Tip of the Day

Over the holidays I listened to Jimi Lee's new CD compiled of live performances of jazz standards. On this CD he sings, plays guitar and on every tune plays tasty harmonica. If you like jazz standards (Fly Me To The Moon, Bye Bye Blackbird, etc.) then I think you'll love this CD http://www.jimileeband.com/shop/

Jimi plays altered-tuned harps on this CD as well, so one of my students asked him to put a list together with the keys and turnings he used (thanks Dave) and Jimi posted this on his website (thanks Jimi) http://www.jimileeband.com/shop/jimi_lee_jazz_standards_cd_harp_key_list/

Stormy Monday is one of the most common songs to be played at jam sessions, or as the token blues song that a non-blues band knows how to play. It's so common that you'll see "No Stormy Monday or Mustang Sally allowed at this jam" hung on the wall at some clubs. With this disclaimer stated, you'll want to become familiar with this song due to it being so commonly played and for the fact that it's not a standard twelve bar blues.

Your homework today is to listen to the three most common covered versions of this song...

1) "Stormy Monday" T-Bone Walker continue reading...

The first eight bars follow the standard 12 Bar Blues progression. In bars 9 and 10 where we expect a V7 to iv chord (it's common for a minor blues to have a major V chord), in this song it's a bVI (flat six chord) to V7. In 2nd Position (E Harmonica) this chromatically descending chord progression (by half step) works out well as 2 to 2', 3' to 3" or 3' to 4+. In 3rd Position (A Harmonica) 3' to 3", 4 to 4', 5 to 5+ (and its octave equivalent 2" to 2+) or 2" 2 (and 5 6+) works well. Experiment with these to see which sounds best to you.

Join Jason Ricci as he tours Greg Heumann's shop at BlowsMeAway Productions https://youtu.be/OdeY5flcOwU

Jason Ricci shared with me his favorite series of jam tracks available for free on YouTube. Check out QuistJam here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KASgnQXLZrw with a Slow Blues in G. Thanks for the tip Jason.

Roger "The Archivist" Trobridge (most known for his work with the National Harmonica League in the UK) asked that I put together a radio program based on the series of articles that I wrote for their magazine on playing the blues chromatic. In this program you'll hear George “Harmonica” Smith, Little Walter, William Clarke, Rod Piazza, Rick Estrin, Mark Hummel, Paul deLay, Dennis Gruenling, Mitch Kashmar, Gary Primich, Paul Oscher, Steve Guyger, Lynwood Slim, Kim Wilson and Jean “Toots” Thielemans (my apologizes for the other great players that I didn't have time to include). continue reading...

This song brings two challenges to harmonica players... it's in minor and it has a chord substitution for Bars 9 and 10.

If you decide to play this in 2nd Position you'll need an E Harmonica to play in Bm (B minor). You'll want to stick to the blues scale...

Lower Octave = 1+ 1' 1 2" 2
Mid Octave = 2 3' 4+ 4' 4 5 6+
High Octave = 6+ (6' 6) 7+ 8 9 9+

If you choose to play in 3rd Position you'll use an A Harmonica. Again, the blues scale is a good scale to focus on...

Lower Octave = (1+) 1 2" 2 3''' 3" 4+ 4
Mid Octave = 4 5 6+ 6' 6 7+ 8
High Octave = 8 9 9+ 10 10+ continue reading...

When this song first crossed my path at a jam session I found it challenging to find a part to play that didn't conflict with the bass or guitar (two strong hooks are played). Going home after the jam and listening to what the horns and guitar played helped feed me some ideas. Here's what I play now (D harp in 2nd Position)...

I7 = 4 4, 4 4+ 3 3
IV7 = 6+ 6+, 6+ 5 5+ 5+
V7-IV7-I7 = 4/5 shake, 4+/5+ shake
Turnaround: 2 2, 2 2" 1 1

The next tune on our standards list is Junior Wells' "Messin’ with the Kid." This is another rock beat with a strong guitar hook and thematic hook in the opening (played once) and ending (played three times). Here's the opening thematic lick played on the harp (assuming the band is in the key of C)...

2nd Position (F Harmonica)
6+ 5 4 4+ 3' 3" 2 2" 2 - Be careful to play the 3' in tune, it's a challenging note in this passage and it sounds bad if you don't play it in pitch.

3rd Position
4 4+ 3" 3+ 2" 2+ 1 1+ 1 or 8 7+ 6 6+ 5 5+ 4 4+ 4

The next song on the School of the Blues House Band Standards List is "Baby Scratch My Back" by Slim Harpo. The lazy groove of this song (commonly called a Swamp Groove) makes it a unique addition to a set. For the harmonica player this song offers two great thematic choruses that are playable at the intermediate skill level. It also offers a good rhythmic challenge due to the pickup nature of all of the licks. The vocals of the song are doable for anyone to sing due to their spoken nature (this is one of the main reasons this song is chosen by new bands).