blues

Another fun way to open a song is to play a twelve-bar boogie line on the harmonica and then have the band join you. Here's what I like to play. Each note is one beat in length (quarter notes). Feel free to add pulls on the upbeat to help it swing.

I
2 3 4 5+ 6+ 5+ 4 3

2 3 4 5+ 5 5+ 4 3

IV
4+ 2+ 2 3" 3' 3" 2 2+

I
2 3 4 5+ 6+ 5+ 4 3

ii - V
3" 3 4+ 4' 4 4+ 3 3"

I
2 2+ 1 2+ 2 2+ 1 1+

Ronnie Shellist's musical career began in 1997 working with singer/songwriter Hugh Fadal from Austin, TX. Blues great Gary Primich was a huge influence on his music as well as Guy Forsyth and Walter T. Higgs who lived and played in Austin in the mid 90's. Thanks to a great blues scene in Austin at the time, Ronnie had an up close and personal experiences in the scene that heavily influenced his ultimate musical direction. His style is a combination of mostly Chicago and West Coast blues influenced by funk and jazz greats such as Grant Green and Maceo Parker. continue reading...

The same approaches that we used from the V (Bar 9) we can use for the Turnaround (Bar 11). Here are these options again, but specifically for the Turnaround.

1) “From the Turnaround, All-in” – You and the band start on Bar 11 and play a turnaround lick

2) “From the Turnaround, All-in” – Same idea as above, but you don’t start until the beginning of the next chorus. This gives you the opportunity to hear what the band is laying down before you play. continue reading...

In Gary Smith's 53rd submission for BluesHarmonica.com we continue our series on blues bridges.

Here's an interesting short on Gary Sloan, supposedly known in Anchorage as the man who introduced Blues music to Alaska in the 1960's https://www.facebook.com/DODWMPW/videos/1081467821924832/

In this lesson Joe Filisko spends time covering the artists that have recorded memorable versions of the Fox Chase. Joe start this series with Henry Whitter, the first recorded versiob of the Fox Chase.

Our first type of opening is simply from the beginning of the 12 Bar Blues Form, from the I (from the one... we use Roman numerals for chords). The speech will be as follows for "Need My Baby" by Big Walter Horton...

1) "G"

2) "Shuffle" (in this case with a Quick Change)

3) "From the I"

4) Count the band in and play continue reading...

Today I'll start a series to help you understand, and eventually use, the common opening types found in blues that are safe to call in a sit-in (you sitting in with an established blues band) or jam session (mixture of skill and experience level of musicians) situation.

Let's start with the basics of what generally needs to be stated for a song...

1) Key - "E," for example. Avoid drawn-out phrases like "Okay, we're going to play a song in the key of E." Keep it succinct... "E" continue reading...

Professor John Shirley has created "BlueDadi Harmonica Recording Software" to help BluesHarmonica.com students do quick recordings of themselves with the best harmonica tone possible. John has provided two videos for you to watch to get to know the software. Please watch these videos, read the provided PDF and spend time experimenting with everything in the program. Since John has created this on his free time and is not doing this for profit, there is no additional support for this program... have fun experimenting and seeing what you can creatively do. Thanks John!

In Gary Smith's latest submission we start a series on understanding the blues bridge.