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David's Tip of the Day: 2 Draw Abuse, Part 2

Posted Mon, 01/23/2012 - 10:14 by David Barrett Admin
David Barrett Admin's picture

I'm sure you found this challenging to do. The 2 draw is the most common hole used on the harmonica (4 draw being a close second). The 2 is the root note (we're speaking of 2nd Position here), so it's obvious that we'll be playing it a lot. This is true, but we DO NOT have to resolve every phrase we play... in fact it's boring to resolve every phrase we play.

So, what to do. There are some tools. Try this lick.

4 4+ 3 2 2 (hold last note)

Now, instead of resolving the phrase with the last 2 draw, kick into another note like in the examples below...

1) 4 4+ 3 2 1
2) 4 4+ 3 2 3
3) 4 4+ 3 2 4

You can't always stop yourself from going to the 2 draw, but you can continue on to another note right away. Experiment with this a bit to a jam track. Every time you're about to play 2 draw, choose another draw note to play in its place. More on this tomorrow.