Hello! on the internet i can find loads of information on improvising blues on the harp and i am currently learning to do so but all searches to improvise rock are leading nowhere at least not that i could follow them >.< I am creating this thread in hopes of finding a way to improvise rock
There are many more videos geared towards blues improvisation because the blues follows a I-IV-V progression (95% of the time). Rock songs typically go through different chord changes. I have some suggestions for you, depending on your skill level: - if you have not learned how to improvise within a 12 bar blues, this should be your first focus (partly because there is so much material out there on it). Learn HOW to improvise first, and then you'll be able to apply this towards rock music. -Pick up Dave Barrett's "Rock Harmonica" book. It has a lot of great information on how to improvise with scales and how to make your licks sound really aggressive. -Pick some rock songs that you like. Learn the chord changes to it. Pick out the notes on the harmonica that will fit those chords, and build your improv around those notes. Over time, you will learn which chords are more common in rock and you will develop the ability to improvise in rock. ---------- Marc Graci YouTube Channel
Much of rock harp is blues harp, just played against a different background - Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, and others.
So starting out with learning something about blues harp will definitely help you. And even though some rock tunes use more than the basic three chords, even then blues licks and techniques can often be adapted to those as well. =========== Winslow
I've played a ton of different types of music and here are my tips:
The ear is the final judge.
First find a tonal of key area that the tunes seems to "lay" in.
Some scales: In cross harp the blues scale, Mixolydian and for major stuff Major pentatonic.
For Reggae major key tunes I like to use the Major Pentatonic.
Rock is closely related to blues so what you learned in blues most of it will work for Rock.
I don't try to play on the changes since most of them are taken from the home key and my ear just guides me. When there are changes out of the key they are mostly secondary dominants and not true modulations to another key. ----------
one way to approach rock songs and blues songs as well is to be aware of avoidance notes. sometimes there are several, but usually only one note you really want to avoid this is sugar blues finest work, the rolling stones some girls i would start with 6 blow 5 blow 4 draw then find those notes an octave lower 3 blow 2 blow 1 draw then an octave higher 9 blow 8 blow 8 draw then tye them together. you should be able to play from one draw to 9 blow effectively playing whole range of the harmonica. the note to avoid is the 5 draw. trying playing 2 draw 3 draw 4 draw 5 blow 6 blow find those notes in the upper octave starting on 6 blow once you have masters that there are occasions where the blues scale is useful this is where you would avoid 5 blow and use 5 draw. it depends on the chords the band is using. you can sometimes switch back and forth depending on the harmony. hope this helps
learn the harp that Paul Butterfield does in the live ,"everythings gonna be alright" you learn that and take it from there ,you will be doinittoit... hard rockin`...
My website sucks. But there are some handy Youtubes I did that start there. I'd love to keep going, but I have four kids and they are keeping me super busy, lol.
That and it drives me nuts that there isn't an easy way to record from my iPad while playing to a track directly. I don't want to spend time on post production.
IMO, rock playing is all about the attitude you bring, which comes through confidence knowing you can play to the song. In order to do that, you need to hear the harmonica differently and understand some basic theory.
