I was looking through a bunch of old cassett tapes and found Robert Cray's "Whos Been Talkin'". A lot of good music on this recording including Curtis Salgado's solo on the title track. The song is in E minor and right off the bat I thought of third position with a D harp. The thing is, can't get that B note when he plays along with the riff at the beginning of the song. Maybe he's playing in 5th or maybe he's using two harps or whatever. At any rate, it's a beautiful solo..
"Maybe he's playing in 5th or maybe he's using two harps or whatever." It is mastery of the 2 and 3 hole draw-Curtis is using only a D harp on this tune in third position.
tmf714: To me it sounds like he's playing an A in cross for the intro and then switching to 3rd on a D for the solo. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get my D to sound that low pitched on the 2&3 draw.
I think the first part is cross like Tuckster said. If the second part is 5th he would have to play an overdraw on 7draw right? V to flat V, B to Bb. So is he playing 5th? or is he playing 3rd? I don't know yet. I will try to figure it out tommorow.
tmf714: Are we listening to the same song? I've seen vids of you playing,you've got skills. Did you really listen to this? Try that intro on a D. There's no way in hell he's doing it on a D. 1 draw on an A gives you the B note. No argument the solo is 3rd pos. on a D.
Man, my head is pounding. I just spent 30 min. trying to figure out the intro in 3rd pos. Im not a Masterharpplayer. Clams style would do intro in 2nd pos. Pretty sure the solo is not in 5th. Solo is in 3rd. So Bluzlvr, are we helping?
Last Edited by on Dec 10, 2011 8:04 AM
I 'm pretty sure the 1st two notes are 3b/5 which in E would be G/B. These are repeated twice. In third position these notes are at 2D**/3D**. In fifth position they are at 2D/3D. It sounds like Curtis is in third.
I think the 5th note is 7b which in third is at B4 and in fifth is at D4.
To play this tune in third you've got to be able to open your throat and hit the 2&3 draw full step bends dead on pitch. It's easier to play in fifth, but probably sounds better in third. It's a natural minor, though, so D7 and D3 are avoid notes if soloing in third. D5 and D9 are avoid notes if soloing in fifth.
Last Edited by on Dec 10, 2011 9:33 AM
It's definitely an A harp in 2nd position on the intro. The only way this could be done on a D is an octave higher (or on a low D). Also, around :27, you hear him play a partial chord - 1 & 2 draw on the A harp (because the 3 draw would be the major 3rd and would sound terrible).
I know you have perfect pitch, but why isn't this tune doable in third? Btw, in third, the D3 is the major 6th which usually sounds pretty bad in a natural minor, so his avoiding D3 isn't a reliable clue that he is in second, since he'd also avoid D3 if he was in third.
Hyvj - because there are no notes below the E root not (1Draw) on a D harp in 3rd that are used in the riffs on the track in question.
Doing it on a low D in third would mean that the first note of the riff would have to be a bent note & it's not. ---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
Last Edited by on Dec 10, 2011 10:32 AM
Hvyj, I think the Wolf is playing 2nd pos. A harp, middle octave starting on 4 draw. The other guy was in the first octave. startng on 1 draw.
Last Edited by on Dec 10, 2011 11:00 AM
Per Rob Paparozzi via harp-L: "The notes in Cm on a C Harp are: G, Bb, G, Bb, C"
Okay, in third position(Cm on a Bb Harp OR Em on a D harp) this would be: D3** 4B D3** 4B 4D
SO...goes back to what I asked before: Why isn't this doable in third position?
Wolf doesn't play a solo so he can get away with playing in first. IMHO if you are going to solo on this tune you need to use third or fifth.
Last Edited by on Dec 10, 2011 11:22 AM
It is possible to play it in 3rd, just not in the lower octave unless you have a low D or a Steve Baker Special. And listening again to the :27 mark, it sounds like he is getting a little bit of the 3 draw in there, but the accent is on the 2 draw so you don't really notice the 3 draw that much. Bottom line is, he did a great job. I like it!
I've tried this song on these harps: G, E, C, and a A...
In my opinion and by far the 2 instruments that are the best for this song is 1st) the A and 2nd) the G, the A to stay in a very blues feeling, and G to get a kind of "lyrical" phrasing
I played around a little with this and found that I could use 3rd position only and get away with: blow 1 , blow 2 , draw 1 repeat, blow 1 , blow 2 repeat, blow 3 or draw 2. Not perfect, but as I can't fully work out the original, It'll do me.
