vicar88
6 posts
Feb 18, 2010
1:48 AM
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I'm jamming regularly at a local pub where anyone can get up and play what they want. At the moment I'm the only harp guy so if it's bluesey I'm up the back parping away. Sometimes though the guitarist is playing something with minor chords in it.
I'm used to playing cross harp and I don't have any harps in minor keys, so my question is what do I do to play along with minor keys? Are there notes I should avoid?
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LeeEdwards
26 posts
Feb 18, 2010
2:04 AM
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There's a lot of considerations to take into account, but here are the most important. To play minor in cross harp avoid playing the major 3rd, the 3 draw, and play the minor 3rd, 3 draw bent by a half step. The 4 overblow is also a very useful when playing minor in 2nd. Playing minor in cross harp is tricky unless you have absolute control of those 3 draw bends. If you play the regular 3 draw whilst playing minor it'll sound very sour indeed.
Heres the tab for the natural minor scale in the first octave of cross harp. unmarked means draw, + means blow, ' means bend a half step, OB means Overblow.
2 3'' 3' 4+ 4 4OB 5 6+
In the 2nd octave it's
6+ 6 6OB 7+ 8 8+' 9 9+
Practice the scales from top to bottom and it should give you the feel.
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"You will never get every possible thing out of an instrument, but the instrument will get every possible thing out of you" - Ray Charles.
Last Edited by on Feb 18, 2010 2:28 AM
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Bluefinger
90 posts
Feb 18, 2010
2:11 AM
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Well, if you want to stay in second position, make sure you avoid the major thirds. This means you need to bend the 3 draw down a half step to make it minor. Sixths are better avoided as well if you are not sure where to use them (2 blow and 5 blow). Best stay within the minor pentatonic on holes 1-6 and you are on the safe side until you have figured the theoretical stuff out. With more experience you will figure out more interesting stuff. Avoid the full chords as well as they are major and will not sound right. Check out Sonnyboy's "Help Me". It's very basic 2nd Position minor key stuff but very tasty. It might gove you an idea how to approach things.
It might make sense to learn 3rd position soon. It's not that hard and is very useable in minor keys. George Smith has recorded some nice stuff in 3rd that is very straight forward and will give you a good idea of the basics. His songs are all major AFAIK but he usually stays within the minor pentatonic as well so it's also useable in the corresponding minor key.
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If it ain't broke you just haven't fixed it enough ...
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congaron
532 posts
Feb 18, 2010
8:07 AM
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4th position is using the major key harp for it's relative minor key. Use a C harp for Am, G harp for Em..basically, whatever major key harp has your minor key as the sixth scale step. Using 4th position opens up the whole harp, since all the scale notes are the same as the major key the harp is for in 1st position...you are just starting in a different place, so the third gets flatted automatically just by playing regular notes on the harp. I prefer 4th position to 3rd, most of the time. It's more of a relaxing no-brainer for me without so many notes to remember to avoid.
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Bluefinger
97 posts
Feb 18, 2010
8:33 AM
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Funny ... I have made it up until fifth position by now but have skipped 4th because it seems a bit awkward to me. Minor in 3rd OTOH seems to be a no brainer tho. Different brains, different thinking I guess ...
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If it ain't broke you just haven't fixed it enough ...
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congaron
533 posts
Feb 18, 2010
9:12 AM
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I think it may be because of the songs i use it in. Most of the minor key songs I play are Christian contemporary and they flip flop between the relative minor and the major key as they navigate from verse to chorus to bridge. I've noticed in the minor blues my other band plays..3rd seems more usable usually...we don't have many minor keyed numbers, weirdly enough. Maybe because we are morphing into a rockin'blues band.
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Jim Rumbaugh
157 posts
Feb 18, 2010
10:44 AM
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I have a strong opinion on this. For a FIRST TIME minor scale use third position.
Start on 4 Draw, work your way up, DO NOT PLAY 7 DRAW.
stay awy from holes 1, 2 and 3 until you get the hang of it.
Use a harp that is 1 step below the key of the song.
A minor = G harp
D minor = C harp
E minor = D harp
etc.
This is enough to get you through 90% of the minor tunes played. Yes there are other ways to do it, but I highly recomend you start here. Learn the other ways AFTER you get this down.
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