harmonica

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...

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

In Ryan Walker’s latest lesson at BluesHarmonica.com we work on his half step bending control (Bending Study 5) and charting a John Garcia 8 bar blues song (Accompaniment Study 9, Duo Playing).

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).

In Beginning Student Hob Bosold's latest lesson he plays the Tongue Blocking Study 1 study song "Walk with Me" to the jam track, learns about the slap and lift technique in the study song "Temperature" and receives his LOA-L1 pin.

Another tune with a strong hook by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. The hook is presented below, but harp players don't commonly play the entire hook, just the last two notes (same pattern as the common Charleston rhythm, but with straight eighths for this rock beat).

I7 = 1 2" 2' 2 2

IV7 = 2 3' 3 4+ 4+

V7 = 3" 4+ 4' 4 4

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band's version of "Walkin’ Blues" provides another rock beat/straight eighth groove with a strong hook. Here's the hook on the harp...

I7 = 2 2 2 2 2" or 6+ 6+ 6+ 6+ 5 or Same with Octaves

IV7 = 4+ 4+ 4+ 4+ 3'

V7 = 4 4 4 4 4+ (it's common for players to improvise from Bar 9 onward)

If you like to work with jam tracks, but find that you're lacking in some keys, or find that a particular jam track is perfect for a song you're working on, but a little bit too fast and not in the correct key, there's a simple solution. Place the jam track into a program like the Amazing Slow Downer (www.ronimusic.com), change the key (and tempo if you want) and then save the file. Done, you now have another version of the jam track. continue reading...

To understand the two dropped beats at 1:44 you'll need to listen to one of the other verses for his vocal phrasing. Listen at 2:02 and you'll hear that he starts his vocals on the "and" of 3 leading into the next verse. Listen back to 1:44 and you'll notice that he starts his vocals on the "and" of 1 leading into the vocal verse after the bridge. The pickup to the vocal verse is two beats early. continue reading...

Before I outline "Just Your Fool" by Little Walter I think you should take a listen to it for yourself first. Listen careful to the form and see if you can figure out what's going. Your clue is that it has both 12 and 8 bar forms, with two different types of 8 bar forms present. There's also a deviation (i.e., mistake) in the form in one of later verses.