but if blues started jazz than why would it not be blues just with a diffrent tempo i consider the title may of changed there name but i still can hear the soul of blues
It's usually considered more of a country tune these days but to give it a blues feel, you would need to really work on the groove, and to make most anything sound more bluesy, you have to learn how to play it BEHIND THE BEAT and not on top, and not ahead of it, and that means you may have to adjust the melody to FIT THE GROOVE and not the other way around. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
It's usually considered more of a country tune these days but to give it a blues feel, you would need to really work on the groove, and to make most anything sound more bluesy, you have to learn how to play it BEHIND THE BEAT and not on top, and not ahead of it, and that means you may have to adjust the melody to FIT THE GROOVE and not the other way around. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
We still have blues & jazz...look at it more as music with a common ancestry rather than one spawning, or becoming the other (like, for instance, the progression from Ska to Rocksteady to Reggae).
Georgia was written by Hoagy Carmichael & featured Bix Beiderbeck, soon after covered by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra...then, like Stardust, covered by too many people to count. It pretty well screams Americana/Jazz. The song predates the common use of the phrase "R'n'B".
Like many songs (Staggerlee, It's All In The Game, St James Infirmary spring to mind) there are versions by artists from several genres...I guess whichever version you like best could influence your perception...if you were a teenager in the mid 70's & you like the Sex Pistols then "My Way" might be a punk song to you? On the other hand, you might just feel that a great song was murdered by a bunch of oiks? ;-)
Last Edited by on Jun 21, 2011 7:58 AM
I consider the question answered to my satisfaction.
Now I need to tab it out for the gang at the club. I was playing around and have found 12th position to be the easiest. (no bent notes, etc.) But that's for another post/topic ---------- The WV State Harmonica Championship at The Diamond Teeth Mary Blues Festival Aug 27th & 28th 2011, Huntington,WV
@5f6h i never though of it that way it true though that music didn't really spawned from one to the other expanding is more the word and to each there own but what came first the chicken or the egg ?
There is a great quote-unquote "blues version" of Georgia by Paul Oscher on his "Down in the Delta" CD...his harp playing and guitar playing are really wonderful on this tune and he nails a particular groove the way BBQ Bob mentions and makes it something kinda new, where spot-on intonation is not absolutely necessary—at least IMHO—the groove is king. I've seen him do it live—great! Worth checking out to those who don't know it. He puts in a little "Almost Lost My Mind" in there as well, also known as Walter Horton's "Easy", or....
though 12th is a good idea lee oskar has a tuning called the melody maker and it's great for this tune.
it may be considered a maj 7th tuning but i'm not sure.
anyway, if you are a second position slave, the MM is designed for 2nd pos.
of course you can forget playing blues on one of these things because the 3 blow is raised a whole step and the 5 draw is raised a half step. i think the 8 draw is also a half step up.---------
MP doctor of semiotics and reed replacement.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
It's a great tune that can be bluesified. Here is a rendition I rushed yesterday. I had a computer meltdown last week and had to replace it with new gear. This was a rush test on some new software. Pictures/ vids were mostly shot last Sunday (this beach is virtually on our doorstep) and the software installed tested & uploaded to youtube yesterday along with Georgia being one take. I love the tune & will redo it when I learn how to work the software properly. It was a test so don't be too critical......
Last Edited by on Jun 21, 2011 3:09 PM
If I play it on guitar--it's jazz. If I play it on slide guitar--it's Delta Blues. When I play it on a minor harp--it's country. I guess I'd just classify it as a TUNE.
Nice, @Aussiesucker--is that the official intro you're playing there? You don't hear that part much these days. . . ----------
In my opinion the answer is the question itself, when a song reach the universal and the in temporal it simply impossible to classify it in a specific genre. I've tried to do something on this song months ago:
---------- Never try to be as good as someone else, succeed to be the best player you can be!
Oldwailer thanks. Don't get too technical re official intro? All I know is I have a few sung versions, one by Willie Nelson, & I just sing the tune along in my head. Don't know if it's official or not!
I couldn't find a good video of the full version, Aussie--but here are the lyrics for the original song--most people don't recognize the first verse, and it has a different melody. The only version I really found is a guitar lesson by Fred Sokolow--but I can't upload that.
Verse 1: Melodies bring memories, mem'ries of a song, a song that sing of Georgia, back where I belong.
Georgia, Georgia, the whole day through; just an old sweet song keeps Georgia on my mind. (Georgia on my mind.)
Each day, Georgia, a song of you, comes as sweet and clear as moon-light through the pines.
Other arms reach out to me, other eyes smile tenderly. Still in peaceful dreams I see the road leads back to you.
Georgia, Georgia no peace I find; just an old sweet song keeps Georgia on my mind.
Verse 2: Melodies bring memories That linger in my heart. Make me think of Georgia, Why did we ever part?
Verse 3: Some sweet day when blossoms fall And all the worrld's a song, I'll go back to Georgia, 'Cause that's where I belong. ----------
Oldwailer thanks. Mmmmm I always thought that it started on line 5 of verse 1 & for me verse 2 is unknown. Guess I'll have to go back to the drawing board or just stick with the freedom to play it however I want. Then us Aussies are known to often take a slap dash broad brush she'll be right mate approach. Funny but I always thought Georgia was a girl or am I thinking of Georgy Girl!! But, it's a lovely tune and I only wish I could play it half as good as Christelle.
Aha! Some great answers above, but nobody has actually cracked the code for this song.
The answer is Yes! It IS a blues--but with a bridge added.
The truth is, the "Georgia" sections are in the classic 8-bar blues pattern, or one of three such patterns:
I / III7 / IV / Idim I VI7 / II7 V7/ I IV / I V7
You've got two of these "verses," then a bridge/chorus which has entirely different chords (and tricky chords they are....I still haven't mastered them and can't tell you the pattern off the top of my head), then a concluding "verse."
