So you’ve got down playing melodies if first position and comfortable moving around the harp playing single notes, that’s great. You’ve been listening to all those great blues harp players and probably thinking “I don’t sound too bluesy!” And you’d be right, ‘cos to get that blues sound you’ll need to learn some bending techniques and learn to play in Second Position.
What’s all this position business anyway?
All it really means is that you’re picking a different hole to be your root note (or starting note), by doing this you’ll find that you’ll be able to play along with different types of music more easily. It just so happens that Second Position fits in nicely with the blues, just as First Position fits in nicely with Major scale melodies.
How many positions are there?
There’s actually a position for every note there is – that means there must be 12 since there are 12 notes in a chromatic scale!
The most common positions are probably 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th which cover most styles of music.
Lets have a closer look at 2nd and 3rd position.
