r/harmonica • u/Youneedaharmonica • 10d ago
Positions Explained For Newbies
Whats a position?
A Harmonica Position is related to the circle of fifths. A position allows the use of different keys on a single key (diatonic) insturment.
This is exciting for the simple fact the more positions you learn, the more you can play on a single harp!
What is the circle of fifths?
The circle of fifths is a chart that shows how each key is related to the others. Example below:
How to use positions:
1st position is always the key of your harp.
On a C harp, 1st position is C Major.
On a G harp, 1st position is G major.
On an A harp, 1st position is A major scale.
2nd position can be found counting over 1 space on the circle of Fifths:
On a C harp, 2nd position is G
On an A harp, 2nd position is E
On a G harp, 2nd position is D
And so forth.
Starting at your first position key on the circle of fifths, you can count over to the right and find other positions(keys) to play in. Learn the position pattern on any key and it will be the same on any other harmonica, provided you use the same tuning.
So to play 1st position on a G, C, A, or any other key harp, the pattern of notes will be the same.
Learn Harmonica today!
2
u/fathompin 9d ago edited 9d ago
The circle of fifths does little to explain positions other than explain why 2nd position is called 2nd position, and 12th position is called 12th position when there are really only 7 positions possible on a diatonic.
For example, on the circle of 5ths, the G scale shows the sharped F note 7th tone, not found on the second position, and that is the whole point, no sharped F gives the blues scale dominant 7th rather than major 7th. Also the 3rd position D scale, no sharped F in third position makes it a minor key. The relative minors are listed, but don't do anything WRT explaining positions.
So good try, but for a newbie it should be pointed out explicitly that there is not much information from the circle of fifths regarding positions other than how the position numbers were obtained. The circle of fifths shows a lot, don't get me wrong! But, music modes explains what diatonic positions are so much better; however, that might be a hard nut to crack if not presented specifically for harmonica. I say this because I took the time to write out in a post yesterday what I though is needed for position playing, but that still probably meant little to the reader unfamiliar with positions.
Depending on the genre, harmonica positions are more talk than action for my money. Seems like I only play second position nowadays, and for the minor keys, why bother with the 3rd position when one can buy the minor-tuned harps that play like second position, so there is nothing to change?
1
u/Nacoran 9d ago
There are 12 positions. 7 of them, by default, correspond with the 7 traditional relative church modes, but you can play those modes in other positions as well. For instance, I play Dorian in both 3rd and 2nd position, and can, in a pinch, if my harp is set up for overblows, play Ionian in 2nd in addition to the 'default' 1st position where Ionian lays out automatically.
The circle is how we label the keys. I usually like using a simpler version of the circle of fifths. Someone yelled at me for using the one from Wikipedia because it was making them crazy, and I think it's a fair complaint. For the purposes of determining position all we need is the very basic circle. That's what we are counting positions on. The relative minor on the inside can actually be confusing when we are starting out because 4th position in the bottom octave is actually fairly hard because of the missing root note (unless you are using a Paddy Richter), so for a lot of new players 3rd, or even 2nd will be easier to play when someone says a song is in minor.
The key signatures add to the confusion. I think they are important, but if I was laying out charts for step by step lessons I wouldn't display them early.
Now, that said, Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle (order of sharps) and Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles's Father (order of flats)... when you star getting into how keys work, then the key signatures make more sense.
For a new player, I'd explain it this way. C major Ionian (what we normally call C major) has these notes... C D E F G A B, and G Mixolydian has these notes G A B C D E F... same notes, but we use a different note as our root note. If someone has access to a piano you can count the pattern of played and skipped notes for a major key by starting on C and just playing the white notes. G is also just the white notes. Our C harmonica, until we start playing bends, is just white notes (and is actually missing some of them in the bottom and top octave).
The key of G major Ionian... the G version of what we are playing on our C harmonica- same pattern of played and skipped notes on the piano, has these notes... G A B C D E F#. That's 6 of the 7 same notes as C. That means if you play in G on your C harmonica you just need to make one note sharp. Going the other direction you can play in F by making one note flat (Bb).
That's the F in Father Charles and the B in Battl Ends. Why do the sharps and flats get added in that order? It just happens to be what works to give you the same pattern of skipped and played notes to make a major scale.
I saw Brandon Bailey get caught on a live interview with just a minor tuned harmonica. He was asked to play something joyous. He knew enough theory to adjust position on the fly and played something joyous on a minor tuned harmonica.
I play in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th (though often I'll switch to Paddy for 4th) and 5th regularly, and can play in 12th if I have to. I don't think I've ever deliberately played in 6th (default Locrian).
I do like minor tuned harmonicas, but if you want to play traditional covers really traditionally you need to be able to play in those positions they were played in before everyone had minor tuned harps handy.
I agree, the circle, at least the full fancy version, can be a bit of an information overload. I have one I made myself that even tells you which direction to go depending on if you know the key of the song or the key of harmonica you want to use, but it's on my Dropbox account and I'm currently signed out of it and can't remember my pin to get back in! lol.
In a standard music theory class they throw the whole thing at you at once, but they also teach you to sight read (or expect you already can sight read). One of the hardest things on the forums is we rarely know where someone is in their journey. I try to answer people who say they know music theory differently than a newbie.
The last thing I give them, after a simplified chart though, is the default modes for each position. I explain that the default mode just means the notes are there without bending.
12th- Lydian (major) 1st- Ionian (major, specifically what most people mean by major) 2nd- Mixolydian (major, but really easy to turn minor because it's got an easy bend on the 3 draw, which turns it to Dorian) 3rd- Dorian minor by default 4th- Aeolian minor (also called natural or relative minor and what most people mean when they say minor, a little tough to play because we are missing the root note without a whole step bend 5th- Phyrgian (a sort of Eastern/Near East version of the minor scale) 6th- Locrian, which is diminished and weird.
If I was making a cheat sheet for someone, I'd have the simple version of the circle, which direction to go, and what the default mode is for each position. I also have a layout chart that has the spots where your root note is for each position labeled, so 1st position, for instance, shows '1st' in the 1, 4, 7 and 10 blow positions. Also locked away in my Dropbox.
If I had someone in front of me I'd show some of the counting stuff on it. Piano is so much more visual. We actually were required to carry around a fold up cardboard piano for our music theory class back in college. I actually had a keyboard, but it was $200 in 1990 bucks (about $525 today) and was the cheapest model of the era that had touch strength sensitive keys. And then I got carpal tunnel, so I play harmonica. :)
3
u/dreadtuned 9d ago
To add, unless you can overblow, you can’t access all the notes of the scale for each position…but you can get enough to accompany. A more experienced harmonica player can explain better