Ive heard R.L. Burnsides guitar playing where plays all the way on the I chord.......anybody ever backed a guitarist doing that?it seems it would be difficult to do.....the only thing I would know to do is play repetitive riffs all the way through.......
It's important to remember that repetition is a huge part of this groove-based style of blues. Chops are not as important as the groove. Use it to your advantage. Here's some cool youtube videos showing this.
Use the same sort of phrasing ideas that you would on the I chord for a 12 bar blues. You wrote that you're backing the guitarist. If you're backing (whether it's instrumental or has lyrics, it doesn't make a difference), you should be doing little fills or textures or repetitive lines. In this case, you are not featured. You are only adding to the music.
If you have a solo, play the types of phrases that would fit over the I. Play a phrase, leave some space, maybe repeat the phrase with some variation. After you've exhausted the possibilities with that phrase, try out a different phrase. Explore that one. Go on to another phrase or return to the first phrase as a way of building a theme.
When it comes time to solo, your solo will be of indeterminate length (because there's not a clear form, like with the 12 bar). Make sure to signal very clearly when you're finished. This can be a hand signal, eye contact, or an auditory cue. (The audio cue can be a repeated or signature lick.)
Find a good one chord backing track (or make your own, by looping the I chord of a pre-existing track) and mess around with it. Dave Barrett has a good series of videos on this at bluesharmonica.com.
I've got one song that's all I chord (or at least that's the way the guitar player plays it... he complained it was all one chord. I just wrote the melody. He was the one who came up with the chords under it. He could have gotten fancy with it, although I think the one chord serves the song well.)
The way I deal with it is call and response with the vocals, although that can require arranging the song with some extra space. It's amazing how many non-harmonica players are amazed when you play call and response. I'm not sure if they think it's like you are figuring it out on the fly like you are cutting heads with the vocalist or what, but it seems to work. Our song is pretty short too, so it doesn't really have time to get old.
I think it would depend a lot on the tune. You could use some passing tones, particularly between the beats, I think, although one of the guys with more theory would have a better idea.
In the end I think it depends a lot on the individual song and what sound you are going for. This is where I wish I'd paid more attention to dominant, subdominant, leading tones and all that stuff in theory.
It was very common for older blues players to play tunes that stay on the I chord. There is nothing wrong with repeating the same pattern. That's quite often what happens. It may get boring for you, if you are used to using every single hole on the instrument. If you think about RL Burnside's appeal to people was the hypnotic effect that those tunes had on the audience, esp those who like to dance.
One of my takeaways from HCH: "Serve the song" -Jimi Lee Whether it was his or not , true all over and over. Song says 1, then 1. Go voodoo hypnosis groove or whatever it takes, serve the song.
Just to be certain that I am understanding what appears to be the prevailing opinion on the "Modern" Blues Harmonica forum...
Are you contending that Little Walter didn't serve the song when playing "Roller Coaster" when he played a wide variety of improvisational lines over a repetitive 1 chord groove?
Are you all saying that if the song has a groove based on the one chord, the "correct" approach is to play only rhythmic one chord riffs contributing to the "trance" effect, and not play like the above Moreland and Arbuckle, Little Walter, or Jason Ricci songs above?
I just want to be sure that the majority of this group is indicating the opinion that small repetitive riffs contributing to the groove are the only acceptable musical place for harp on a one chord groove... ----------
@dougharps: I for one am certainly NOT supporting the idea to play repetitive riffs all the way through as the only solution. The original poster said something to the effect that repetitive riffs are the only way he could see playing this type of RL Burnside groove, so I was specifically concentrating on that style in adding my .02. I posted the RL Burnside cover and the Ricci 'tutorial" on the John Lee Hooker tune to demonstrate that: 1) Repetition is a huge part of this "trance" or John Lee Boogie" style (and I know they are not the same style so please folks..don't hammer me on that, but they are somewhat related), so don't necessarily shy away from the repetitive riffing, BUT: 2) You can build amazing solos off of the I chord, utilizing said repetition and eventually moving away from it. I think those 2 vids I posted show that.
