What to do about Stormy Monday
David,
How do you approach Stormy Monday? It gets called a lot at jam sessions, especially Monday night sessions. A really good R&B singer in town heard me play and suggested I sit with him on that tune next time I see him. I think
he figured hey it's a bluesy tune so a harp would sound good. But it's a tough chord progression to navigate without overblows or a chromatic.
What position do you play it in? Or do you use a chromatic? Can you point me to any good recordings of Stormy Monday featuring harp? I listened to the Allman Brothers "Live at the Fillmore East" recording which has a harp solo, but frankly it's kind of bad. The edited the harp solo out of the initial release of that album and I can see why.
I'm really more interested in mastering traditional Chicago 3 or 4 chord blues and don't want to get sidetracked into a long odyssey of learning overflows and jazz - great stuff but that's not my focus. However it would be nice to find a way to at least fake this tune convincingly.
Steve
Thanks David I'll check out Music Theory Study 6 tonight.
Steve
Thanks David, theory study 6 helped. The material really lays out the changes. I uploaded a recording of me noodling around on it: http://www.bluesharmonica.com/share/recordings/stormy_monday. Feel free to critique it. It's a little rough in spots but at least I won't be scared when it gets called at a jam session.
Steve
Well played... good note section and fluid.
Hello Steve. I cover Stormy Monday in Music Theory Study 6 in great detail. I personally play it in 2nd Position. The tricky place is just in bars 7 and 8... the rest is essentially a standard 12 bar slow blues. I am not aware of any good harp recorded versions of this, though I sure have heard people blow the hell out of it. Share with everyone what your research finds.