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Post by jbone on Mar 14, 2020 20:59:22 GMT -5
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Post by whitefang on Mar 15, 2020 9:18:32 GMT -5
Hope it works out nice for ya. Whitefang
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Post by earleg on Mar 15, 2020 13:55:19 GMT -5
I'll check it out jbone. I'm a fan of blues and other styles of harp playing but mainly blues and some jazz (Toots Thielman). A side line question here: I'm thinking about getting a harmonica to play the interlude on Tom Petty & The Heartbreaker's "Mary Jane's Last Dance" with some band friends. The chords for the part are Am, G and D so it looks like a G major harp but playing, sounds more like blues style "in" cross harp as opposed to folk style "out" straight harp which usually means a different key harp . Other possibility is C major if cross style playing. I don't want to buy the wrong key Is the guy in the video here playing a cross harp blues style? Any thoughts?
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Post by jbone on Mar 15, 2020 19:24:34 GMT -5
Earle, I think the times I played with guys doing this song, it was in fact an Am song, but instead of cross or second position, I was playing in slant or 3rd position with a G harp. I just tried it and that's the fact. You start on about the #3 hole draw and you can sort of find your way.
Not to be an egg head here but did you know there are actually 12 different positions a harp can be played in, corresponding to the 12 basic keys? Not that 99% of us harp guys do all that. I use straight (folk) 1st, cross (blues) 2nd, slant (jazz/swing) 3rd, and a bit in 5th, which I use on an old Stones song. Bear in mind too, however you can fit a harp in and sound good, in that respect there's not much "right or wrong". But to do Last Dance the way Petty's guy did, it's a G harp.
I played 99% in cross for years. To me the straight harp style was "too corny". I wanted to be a blues guy! So cross it was for 25 years or so. I began noticing some of my blues heroes- James Cotton, William Clarke, Carey Bell, and others, were doing something different using a chromatic harmonica. I got a couple and could not figure out what they were doing. At some point someone enlightened me about slant or 3rd position. Once I gave it a shot it was a total gas. Not just for blues, jazz, swing, but also country and some rock stuff as well. Then I was inspired to look again at straight or 1st- like Jimmy Reed, Deford Bailey, and others- and it was a whole new ball game. From there it seemed my playing in cross or 2nd became richer too.
If you look up Circle of 5ths and print it out, you will see that, starting at the top (C), going counterclockwise, C would be 1st position, F is 2nd, Bb 3rd, etc. All the way around the scale. So starting on the root key of a song you can figure out with this chart what key harp you want for what position. It's a handy tool both if you want to play or to see what harp a player may want on a song you play guitar on. This was a huge great tool for me early in the 2000's.
Jo talked me into trying some roots rock stuff a few years ago, and to do that I had to step out of my comfort zone, into straight position (1st). But once I tried it and found the right position and key, and picked a harp to work with, it became a big adventure, doing stuff everyone's heard but in a new way. We play Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb as a duo, she on guitar, me on vocals, and doing David Gilmour's guitar leads on harp! In straight position! Below:
So there's probably more info than you bargained for Earle!
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Post by whitefang on Mar 16, 2020 9:26:21 GMT -5
That's good info for anyone looking for harp improvement. Thanks! Whitefang
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Post by jbone on Mar 16, 2020 9:58:33 GMT -5
You are welcome, all and any of you. Why know stuff if you can't do some good with it?!
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Post by earleg on Mar 16, 2020 18:53:03 GMT -5
Okay, cool and thanks jbone. I ordered a G inexpensive Suzuki and will give it a go. I played harp some in the early '70s (Think "Living in The USA", "Last Night") but not since.
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Post by jbone on Mar 16, 2020 19:23:27 GMT -5
Suzuki makes good harps over all. What one did you order?
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Post by jbone on Apr 1, 2020 0:28:13 GMT -5
The group is at 123 members in 3 weeks, pretty good growth I'd say!
Earl, you get your harp yet?
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Post by whitefang on Apr 1, 2020 9:37:59 GMT -5
So.... I'm guessing you didn't like Mighty Michael Mendelson?
Whitefang
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Post by jbone on Apr 1, 2020 13:33:03 GMT -5
Run that by me again Fang?
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Post by whitefang on Apr 2, 2020 9:33:48 GMT -5
In the "Harmonica music" thread the other day, I posted this clip of a young(VERY!) Detroit boy who blows harp with local blues bands since the age of 7. He's probably 12 by now. Whitefang
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Post by jbone on Apr 2, 2020 13:21:18 GMT -5
Yeah, this kid! That could have been me in another universe. I was exposed to harp very early. He's the best young kid I've seen over the years. Proud to say he's a member at Just Play It, one of the first 20 or so.
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Post by whitefang on Apr 3, 2020 9:57:48 GMT -5
Being exposed and playing are two different things. I was exposed to harmonica music when I became best friends with Donny Jackson at age 5. His Dad was that SPAH member I mentioned before. And also hearing Jerry Murad and The Harmonicats' hit shortly after. But never attempted to play a real harmonica until 'bout 14. Whitefang
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Post by jbone on Apr 3, 2020 17:07:03 GMT -5
You actually had me beat by a few years. I heard harmonica at 3 and 4, but never tried to play one until I was 16. Then it was some time before I could do anything meaningful with it.
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