Stumbling On A Position

What is the specific tune you're trying to play?

Charlie McCoy neve uses overblows.

He does use one alternate tuning called Country Tuning, which raises Draw 5 one semitone. This gives you a full major scale in second position, instead of a flat 7th, which is great for blues but sounds wrong in tunes that use a pure major scale.

But it sounds like you're dealing with the opposite - a minor scale. In G, the minor scale has a B-flat instead of a B natural, and an E-flat instead of an E natural. And guess what--a Bb harp gives you a scale that includes Bb and Eb (and G).

When you play in G on a Bb harp:

-- You're in fourth position.

--Your home note is found in Draw 6, Draw 10, and Draw 3 bent down 2 semitones. That lower home note is awkward to sustain in tune, so fourth position is often played in the higher ranges of the harp.

I don't know of Charlie using fourth position, but that doesn't mean he hasn't,

However, I do know for sure that he uses fifth position. This would be E on a C harp, or G on an Eb Harp. In fifth:

-- Blow 2 is your main home note; also Blow 5 and Blow 8.

-- Draw 2 and Draw 3 are the other notes of the minor I chord, and they both bend, making it a cool minor position. Draw 4 also makes a good wailing note.

-- Your only real "avoid note" is BLow 5 (and Blow 9), which is a flat 2nd degree

Charlie's own record is played in second position, in the key of Bb (Major) on an Eb harp in Country Tuning (Draw 5 raised from Ab to A natural). No overblows, but a lot of very precise draw bends in Holes 2 and 3.

If your band is playing it in G, you could take a C harp and tune Draw 5 up from F to F#, or get a country-tuned harp (You could also use a Lee Oskar Melody Maker in G, which would also eliminate the need for some of the Hole 3 bends.)