Hey me again for a long time been looking for House Of The Rising Sun tabs for a D harp playing 2ed and or though there are loads of videos on how to play it with tabs I have not found any in that key :( Also would love the tabs for 3ed which is a G harp. Hakan's video of this song is what I am aiming for
PS yes I know Haken douse lessons on this song but not in the key of D or G I believe!
Any help would be grate thanks.
Last Edited by on Sep 09, 2011 9:02 AM
Woogie, it sounds like you are confused in a few respects. Harp tab, by definition, should work for any harp key. If you only have a particular harp key and want to play a song in a particular key, then you have to select the right playing position to do that. The Circle of Fifths, mentioned in many threads on this forum will sort that out for you.
Most harp tabs that you will find on the net do not tell you what position you are playing in.
My advice for you would be to try to play this song by ear, since its melody is so familiar. Once you've picked it out on the harp, then figure out what position you are playing it in. To do that figure out what note it is resolving on (e.g. 4d), and look at some position tab tables (see my profile) to see what position that is (likely 3rd in this case).
You probably won't find a lot of takers on this forum willing to tab songs out for you. Hope this helps.
----------
Last Edited by on Sep 09, 2011 10:20 AM
Hey Woogieman! Mr So&so is right. It’s better to use your ears. It’s very hard to learn another guy’s solo. I think one way forward is to learn a little from other people and at the same time trying your own ideas. I listened very carefully to Paul Butterfield and Charlie Musselwhite solos on my tape recorder and I rewinded it on and on…Tabs I don’t know. I think it’s overrated, I have NEVER used tabs to learn something. I have stealed a lot of licks and tricks by using my ears so that is the only method I know. Hakan
Last Edited by on Sep 09, 2011 11:12 AM
Nice to hear from you Hakan your right as I been looking up notes some players use different notes each for there own way of playing. Maybe best thing for me to do is wright out note by note then play it as one. Can I ask ya where you playing the same holes in 3ed then you where in 2ed as that's the point I am trying to make, just out of interest. I would like to play cross harp style like you did for most of the song. I don't know what I am talking about half the time. May for fun get a low D like in your song and play around with it :) by all means more views peeps. Thanks
Okay, the following post is a mess. I'll come back and fix it later. There are major and minor keys. I explained one and not the other. I'll get back to it. I've got dinner plans (2 nights in a row, I'm becoming a social butterfly!)
I think some of the confusion comes from the way we use the term 'position' to mean two different things. For instance, when someone talks about using third position they usually mean they are playing something in a minor key, but it's also possible to play in third position and play in a major key. It just takes a lot more bends. We use position to indicate what hole we are using as our tonic, but we don't specify what scale we are playing.
Okay, just to define a couple terms- key is what notes are sharp, flat or natural in the song you are playing in. Each key is made up of the letters A B C D E F G.
In the key of C, they are all natural. C D E F G A B. The key of G goes like this: G A B C D E F# G. Each key has it's own set of what is sharp (1/2 step above the natural pitch #), flat (1/2 step below the natural pitch b) or natural. Harps are labeled in first position. What that means is that if you don't bend any notes all the notes on that harp will be in that key. For a C harmonica that means C D E F G A B. You'll notice that except for the F/F# and starting on different notes C and G use the same notes. This is because they are close to each other on the Circle of Fifths. The key of F# (also called Bb) is on the opposite side of the circle. It uses the notes F# G# A# B C# D# E# (or Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F-it's the same thing).
Harp tab is 'usually' (not always) going to be in second position. It's easy enough to just grab a different harp and play the same pattern on it to play in a different key.
If you are trying to play along with a particular recording to practice though you'll need to do one of three things. The most common is to grab the 'right' key harmonica for second position.
If you can play in other positions you can do that, but that takes more mastery and will often change the tone of the song, since you'll usually end up with more bends. There is a reason most songs are played in second position. Often it's the one where it lays out easiest (along with 1st, which doesn't sound as bluesy.)
The other option is to pitch shift the recording using software (or I suppose if you had it on vinyl you could just slow down or speed up the playback speed.)
Just to be clear though, aside from a few little flourishes, two guys playing along with the same (un-pitch-shifted) recording in two different positions are playing the same notes, they are just, since they have different harmonicas out, playing those same notes on different holes, with different bends, etc.
One of the great things about harmonicas is how easy it is to change the key you are playing in. On a piano you have to think about which notes are going to change from white or black keys and vice versa. On a harp, you can just grab a different harp.
Most songs, probably at least 90%, don't change keys. They will almost exclusively use notes in the key they are in. When they don't it's to try to create a dissonant sound or something very specific to the piece of music. That leaves us with two two main reasons someone might play the same song, in the same key, using a different position or a different harmonica. The first one is simply that the song actually does changes keys. If you listen to the famous Terry McMillan harmonica version of Amazing Grace that's what happens. Most people grab another harp for that, although you can switch positions. That's for key changes.
The other reason is you want to change the sound but stay in the same key. Blow notes sound different than draw notes. Bends sound different than unbent notes. If you are staying in the same key but changing position you have to switch harps, but it can be a good way to change the sound of what you are playing. You will have to change what holes you are playing though, and probably the pattern of blows and draws too.
There is one other thing you can do with a riff sort of related to key. You can move it to a different spot on the harp without doing the bends needed to put it in another major key. In effect you are moving it to one of the many other types of keys that don't go do re mi fa so la ti do. It's an easy way to make the riff sound very different, since the interval between different notes is different. I used it on a goof around recording of When the Saints Go Marching In. Suddenly it sounds like I'm playing in a French cafe! You can even use it to come up with new entirely new melodies.
Wow grate info there nacoran I know a little about circles in music keys as I play piano also. I think as much as I maybe an OK player I should go back to stage 1 and start again, that way I will understand it all a bit better. I will have another good read of your last message also. Thanks guys.
Brill thank you gene I will give that a go soon thanks for giving it a bash will print out these tips asap. I love this website and I love harmonica, my Dad had a chance to play pro but wanted to hang out with mates instead but played for backing harp for a band he may not of heard of, where he played harp along side music by another band, he never found out who they may off been. He said maybe a folk band not blues
