Re: [Harp-L] the flat third

["hazcon" <hazcon@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Yep i see where you coming from........I have a spare A harp so i'll give it 
a go.I find the 1V chord the 'hardest' chord to play during a stock standard 
blues and it seems that people seem to spend an inordinate amount of time 
learning to overblow holes 1&4 to get the flat third it they must feel that 
it is an important note to be able to hit..
              I like to do variations on the  scale running up the harp 
from the low octave to the top so my thinking is that a quick run on the 1V 
up from (say) 4 blow to the impressive 10 hole bent would be facilitated by 
not having to worry about bending the 8 on the way through if you catch my 
drift.
                 I know what you mean about the power of bends in the grab 
and release power of them but that 8 hole just annoys me in a way because in 
playing a stock standard 1 1V V blues you can very successfully never use it 
as is so to speak.C harp 2nd position, where does E fit really on the 
inherent (blues or pentatonic)scale.
              Anyway better brains than mine have been retuning harps for 
ages now so I'll give it a go and see how i go.
         I think the secret might be to only flatten it around half a 
semitone.....and then go and buy a new Harp ;-)

                      Where's my file......

Rick
in NZ





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>


Generally, you don't want the flat 3rd in the IV chord. It sounds way too 
dark for most blues - except maybe sophisticated jazz-style blues - and even 
then not all the time.

You *do* want the ability to start that note bent down a little and then 
release the bent note into the full major note. That can sound very bluesy. 
But tuning he note down takes that away.

You can try it, but I think you'll find it too limiting. It gives you 
something you can already get anyway, while taking away something else 
that's just as desirable - possibly more so.

Winslow