Tip of the week: Sneaking the slide into third position, Part 1

Tip of the week: Sneaking the slide into third position, Part 1

In blues chromatic, third position is king. Of course you can play it without every using the slide - witness the famous photo of Little Walter holding a chromatic with the button broken off.

But the slide still has a place, even while staying with the classic stylistic boundaries laid out by Walter and by George Smith.

Here's an easy way to start. Replace the notes C and F with their slide-in versions (assuming a C chromatic).

F is a draw note in Holes 2, 6, and 10. Play the slide-in blow note instead.

C is a blow note in Holes 4/5, and 8/9. PLay slide-in Draw 4 or Draw 8 instead.

Why do this? It lets you slide in (literally) to blue notes in the scale from the note below - from B to C and E to F.

Try playing the approach note (Blow E approaching slide-in F, or Draw B approaching slide-in C) and then pressing in the slide, or wiggling the slide in and out while playing the approach note.

So how does this square with the chordal approach to blues chromatic?

Octave splits work just fine. Four-hole splits may sound weird (or not). Paul deLay had an interesting approach to using the weirdness, but that goes beyond a tip.

However, moving-tongue effects (lifting on/off, or raking from side to side) may introduced unwanted harmony notes with the slide in, so you have to be careful about using those.