I've been kicking around the idea of learning every major and minor scale available on the harp.
I already know these ones:
1st pos.(C) Major, minor, blues, both pentatonics 2nd pos. (G)Major, minor, blues, both pentatonics 3rd pos. (D)Major (middle ocatve so/so), minor, blues, minor pentatonic 4th pos. (A) Minor, minor pentatonic 5th pos. (E)Minor, minor pentatonic, blues
12th pos. (F)Major, minor 11th pos. (Bb)Major 10th pos. (Eb)Major
Once you know a few, it makes learning the rest easier because of major/minor relationships. For example,
On a C harp,
1st position minor (c minor) has the same notes as 10th position major (Eb).
1st position major (C) has the same notes as 4th position minor (a minor)
2nd position minor (g minor) has the same notes as 11th position major (Bb).
2nd position major (G) has the same notes as 5th position minor (e minor)
3rd position minor (d minor) has the same notes as 12th position major (F)
3rd position major (D) has the same notes as 6th position minor (b minor)
4th position minor (a minor) has the same notes as 1st position major (C)
5th position minor has the same notes as 2nd position major (as noted above)
Anyway, the list goes on, those are just the ones off the top of my head.
I keep thinking positions 7-9, and possibly 10 as not worth learning due to the root notes being unstable. BUT as has been established elsewhere, the stability of the root note is not important if you are avoiding playing it anyway!
After that, I'm thinking of learning the mixolydian and dorian for several positions.
I'd like to learn all of these. How would you suggest someone go about doing that? Are you learning from a scale/position chart? I think it would be cool too to have some musical backing tracks to play the scales with to put them in a musical context, no?
---------- ~Ryan
"I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window." - Stephen Wright
Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
I know the 2nd position blues scale, thats it. From your point of view, how hard is it to learn the others.
I can easily enough find the notes to play in the others, but what I'm interested is how long it takes to just be able to improvise in any one of those scales. ( once you are proficient in the blues scale )
I've been learning new scales based on being able to actually use them in a band setting...so by possible priority.
I tend to focus on either learning the position for playing minor or major and not both. I can play 1st, 2nd, 3rd as both major and minor, but tend to use 4 and 5 for minor and 11 and 12 for major. I am currently working on 6th.
I tend to learn the pentatnoic and then learn the rest of the notes for that position using exclusion (what note shouldn't I play). ---------- Mike Fugazzi vocals/harmonica MySpace YouTube Twitter Facebook Album Ordering
I've been learning lately out of a book called "The C Harmonica Book" - it's just a book of the scales/chords/arppegios available. They're like $8 and they make one for every key, but if you take the time to think about the patterns and relationships (think scale degrees instead of note names) you really just need one - mine's full of notes I've scribbled in to help me apply it to other keys.
Hey, this is exactly what I'm doing now! Here's some resources. I suggest if you wanna learn all the scales on a C, simply learn 2-5-1's at the same time. The 2nd scale degree (D in C for example) is the dorian and the 5th (G in C) is the mixolydian. Here's a track and the first six keys the track goes through.
I don't know how long it would take (I've been working pos 1-3 for a few years), but learning 1st and 3rd position would probably be worth it in the long run. How hard is it? I don't think its hard so long as you put enough time in.
I personally love scales. As trumpet player, scales lead to licks and having scales down cold in your musical gut locker is the key to improvising. On harp, playing chromatically is a huge goal for me because of the discipline it requires to learn scales...eventually not by name, but in practice. You have to start somewhere, so it's nice to see tools like the ones above available for finding them by name. Still, I am having an awful lot of fun without knowing all my scales yet. I play them until the fun starts to leave, then I do something else. I'll be honest, on this particular instrument, I find the fun waning after about 15 minutes of scales....which is better than nothing. I am a scale advocate, but not at the expense of playing your guts out. Guts first, scales second for me.
Rigt on congaron! I played scales for about 6 hours yesterday BUT, did it to that backing track in various phrases and simply becoming familiar with the rght notes. It automatically helps with playing in tune to play to a simple backing track. Totally agree, playing scales, up and down to a metronome = death. Make it interesting and applicable, it CAN be done!
6 hours! I haven't practiced that much all week on all my instruments put together..I feel like a slacker now...lol. I need my band to step it up a notch with more gigs..lol.
