5th position
Have been messing around with fifth position - not too hard to pick up, but difficult to use in a blues context because I can't find any examples of it to copy on CD (other than a couple of tracks on IC Special, which are too hard for me to copy at the moment!) I've figured out that 2 blow fits the I chord, bent 3 draw fits the IV chord and 3 draw the V chord and that you can arpeggiate (if that's the word) the I and IV chord but can't get the fifth on the V chord - the same goes in both octaves. Also noticed that playing in 5th position on a Bb harp over a blues in G, but resolving to the bent 3, sounds jazzy rather than bluesy.
Having fun figuring this out, but feeling a bit lost on the theory side. First of all, are there any mistakes in my understanding of the roots of the I, IV and V chords in fifth? Second, is using the 5th position (phygrian?) scale but resolving to the bent three draw instead of the two blow something to do with modes?
In over my head here!
Thanks, Winslow - I'll search out the McCoy track. I'm surprised it isn't used much in blues - you can warble in it, get a couple of octave splits, bend single and double notes and chug with at least parts of chords. Why is it so blues-unfriendly? Is it just a Catch 22 thing - there aren't many recordings in 5th so no one records in 5th?
Well, the flat second degree in the scale - try playing Draw 5 while you play in 5th - and also the flat 6th (Blow 1, 4, 7, and 10) are not blues friendly notes. If you can avoid them, yeah, it does have lots of possibilities. But you have to pick and choose, and big, multi-note chords are not a possibility due to those notes (except maybe the draw chord in Holes 1 thru 4)..
Thanks, Winslow. I see what you mean - from trying to play along with jam tracks in 5th position I see it's easy to hit some really awful-sounding notes, especially when you leap between octaves and accidentally hit the 7 blow for instance! Also been listening to 'Too Much Whiskey' on IC Special - seems like that's a kind of minor version of the usual 2nd position fox chase rhythm, which sounds good in 5th (not that I can do it yet).
You've got the chord roots right.
If you're resolving to the middle bend on the Draw 3 on the I chord, then yeah, that's more a jazzy thing - you're hitting tje 4th degree in the scale, which is a kind of suspended tone when played over the I chord, and will sound especially jazzy if the I chord is a minor chord.
However, if you're bending the Draw 3 all the way down, then that's a normal part of the I major chord.
Fifth position is fairly rare in blues; occasionally you hear it in bluegrass-tinged folk and old-timey. Central Tracks Blues by William McCoy from about 1927 is the only one that comes readily to mind.