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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > Musical arrangement of classic blues song
Musical arrangement of classic blues song
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Garlic Breath
84 posts
Jun 24, 2017
9:47 PM
As some may have noticed, I've lately been fascinated with one of my old favorite blues songs. The Tampa Red song "She Wants To Sell My Monkey". After soliciting suggestions of different versions on the forum, I've found two to be my favorite versions which include harp. The first is by Rod Piazza, which is arranged for a band where the harp player is the singer and featured musician. The other is the Luther "Housrocker" Johnson version, where the singer and guitar player is the featured musician. An old guitar playing friend has suggested we get together with a group of his friends who play drums, bass, and keyboards, for an informal jam session. He and his friends love playing blues, and are eager to add harp to the mix. He wants me to select a song which would provide an easy and comfortable format for us to blend harp into the mix. This song, due to its classic format, seems to fit the bill perfectly. It's also just a fun song, which is quite conducive to call and response audience participation, should it lead to public performance. I'm wondering if there is a classic arrangement for a band where nobody is the featured performer. Having each musician do a solo makes for a tedious ten minute song which is almost guaranteed to bore an audience. I am certainly a beginner in the nuts and bolts of good song structure, but I know old record technology has created psychological window of three to five minutes, and it makes me tend to like the idea of following this arrangement. Your thoughts?

The Iceman
3200 posts
Jun 25, 2017
11:15 AM
You want an education in 3 minute awesome song arrangements? Dive into the 60's British Invasion tunes - Gerry and the Pacemakers, Chad and Jeremy, Herman's Hermits, Dave Clark 5, etc.

All made to fit on a 45 for AM radio airplay. All miniature suites. Brilliant arrangements.
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The Iceman
Tuckster
1597 posts
Jun 26, 2017
9:16 AM
I thought the example you posted was a good "democratic" way to do it. Everybody gets to shine and it didn't go on too long. I've been to too many open jams where you have 2 guitars and a harp on stage and they all have to take 24 bar solos. It can get pretty boring and tedious.


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