A Mel Bay Publications, Inc. Webzine
February 2010 · Bimonthly
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In this issue: 3rd Position Hole Changes | Microphone Choices: Your Questions About Mic Finishes! | Get Shorty (Tales of a Six-Shooter) | Chromatic Harmonicas In Alternate Tunings - Why? Part 1 |
Print this Article (PDF) Email Article to a Friend In my new book Blues Harmonica Accompaniment Playing (http://www.harmonicamasterclass.com/accompaniment.htm) I cover which notes match the three blues chords for each hole on the harmonica in second position. This has proven to be one of the favorite concepts in the book for my students. I've received some requests to do the same for third position. So, for this month, we'll do exactly that! Grab your C harmonica and let's dig into blues in the key of D. Let's start by listing the notes in the Key of D Major: D E F# G A B C# D
The three chords used for the twelve bar blues progression are as follows: I7 = D F# A C
Here's the note layout of the C Harmonica.
The 5+ for the I7 chord is not a chord tone if we're just playing the standard four-note chord. Since 5 draw (F) may not match (may not… because if the feel of the song is dark, the 5 draw will match) for the I Chord, we'll substitute the note E, which is the 9th (jazzy) of the chord. Here's the twelve bar blues progression for reference:
Although there are some challenging bends involved, and it's not common to just sit on one note of the chord (we tend to arpeggiate more in third position), it's a great exercise to get familiar with the notes that match in third position. Most players will use one of these notes as a jumping-off point, or a note that gets held in mid-phrase. The following examples are presented in the common Charleston accompaniment rhythm. Ex. 1 – Hole 1
Ex. 3 – Hole 3 Ex. 4 – Hole 4
Ex. 5 – Hole 5 Ex. 6 – Hole 6 After spending some time only playing on each hole like presented above, experiment with combinations that flow well… this exercise is not meant to limit you… it's meant to show you in bite-size pieces where the notes match for each chord. Also experiment with octaves when possible… for accompaniment purposes octaves are always a good choice! Good luck and have fun!
David Barrett
About the Author David Barrett [ top ] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
