Posted Fri, 01/08/2016 - 13:35 by David Barrett Admin
"Tramp" provides our most common rock beat (straight-eighths) in the blues. You can hear derivations of this groove in William Clarke's "Pawnshop Bound" and my recent "Here We Go" on the It Takes Three CD. This song also provides a good challenge of dealing with what's basically a 12 Bar Blues in nature, but with an irregular length (some of the chords are double in length and it's not consistent from chorus to chorus). The band's challenge is to turn the form into a consistent form. continue reading...
Posted Mon, 12/21/2015 - 10:02 by David Barrett Admin
When a song is hook-driven like this one is, your first approach to accompaniment is to play the hook as well.
The hook on the i7 Chord is 2 2 2 3' 4+ (Root, Root, Root, flat-3rd, 4th). Though he's playing on a Bb Harmonica in 2nd Position, let's reference the C Harmonica in 2nd Position to make talking about the music theory easier. The notes would be G G G Bb C. continue reading...
Posted Fri, 12/18/2015 - 09:44 by David Barrett Admin
Our next song on the School of the Blues House Band Standards list is "Help Me" by Rice Miller. This iconic tune is one of the rare tunes in minor, F Minor to specific. Miller uses the Bb Harmonica in 2nd Position, and although there are some rough areas of major against minor, he still makes it work.
Your homework this weekend is to listen to the song and try to copy what he plays in the opening chorus and solo. On Monday we'll discuss how to approach both accompaniment and improvising. continue reading...
Posted Tue, 12/15/2015 - 10:26 by David Barrett Admin
Our next song on the School of the Blues House Band Standards list is "T-Bone Shuffle." We use the Boz Scaggs version in G (from the Come On Home album), with the harp player commonly using a C Harp. continue reading...
Posted Fri, 12/11/2015 - 10:04 by David Barrett Admin
Jimmy Reed's "Baby What You Want Me To Do" is the first song on the School of the Blues House Band Standards List. This laid back shuffle is the most common shuffle chosen by harmonica players due to its relaxed feel. It's a really easy groove to play to, so if you're new to soiling, choose this groove! To generically call for this feel say "Jimmy Reed Shuffle."
The song opens with two bars of the I Chord (one chord) to establish the feel (some musicians say "two for nothing"). The 12 Bar Blues form start with the vocals.