Little Walter on "Roller Coaster" and on something like "Hate to See You Go" is playing over shuffle-like grooves, less "trance-like" and open up even more possibilities as you so clearly advocate. "Evans Shuffle" is one where Walter plays brilliantly in first position (I think?) on a I chord groove, building off repetition. I think it's one of the greatest of all Walter tunes.
This is from Shared Harvest Harmonica Retreat from 2 years ago. (2 spots left for next week-end) Suzie stays on the I chord and Ronnie switches harmonicas from time to time. They have a conversation in the middle to figure it out. All impromptu fun.
There is no "best" nor "rule" on how to play over one chord for an extended period of time.
It is more challenging than playing over "changes". It takes a bit more imagination and creativity and most find they "run out of ideas" pretty quickly without a chord change to give them more choices.
This was the perplexing problem created in the jazz world when Miles unleashed "Kind of Blue", which was then called a modal approach - basically meaning you stay on one chord for a long time. The song "So What" was basically
Dm7 for 16 bars
Ebm7 for 8 bars
Dm7 for 8 bars
simplified explanation on a piano keyboard might be "white keys for 16 bars" "black keys for 8 bars" "white keys for 8 bars"
It's worth listening to in order to analyze how some pretty good players approached this new (at that time) concept of playing over an unchanging tonal center for an extended period of time.
Sorry, but no "imbed code" was found. Here is the link... https://youtu.be/ylXk1LBvIqU ---------- The Iceman
Last Edited by The Iceman on Jun 12, 2018 11:56 AM
John lee Hooker did [modal]songs a lot,,also Jimi Hendrix did some modal songs too.The chord thing was more of the blues mixing it with European music.Much of the early African base music was [one chord] or modal.Look at the Hendrix playing on [one chord] music.He could take off to the "outskirts of infinity" and come in for a landing with the smooth harmony of the song started with.No limit to where he wanted to go, the limit was in chordal songs you had to stay within the chord harmony...Machine Gun, answers the difference from chords to chordless freedom...
There are no formal nor practical limitations on what notes to play or not. I´ve been playing one-chord stuff (blues) and introduced the flatted 2nd -- it can work like a dream. It´s all dependant on the amount of authority and musical confidence you put into the performance.
@Mirco: Sorry, no recording. Last time it was on an extended improv on "Spoonful". We had been going on for quite a while, the place was sort of buzzing, and I threw out a "Spanish" mode. Went down real well, that I could tell. (I got many interested compliments afterwards, "What was that you played?") I very much doubt if it had worked in the beginning of the tune. Sometimes when things are going your way you can play almost anything, if you do it with, as I said, confidence. It´s an amazing fact of music and I´m sure you have your own examples.
groyster, I think the LW and BW Evans Shuffle/Honeydripper tracks are great I chord jams to study. I don't think it would be hard at all to back a guitar player for these type of grooves although I think it's really the guitar that should back the harp for these but that's another discussion :)
You can just sit there and blow time, there are dozens of these little variations of "lump" patterns that work great.
---------- 4' 4+ 3' 2~~~ -Mike Ziemba Harmonica is Life!
I`ve been listening to roll and tumble version of Muddy Waters, Little Walter and baby face Leroy foster...#1, It`s not 12 bar, no chords,but changes are implied..It`s most like a field holler, Muddy play`s that guitar like a diddly bow, and Little Walter is blowing the harp to no end,BFLF, is doing blues shouts and hollers too,no words.There is a lot to learn from this...This is the first song I learned on guitar along with harp,48 years and I still learn every time I listen up...
Just as a side note on Adams video above. At the end after the lesson he's jamming and just before he does a higher flurry of notes utilizing the 6 over blow, he bends into the 6 blow. I have no idea how he does this. Some killer playing in there.
