Second-Position Licks
In order to play cross harp, or second position, on the harmonica, your tonic note is always the 2 draw. On the C harmonica, in this case, it would be the key of G. Cross harp depends on mainly playing draw notes. So if the band is playing a blues in G, you should be playing cross harp on a C harp.
FIGURE 8-4: Second-position licks
TRACK 29
I want to play blues and rock — should I focus my practicing on second position?
Players who only practice second position often find it difficult to play any minor-key songs and will hit notes in a major scale that don't fit into the minor-key chord progression. They will also believe that they can't play many songs because they “Don't have the right key” harmonica. If you only practice one position, that is all you will be able to play, and you will be missing out on a lot of fun and growth as a musician.
The reason shifting to second position to play a blues scale in another key works is that the resulting scale has a flatted seven rather than the not-bluesy-sounding-at-all natural seven of a major scale. For example, on the C harmonica when you shift to second position and start playing in the key of G, the seventh note of the G scale naturally becomes an F, because F is part of the C scale, while F# would be the seventh note of a G major scale.