That is the classic American songbook pattern: verse, verse, bridge, verse.
The three verse sections are 8-bar blues.
That's why it's a masterful, haunting song, and why it's hard to place in generic terms: because it lends itself to various sorts of genres.
It's one of those tunes that every blues harmonica player should be prepared to play. When I first started haunting Showman's Cafe in Harlem, back in the mid-1980s, this tune came up fairly often, and I always felt like I was faking my way through the bridge. Also, the words are sung on a delay--the chords change, then, after a beat or two, the words happen. BBQ Bob is right in his observations.
Anybody who tries to tell me that "Georgia" ISN'T an 8-bar blues obviously hasn't heard of "Ain't Nobody's Business," which--at least as Otis Spann plays it when he's singing it--has precisely the same chord structure as the verse portions of "Georgia":
(Note for sticklers: When Spann is soloing, he changes the chords a little.)
For comparison, check out Jonathan Edwards playing "Lay Around the Shanty." It's also an 8 bar blues. The last 4 bars of the pattern are identical to "Georgia"'s verse, but the second bar has a I7 chord instead of a III7, and the fourth bar has a IVmin instead of a Idim:
per jawbone's request here is the tab I did yesterday
It displays poorly via these forum windows, I can't get spaces between the tabbed notes. I started with someone else's tab, and modified it to my liking. I have discovered that what I play and what I like, may not always follow the original tune exactly. Here is what I handed out to the club last night. Later I'll post a link to a Word Document that's easier to follow.
Georgia On My Mind by Ray Charles Jim Rumbaugh version 6-2011 for 12th position diatonic harmonica
6d 7b 6d 6b 6d 8d 6b 5d Geor-gia, Geor gia, The whole day through
5d 6b 6d 7b 8b 8d 6d 7b 6d 6b 7b Just an old sweet song Keeps Geor-gia on my mind
6d 7b 6d 6b 6d 8d 6b 5d Geor-gia, Geor gia, A song of you
5d 6b 6d 7b 8b 8d 6d 7b 6d 6b 5d Comes as sweet and clear As moon-light through the pines
===bridge 4d 5d 6b 6d 5d 4d 5b 4d 5d 6b 6d 7b 6d 7d O-ther arms reach out to me O -ther eyes smile ten-der-ly
4d 5d 6b 6d 7b 8d 8b 8d 7b 6d 7b 6d 6b Still in peace-ful dreams I see The road leads back to you
===verse 6d 7b 6d 6b 6d 8d 6b 5d Geor-gia, Geor gia, The whole day through
5d 6b 6d 7b 8b 8d 6d 7b 6d 6b 5d Just an old sweet song Keeps Geor-gia on my mind
I said Georgia, Ooh Georgia, no peace I find Just an old sweet song Keeps Georgia on my mind
Other arms reach out to me Other eyes smile tenderly Still in peaceful dreams I see The road leads back to you REPEAT AS NEEDED
And here's a link to the word file with the Georgia Tab. A printable and readable version. Georgia12th
---------- The WV State Harmonica Championship at The Diamond Teeth Mary Blues Festival Aug 27th & 28th 2011, Huntington,WV
Last Edited by on Jun 22, 2011 10:38 AM
Hey THANX JR!!!! I will have to give that a go. I think I've been starting it on the blow 5 but then I have to fudge the melody a little bit here and there. ---------- If it ain't got harp - it ain't really blues!!!!
@kudzurunner--damn--I should have spotted that 8-bar right off--when I try to play it on slide guitar, it keeps transmolgrafying into "Key to the Highway." That Otis Span video was really great.
So, JR--thanks for the tab--but, being an idiot at all positions on harp except 1st, 2nd and third, I have to ask: What harp would I use to be in the key of D with a tab in 12th? ----------
Hey - I just found a tab that I had from this site http://www.harpinanawhinin.com/GSongs.htm I think it is the same as yours, Jim. You may find others that your group is interested in. ---------- If it ain't got harp - it ain't really blues!!!!
I would have loved to have seen George Smith bite down on this sucker. Talk about goosebumps running up the arm...I can just imagine the tone he would've got out of this. ---------- "The degree of someone's "open mindedness" will be in direct proportion to how much they agree or disagree with the issue being discussed"...William F. Buckley
I can just picture George doing it on a chromatic and make your jaw drop to the ground. On his old ABC/Bluesway LP, he did a great cover of Ode To Billie Joe.
BTW, Joeleebush, have you had a chance to work with 1st position chromatic yet? ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
To: BarbecueBob Yes, I am floundering with it. It will come together in a few weeks, though. I have the issue of drifting back into 3rd (probably due to laziness) and sounding like pure dog squeeze when it happens. lol. At this time it is war between me and that harp...the harp WILL LOSE! So let it be written...so let it be done. Thanks again. ---------- "The degree of someone's "open mindedness" will be in direct proportion to how much they agree or disagree with the issue being discussed"...William F. Buckley
In 12th position, use an A harp to play the key of D.
That is why I call 12th "reverse cross", because in 2nd/cross you grab a D to play A.
And here's a link to the word file with the Georgia Tab. A printable and readable version. Georgia12th
---------- The WV State Harmonica Championship at The Diamond Teeth Mary Blues Festival Aug 27th & 28th 2011, Huntington,WV
Last Edited by on Jun 22, 2011 10:37 AM
@joeleebush --- On LW's That's it, he's attempting to play 1st position chromatic on it without using the slide and he screws it up big time doing pretty much what you're doing at the moment and it's an obvious reason why it had never been released for decades. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
