Playing Blues over Ionian (major) mode Songs

sundsouza: Not 100% sure I understand the question. Are you asking what your piano player can do to change harmonic structure so that you can play blues melodies over his/her accompaniment? If that's the case and you have a pianist who understands the style, all he/she needs to do is keep in mind that major 7th chords should be avoided, and any I, IV or V major 7th should be adjusted to come out as dominant 7th. A lot of Gospel and country is actually blues based, so might come out all right. But a lot of major scale pop songs are going to sound a lot different if you are going to "bluesify" them. If you're playing for an audience (e.g., church congregation) that's expecting a certain sound, it might be best to adjust your playing to the sound they're expecting, rather than try to fit blues lines into something that isn't blues to start with. But if playing blues lines in non-blues songs is what you're looking for, just be sure that the pianist understands where you're going, and can work flatted 3rds, 5ths and 7ths into the harmonic structure.

sundsouza:

Without the name of the song and way to hear it in context I can't be sure, but just from playing those chords (on guitar) over the rhythm of the words:

I'm inclined to think that the song is in D Major. D, Em, G A and Bm are all "harmonized" chords in D Major, i.e., the three notes in each chord are notes in the D Major scale. The chords in this song are also, in Nashville Number language, the I, ii, IV, V and vi. And the turnaround at the end of each verse is a IV-V-IV-V that doesn't resolve to the I until you start the next verse. Not all that unusual in sacred music. 

It might help if you did a rough transcription showing which holes to play to match the notes in each chord. E.g. 2nd position, G harp, D chord is the 1, 2, 3+, 3, 4,6+, 7, and 9+. A chord is this 1, 4, 6, 8 and 10. Etc.

And your major scale is D E F# G A B C# D.

Which is why, for this sort of major-scale sacred music, your 5 and 9 draws, C-natural rather than C#, sound "off tune." Blues uses the "dominant" or flatted 7th a lot, so C natural is great for a blues tune in D. But you really need that C# for what it appears that you're doing here. E.g., C# is the major 3rd in the A chord triad, and if you play C-natural it turns that A chord, the important V chord in the song, into minor. And you're also a half-step flat if the piano is playing A-C#-E for that chord. Which is why it doesn't just sound "off tune," but goes even further, like you and the piano have a big fight gong on! The only places you can get that C# playing a G harp 2nd position would either be on a 9+ blow-bend, dipping the D to a C#, or if you're really skilled (which I'm definitely not) doing an overblow on the 5+, raising B to a C#.

Or to put it another way, there is no C-natural in any of the five chords in this song.

So it would appear that with a Richter-tuned harp, for this type of music you really need to avoid those 5 and 9 draws.

Alternatives:

1. Don't buy a new harp. When this song comes up, just play a D harp in 1st position. E.g., last year at our church I was privileged to lead a small group of voices, accordion, fiddle and guitar in Buddy Green's wonderful arrangement of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing." As Green does, I played starting in 1st position on a C harp, and then as Greene does for the last verse, we "went up one," and I switched to a D harp. (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOWqMwqzUjM )

2. If you like 2nd position because of the power of draw notes, but want to play major-scale songs, pick up one of Lee Oskar's Melody Maker or Seydel's Melodic Maker or Tony Eyers Major Cross harps in a key you'd like to play. I have Major Crosses in keys common to 1920s and 1930s popular songs, i.e., including "horn keys" like F, Eb and Bb, and use them frequently for this type of music in cabaret tunes. I've also used them in church.

3. My least favorite, because I just don't have all of the skills needed: Play in 2nd position, but avoid the 5 and 9 draw, and when that 7th note of the major scale is needed, e.g., as the major 3rd in the V chord, hit the appropriate blow-bend or overblow.

Great that you're studying modes. And you're right that sacred music is generally in Ionian mode, tho' there's a lot in one or another of the minor-sounding modes (e.g., Dorian and Aolian, 3rd and 4th positions on harp). Blues seems to work in versions of Mixolydian or Dorian, which is why 2nd and 3rd positions seem to work, and why the flatted 3rd of the scale is prominent in traditional blues, but the major 3rd in jump blues, at least over the I chord.

Finally, mode-wise, last year our choir worked on a contemporary piece that changed modes, and one part was really, really challenging harmonically, until we figured out that the composer had us in the Locrian mode, which is a pretty rare one. (E.g., play a scale on your piano on just white keys, starting with B natural. All but the root and the 4th scale step are flatted!)

sundsouza:

We're definitely speaking the same language here, but with some wrinkles

Found Sam Kim and his "Breath" on YouTube. Pretty tune. It uses a common I - V - vi - IV progression. (Note that the Em is designated as minor by using lower-case Roman Numerals, i.e. vi rather than VI. Old-timey jazz and ragtime would sometimes use the VI7.) And it's not an unusual chord progression for contemporary sacred music.

On the YouTube video, Kim is doing the song in F# (Gb), so chords behind it are F# - C# - D#m - B (or Gb - Db - Ebm - B). So if you're playing it in G you're raising it a half step. Assume that's what you're doing using a C harp in 2nd position.

And if you've raised the 5 and 9 draw each a half step, each should be playing F#, the major 7th in the G major scale. So those draw notes aren't really "out of tune," and should work fine over the V (D) major chord, and as a passing suspended 2nd over the Em chord. But over the tonic, G major chord, it turns the harmony into a major 7th chord, which is great for Brazillian bossa nova music, but not so much for a melodic tune like "Breath." And within a C chord those 5 and 9 draws, raised to F#, are a flatted fifth. So must be used with caution.

Keep studying the music theory. It's a very handy language. And pick up some sort of keyboard instrument. E.g., if you don't have a piano keyboard, Hohner's little Melodicas are handy. Understanding how a piano keyboard works can really help when exploring music theory.

Also, often as part of lessons (live or recorded) David has students map out chord tones for chords in a song. When you do that you can easily figure out what notes (including bends, etc.) actually work, and which don't, for every position on the harmonica (or to put it another way, every harmonica in the key of the song). Sort of an expanded version of sitting down and seeing on paper why the 7 draw sounds really awful when trying to play blues in 3rd position.

And finally, for folks like Howard Levy and Jason Ricci, who have the skills and like to demonstrate how they can play any style in any key in any position, playing pop and sacred tunes in 2nd position can work. But for us mortals, usually best to avoid trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole. I pulled out a Low F# harp from my kit to play along in 1st position with Kim's F# "Breath," and found that it sounded really nice, including some cool three-hole chording.

Cheeers.

sundsouza:

Great to hear you're doing guitar. As a chordal instrument, it has a lot of the same benefits as piano. Lots of harp aces have credited their guitar playing for helping them with musical concepts on the harp. As you play chords you can hear and see on the fretboard just what the chordal tones are. (When I teach ukulele, one of the things I emphasize is learning what notes are being played on each string on each fret all way up the fretboard. Once a student gets the hang of that, he or she can easily figure out various chord inversions all the way up the fretboard, and can figure out various ways to shape a chord if the chart says, e.g., "A7-5" or "G+," etc.

I've never been a big fan of pitch pipes. When I started playing instruments (over 65 years ago) that was all there was, and pitch accuracy could be a challenge. For my stringed instruments (guitar, ukulele, banjo etc.) I have a collection of clip-on tuners kept in various instrument cases (my favorites are the Kala rechargeable ones). For harp playing I use the iStroboSoft app, which is a great tool when checking bends. I can also use it for instrument tuning. While a pitch pipe can tell me what a note should sound like, an app like iStroboSoft tells me exactly what note I'm playing (and how far off pitch it is!).