Position Exploration

In the featured post on the magic Circle of Fifths we looked at how to use that tool to find the harmonica in the right key, and the positions on a single harmonica to play in different keys. We are going to extend that a bit further here and match up some backing tracks and some songs, along with position scales to find interesting soloing possibilities.

The examples here are for C harmonica, but using the Circle of Fifths you can find the same positions for any key harmonica!

First Position - sweet and folksy music played in C on the C harmonica.

Second Position - playing the blues in G

Third Position - Minor , sad, and jazzy songs in D and Dm

Fourth Position - Minor, sad and bluesy in Am

Fourth position gives us access to a very full range of notes in the Am scale and the Am7 chord. The diagram shows the layout for Am7 notes, plus the 'extensions' in yellow. This will fit right in for a minor blues and you should be able to play over major 7 songs as well. The root note of is easist reached Remember, you can play minor scales over major songs but want to stay away from playing major scales over minor songs.

Fifth Position - Going Pentatonic in E

The minor pentatonic scale is a favorite for guitar players for weaving bluesy, soulfull notes over both major and minor tunes. The chart below shows the minor pentatonic scale layed out on the harmonica. For our C harp this means we are playing an E minor pentatonic scale. This should work best over songs in Em , but should also work in E major songs. Try starting with the root note at 6 draw and work your way up and down through the notes. The addition of the iib and the VIb make for nice jazzy notes but are not part of the actual scale so try to move off them to resolve your phrase to the I and the V notes.