Theory and quality of the notes
Hi David,
I might be premature by asking as the lessons on" Theory and Quality of the notes" which you mentioned will be coming might answer my question.
When Jamming and someone says Shuffle in the key of G...I assume that means G major. At this point if the band is playing blues you would just improvise using the notes of blues scale? Would that also mean we would never want to play the 3 draw (unbent)? Would the other band members ever play a B? which is the 3rd of the G major and not the flat third or blue 3rd?
I know in some of your lessons you mention a major feel or minor feel depending if it is a jump swing or another feel. I know for sure if a minor is called then nver play a major 3rd but what about major?
Regards,
528hemi
Thanks! One other question, when playing in say g minor on a c harp in 2nd
Position, what notes would work well with the 4 chord. In major you mention all blow notes work for the 4 chord but what about when playing in G minor. The 4 chord would be Cminor so I assume the 2 blow "E:" should not be played and would you play a G flat (5th of CMinor) instead of G (3 blow)?
In other words, would you not want to play any E notes? same with the 5 chord you would
want to play notes of the d minor scale for the most part which are different then the ones we studied with major?
Thanks Again,
528hemi
Reference the Minor Playing lesson and look at the Minor Playing.pdf for the "stay away" from notes.
In the chart it shows to stay away from E and B... the major-seventh F# is not even on your harmonica, so there's no issue with that and is thus unlisted.
So... for the i7 Chord you would stay away from B and substitute it for the minor-third, Bb (this is in the blues scale).
For the iv7 Chord you would stay away from E, with no substitution (E nor E-flat is in the blues scale). If you were playing in a non-blues minor, they would commonly use E-flat, which is only available on the 8'+... unless you use 1OB (1 over blow) or 4OB... so, pretty much everyone just avoids this note.
For the v7 Chord you would stay away from F# (which is not on your harmonica anyways), with F. Keep in mind that the v7 chord in minor can commonly be played in major (V7), so the F# would be back in play... commonly the 2'.
You would not play G-flat on the iv7 chord, that is a flat-5 and is only used in a diminished chord.
So, in the end, the blues scale pretty much takes care of it all.
Thanks David.. I understand now.
I assume you mean when you said:
"For the v7 Chord you would stay away from F# (which is not on your harmonica anyways), with F."
that F# is not in the minor scale NOT ( which is not on your harmonica anyways) as 2 draw bend Gb is also F# which you say in your next sentence is the -2'
Thanks again for the great explanation!!!!
Looks like we're on the same page.
That's correct, G Major. Yes, you could use notes of the blues scale if you wish... licks that you've studied will be even better. A solo scale in itself does not create good solos, but they can be a helpful guide. Improvising Study 9 (specifically Section 1 - Playing According to the Feel of a Song) answers your questions in regards to feel and when it's appropriate to use major thirds or minor thirds.