 4th before i'll use 3d, but I'll always use 5th
> as my first choice (unless the melody includes a major two, in which case
> I'll use 4th).  For me, 3d is usually a distant third choice. But, YMMV.
>
> JP
>