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beginner forum: for novice and developing blues harp players >
Music Theory
Music Theory
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ME.HarpDoc
24 posts
Oct 23, 2015
2:01 PM
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In the Introductions thread, TinMan indicated he learned by ear, as many of us do/did. I'm pretty new to harp and especially playing with others. When i heard for the first time, "it's a 12 bar blues progression, just stick to the I, IV, V chords and you'll be ok", it was like Latin to me (note the Roman numerals).
I had no musical background and decided I have to learn enough music theory to understand and communicate with other musicians. I gained a lot of insight quickly from one of David Harp's books, "Music Theory Made Easy", available on Amazon or www.bluesharp.com or by emailing harpstuf@sover.net. (note only one "f" in harpstuf)
The book covers the basics as well as scales, chord structures (folk, blues, country, rock and even some jazz), improvisation and has a CD with examples and practice tracks. I'm sure there are other books and methods, but this really does make what can be complex more understandable. It is NOT about how to read music but rather how apply music knowledge to your playing style
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MindTheGap
731 posts
Oct 24, 2015
6:45 AM
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I had a look at the index on the Amazon preview, and that does look like great book.
I have a bit of theory, but there's all sorts of aspects and depths. E.g. there's theory about writing Counterpoint, with strict rules. I can't do that, but I know it exists, but it's not especially relevant to blues harp. David Harp's book looks like the theory that is relevant to harmonica playing.
I notice he's got another book 'Music Theory Made Easy for Harmonica', which is about positions. But that wasn't on Amazon at least in the UK.
The aspects of theory that I've found improving by harmonica playing are:
- A stronger feel for intervals. Learning piano you would do ear-training including intervals, but went it came to it the main requirement was to read notes off the page.
- A better sense of what different notes of a scale 'mean' and feel like in context.
...then there's the 'theory' of how notes lay out on the harp, over different chords and in different positions. That is really diatonic-harp-specific!
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Oct 24, 2015 6:53 AM
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ME.HarpDoc
25 posts
Oct 24, 2015
8:10 AM
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One of the most useful contents of the book is the NoteFinder™. A section in the book describes how to make one. It's a wheel within a wheel where if, for example, you want to find the I, III, IV, V and VIIb notes in the key of G, you line up I on the inner wheel (Roman numeral note/chord) with G on the outer wheel and it gives you the chromatic scale notes for the 12 notes in the octave.
It also gives you useful scales printed on the wheel (blues, minor, major and pentatonic) so you can find any note or chord in any key in several scales. That alone is worth the price of the book ( which can be purchased without the CD as well but I found the CD useful as I learn better by ear).
The NoteFinder™ is copywrited but purchasing the book allows you to make your own.
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