[Harp-L] re: minor thread



John Potts wrote:

I am self taught, play no other instruments  and have no formal
music training.

Neither do I


A musician who doesn't know where the notes are on
his/her instrument is not a basically competent musician.

How true, and you certainly don't have to absolve a formal course of studies to learn that.


Being able to PLAY those notes competently is an advanced skill.
It's simple on harmonica, because if you know the locations of the
degrees of the scale in different positions on ONE harmonica, you
know them all because it's the  the same for all 12 keys.

Absolutely, it's the great advantage of the instrument


The problem is that all the published instructional material teaches
POSITIONS (not scales) and teaches the positions one at time
(usually stopping at third).

Some may do, mine certainly doesn't and never has. I've always emphasised that different scales or modes can be played in different positions, just as John suggests below


 A simpler and easier way to do it would be to teach scales and
teach the student to play the particular scale in several positions
simultaneously since none of the 6 most common positions is any
more "advanced" than another.  In fact, it's easier to play the
blues scale in third position than in second because fewer bends
are required.  It's easier to play the minor scale in fourth
position than in third because if you start on draw 6 NO bends are
required and there are no avoid notes.  If you can play the major
pentatonic scale in second position, the same breath pattern is the
minor pentatonic scale in fifth position.  If you can play the
minor pentatonic scale in third position, the same breath pattern
is the major pentatonic scale in twelfth position.  The major
pentatonic scale in first position is the same breath pattern as
the minor pentatonic scale in fourth position.  So, if a player can
learn the breath patterns for THREE 5 note scales, the player can
automatically play in SIX positions well enough to improvise. It's
easier than learning to play the blues scale in seond position well
enough to improvise.

How right you are


This is NOT hard--we think it's hard because all the instructional
books make it hard by teaching in a manner that make s it seem a
whole lot more difficult and complicated than it actually is.

All the instructional books? That's a rather sweeping generalisation. As long ago as 1990 I addressed exactly that point in the Harp Handbook, listing a number of basic scales or modes in different positions and explaining how to execute them. The subject has also been covered since then by other serious instructors,


Steve Baker
www.stevebaker.de
www.bluesculture.com


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