Hey there harpsters of Sonic Junction! Dennis here to take you on through the rest of my 3rd position study piece “Third is the Word”. This final section will have us using some tongue-vamping, trills, distorted notes, and using our full bottom octave and low bends on the A harp. The precision needed to hit these bent notes correctly in this is not the easiest, but with some practice (especially with a tuner, hint-hint) you can really start to nail these notes. Remember that the groove is such an important part of the phrasing with much of this song, and most of this music in general. Make sure you have a metronome to use with your practice time for rhythmic practice, and a tuner to practice your bends with.
Enjoy the rest of this tune, and I’ll see you next time here on Sonic Junction!
- Dennis Gruenling
Topics and/or subjects covered in this lesson:3rd Position
A Harp in the Key of B.
Loop 0:15 11th and 12th Chorus Acoustically
Loop 1:11 Breakdown of First 8 Bars
Loop 2:42 Practice Loop First 8 Bars
Loop 3:04 Breakdown of Turnaround
Loop 4:34 Practice Loop of 11th Chorus
12th Chorus
Loop 5:02 Breakdown of First 8 Bars
Loop 6:57 Practice Loop of First 8 Bars
Loop 7:47 Breakdown of Last 4 Bars
Loop 9:49 Practice Loop of 11th Chorus
Loop 10:18 Closing Thoughts
Comments
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This has been a great series. So many cool licks coming from only the blues scale! I love the emphasis on different textures, with the vamping and the wah. I think it's not only about the pitches we choose, but about the textures and rhythm. Chorus 11 is very cool!
Thanks Marc! Notes are just notes...like words are just words. But how you use the notes (or words) is of the utmost importance when it comes to expressing and communicating!
Very nice lesson still working on it, very important lesson
Thanks Boyd!! I try to throw in valuable things to think about!
Thanks, Dennis! Great series, as always. Will the next one be on straight harp? "First is the Worst"? (i.e., the hardest to learn)
Great title! It is not neccesarily the worst, but not my favorite either. We will see what happens...!