Order of Matching Notes?

We all know that lick vocabulary (studying songs to gain licks that we can play) is the most important thing for a blues harmonica player to do to develop their soloing skills, but there is some method behind the madness for note choices. If you learn a great sounding lick, then it will sound great for you... but have you wondered WHY a note combination works in a lick?

Think of it as a pyramid. Level 1 is the largest, or least dissonant block (~70% of the time), Level 2 being less so, and more dissonant (~25% of the time) and Level 3 used very sparingly, and very dissonant (~5% of the time). These percentages will vary from song to song (due to the feel... whether it's dark, which will use more dissonant notes... remember we play blues... a bluesy note is a dissonant note... or light... not all blues is aggressive), but this is a good place to start.

Level 1 - Chord Tones = Non-Active Tones (since they ARE the notes of the chord, they do not lead anywhere)

Let's build a scale to see what the chord looks like. In the key of G we have G A B C D E F# G. The first note is G, so let's build a I Chord (one chord)... called the I Chord due to the fact that it's the first scale degree. To build a chord we simply build in thirds by skipping a note. Play G, skip A, play B, skip C, etc. Our I Chord ends up being: G B D. This is called the basic triad (three notes built in thirds... tertian harmony).

If the band is playing a I Chord (which is the first four measure of the 12 Bar Blues Progression) then it makes sense we're going to mostly use these notes if we want to match... play music TOGETHER. This is why the first level of note choice ends up being these notes.

So, on a C Harmonica for example that's 2, 3 then 4 (draw). If you take these notes and play them over the range of the harmonica you get: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6+, etc. These ARE the most common notes used. Used exclusively though they're BORING (think chicken... a great meat, but bland if used by itself with no seasoning).

Level 2 - Active Tones = Notes not of the chord, but of the scale of the chord.

The notes we skipped... A, C and E can be used as stepping stones between chord tones (commonly called passing tones and neighboring tones). Holding one of these notes will build some tension (a bit of dissonance) that needs to be resolved into a chord tone, thus the name ACTIVE tone. If you were to ONLY play these active tones, it would sound awkward... like you don't know what chord you're on. Using these notes as passing tones and occasionally to build tension is what will add spice to your playing... that chicken now has some salt, pepper, bacon and jalapeno cheese... mmmm... now that's starting to sound/taste good!

Level 3 - Outside Tones = Notes not of the chord and not of the scale of the chord

Outside tones aggressively seek to be resolved... these are our BLUE NOTES and the other notes not found in the chord and scale of the chord. Let's now add some SPICY mustard to your chicken dish... if it's really spicy, just a little can add some kick... use TOO MUCH and it can ruin the meal and make it inedible. These are the notes that give Blues its great mournful dissonance that yearns to be resolved... but, too much and you'll make your listener clinch their stomach and grit their teeth to the point where it's not enjoyable to listen to you anymore.

Addition #1
Those of you that have noticed that our chord names commonly have a "7" next to them, like "C7" or "IV7." This means to add one more note to the chord (still building in 3rds). So your G B D chord turns into a G B D F. Note that we didn't use F#... we lowered it for bluesy effect (the lowering of the 7th is assumed in blues). BLUESY EFFECT means dissonance... so this note, though an honorary chord tone, is an outside tone and will want to be resolved.

Addition #2
You may also think about the CHORUS FORM idea. There is many times where we ignore chord change and just repeat the I Chord lick (in the first four measures) right over the IV Chord (measures 5-8 range) and sometimes V Chord (measures 9 through 12 range). In this case PHRASING TRUMPS CHORD CHANGE (or notes that should match the chord you're playing over). Since we've heard the lick once, we focus more on the fact that the lick is repeating and less so that the notes are not quite matching the new chord. It's also a fact that there are some notes in common between chords and the fact that every four-measure line resolves on a I Chord... so we all match in the end anyway.

Final Thoughts
So... to finish up... a lick sounds good because it sounds good!... no need to question it, right? Sure!... but... we do like to dig a little deeper so that WE can make some choices. With that said, we have...

#1 - Chord Tones (Notes of the chord)
#2 - Active Tones (Notes not of the chord, but of the scale of the chord... actively desires to be resolved)
#3 - Outside Tones (Notes not of the chord, nor of the scale of the chord... aggressively desires to be resolved)

Players will HEAR this over time... an intuitive knowledge. If you're a person that likes to dig deeper with this music theory you can speed up the process by looking into this... but keep in mind that sometimes we can't answer intellectually WHY a lick sounds killer... sometimes it can break all the rules and be SO right...

I'm hungry now...