![]() This position consists of mostly draw notes on the low end of the harmonica (holes 1 through 5) and it is important to master bending to play in this position. This is the most commonly used position for playing blues, rock and country. On a C tuned harp, second position would be in G. Little Walter was the first person to record in third position when he played an E harp in the key of F# on Muddy Waters’ “Lonesome Day” in December 1951.In this position, the harmonica is played a perfect fifth (7 semitones) above the labeled key on the harmonica. Second Position (cross Harp) Did You Know? Other important straight harp players worth listening to are Rhythm Willie and Jimmy Reed. His recordings are really worth listening and studying. Harmonica wizard Gwen Foster recorded some really amazing first position tunes in the 1920s and 30s. In this position, the expressive upper register is exploited to play folk tunes, ragtime and many other types of melodies. Playing straight harp means playing in the actual key labeled on the harmonica. Other positions are also used, but far less frequently. (playing in the key of D on a C harp), Fourth Position (playing in the key of G on a C harp), Third Position ![]() Some other common playing positions are: Cross Harp or Second Position Playing music in the key labeled on the harmonica is called Straight Harp or First Position Each key creates a different mode or effect. (Draw notes 1, 2, 3, 4 make up a G chord!) To play in the key of G on a C harmonica (cross harp), we would have to start and finish all the scales on the note of G and play G chords. To play in different keys on a harmonica, we just have to make some other note as the tonic. The note of C would be the focal center of our music – the tonic. Looking at the note layout above, we can tell that for playing the C scale, we can start at either 1 blow, 4 blow, or 7 blow. To play in the key of C on a C harmonica (straight harp), you’d just have to start and finish all the scales on the note of C. Since there are 12 keys (G, A, Bb, B, C, etc), there are (in theory) 12 different positions on a harmonica. So, we can still call it a C harmonica and the extra hole makes very little difference.ĭifferent playing positions allow us to play in different keys on a single harmonica. Should we say that this harmonica is tuned in the key of G since the lowest note (hole 1 blow) is now a G note? Well, the blow chord is still in C, and the scale is still a C major scale. Notice that the notes which are usually on hole 1, are now on hole 2 and there are two new notes on hole 1. Let’s consider this new type of harmonica: There can also be other ways to determine the key of harmonica. Therefore, this harmonica can be said to be tuned in C Major. The C note is the central pitch, the natural tonic. On a C harmonica, the lowest note is a C note (hole 1 blow). If you tell a musician who plays some other instrument that you’re playing cross harp on a C harmonica, they’d have no clue what you’re saying!Īnyway, let’s look at the note layout on a standard C harmonica: However, this term is rarely (if at all) discussed with other instruments. So, this makes the term useful for communicating with other harp players. This means that once you can know a tune on a harp in a certain key, you can easily play it on any other key using the same holes. The relative note layout for each key is the same. “Position” is a useful term because diatonic harps come in several harmonica keys. Harmonica positions are basically how harmonica players describe the way in which they play different scales on a harmonica. Sounds kinda funny, doesn’t it? Well, these terms refer to the different playing positions on a harmonica. You will always hear harmonica players saying weird stuff like “straight harp”, “5th position”, “cross harp” etc. We will also briefly discuss topics such as overblowing and alternate tunings for the diatonic harmonica. In this article, we will talk about the most commonly used positions in harmonica playing, what they are, and how we can decide which one to use. Harmonica positions and choosing the correct harmonica keys are probably the most confusing part of harmonica theory.
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