Hi, I want to learn a song by kitty, daisy and lewis... Their version of going up the country... As far ad I can tell their version I'm in the key of b as the chords are b/e/f#7/b7 What key of harmonica do I need... P's I'm knew to this harmonica stuff.. Want to add to my acoustic guitar playing. Thanks cliff
Last Edited by Helicon on Jul 07, 2018 11:46 AM
You need an E harp to play in (2nd or cross position) for some nice juicy bends. She's keeping it pretty straightforward so it would be a good one to do. Nice you can lay down a backing track with your guitar.
BTW The forum has thrown up 3 copies of your post. To delete two you don't need. Log into your account, open up the post and tick the small box next to your user name and hit the delete box above.
Cheers for that...i just ordered earlier a b..!, Because I'm impatient and the window for next day delivery from Amazon was closing fast... Can I wangle it with the b in a different position..? If not hopefully it will come in handy.. I've only just started messing with the harmonica a week ago and I've got a c, because most sites say that good to learn with, and at the same time bought a g for Neil young stuff and now I've got a b in the way, and probably need an e...!, Oh and I bought a rack for playing with guitar...
Actually now I think about it...i was looking at some charts ont tinternet that came up with all sorts of keys none of them b or e... But when I read about it being the fifth I thought about e but couldn't find anything to back it up so I just put it down to me being a numpty...
You could still play it in 2nd position with the B harp if you play in F# (or Capo 2 and play in E) it won't have quite the edge as the B harp is lower in pitch than an E harp. Don't know if another position would work with the song in the original key though.
B is not a well used harp key but as your'e a guitarist and doing your own backing you can always play around with the capo to make it more useful for yourself.
If your planning to use Adam's lessons he uses Bb a lot. Most useful keys are C (used a lot for lessons on the net) A is used a lot for blues playing (guitar in E), D and G.
I see, thanks very much for the info.. Much appreciated... The b harp I ordered is a tombo folk blues discounted to 18 pound do not the end of the world...i'll look for a reasonable quality e for the best price I can... My predicament on the purchase of harps is although in an absolute beginner and done med anything fancy at the same tone I done want to buy something that will be out of tune or harder to play.. Cheers cliff
I'd agree with what Grey Owl is saying, C, A, G and D/Bb are the most popular keys. If you're after a good harp that will make playing easier without breaking the bank then the following models are very highly regarded; Hohner Special 20, Hohner Marine Band, Suzuki Manji, and Seydel Session Steel.
In reply to grey owl.. I think I'm being a proper numpty here... I just thought the song is played with the capo on 3rd fret so is actually in g on the guitar but using relative b chords mostly, does that mean I need a g harp coz I've got one....i need to concentrate more on this music theory lark....
If it’s on 3rd fret it’d be up 3 semitones I.E. B becomes D
So if you were in B with no capo, you’re now in D.
Oddly enough you’d use a G harp to cross into Key of D in many cases. I’m not sure if that’s appropriate in this song because I started writing before watching the video or reading the posts afresh.
Also, the woman playing the harp has my respect for putting her face down there over the snare. I was nervous just watching but maybe the brush isn’t quite as close as it appears
I am probably not the best person to ask about music theory and don’t want to confuse things or make things over complicated.
Bob Dylan and Neil Young used 1st position harp on their songs which means they used a Harp of the same key as the song. This works ok but generally gives you somewhat limited options (unless you can bend those high notes on the harp like Jimmy Reed). They used bits of chords and single notes from the middle up on the harp. To give yourself more options and expression you would need to play in 2nd position. This allows you to use the bending notes technique which can give that bluesy sound and allows you to bend to get notes you can’t normally find on the harp on the plain blow and draw notes.
Song Keys:- C G D A E B F# C# Ab Eb Bb F These keys are usually shown as a Circle (see on web Circle of fifths) With C at 12 o’clock going clockwise to G, D etc., with F at 11o’clock alongside C. The idea then is if you want to play the above song which is in the key of B in 2nd position then go back 1 step anticlockwise from B to E and play an E harp Which is what she is using on the song and as it is a higher pitched harp it’s got a nice edge to it).
If a song is in the key of A go back one step to D and use that key harp and so on. The more experience you get the more positions will become available to you. Just one example, if you want to play in 3rd position (works well with songs in a minor key) and the song key is E minor select a D harp.
Apologies if you know a lot of this stuff already.
The capo 3 thing is odd because he seems to be playing Bar chords (starting with the B Chord on Fret 7) throughout so the capo is not going to effect the pitch?
This helps so thank you.... The note info I can get the more I've got a chance of understanding... I haven't been looking at the song actually being played, maybe I should, I've been looking at a guitar tab on ultimate guitar, this is where I got the chords from and on this tab it says to play with the capo on fret 3
I have found another video of the song which shows no capo on the guitar and you can see what he’s playing starting on the B chord.
Also a tab I found on U.G shows no capo and recommends B, E and F#7 chords. I guess you could make it easier and put Capo on 4 and play G, C and D7 instead and be in tune with the original but you would still need an E harp if you wanted to play along with her solo.
Alternatively, as I mentioned above play it in a different key so you can use your B harp. to do that put the Capo on the 2nd fret and play E, A and B7. It will be in a lower pitch than the original of course.
Yep that's the same tab iii was looking at.. I've just had a look...My mistake about the capo, last night I was also learning a fingerpicking song which has the capo on the 3rd and got mixed up.. So back to plan " A " I will buy an e harp...!
My c harp is s manji B is a tombo folk blues G is a seydel session standard Unless anyone can recommend anything better for learning to bend on I may buy another session standard as they are 25 pound in the uk compared to 40, the tombo was 18 but they done have an eb at that price and the manji is usually 50 ish in the UK I got the c for 34 but they only have c fur that price. Thanks again for the help... Sorry for the confusion..
Eastop 008 is a pretty good harp especially for the $$. One has riveted reeds and another has braised reeds. I have been using a C and a D in my gig case for over a year now. No problems. ----------
Helicon sez " My c harp is s manji B is a tombo folk blues G is a seydel session standard Unless anyone can recommend anything better for learning to bend on"
Don't focus on looking for a harmonica to learn to bend on - focus on the technique and apply it to whichever harmonica you choose....however, the very cheap ones are the ones to avoid for many reasons...use benchmark of Lee Oskar/Hohner Special 20 as the lowest common denominator. ---------- The Iceman
I have a student, a newbie really, who wants to learn this song. I think it is a good one to have her study, since the harp player in the contemporary band is playing pretty much standard second position stuff. I discovered you can play the flute line pretty easily in second position on a low E in the top octave--but that's not in the modern version. Henry Thomas does play it in the original, he's playing something called quills that's like pan pipes--here's more info on that. https://sohl.com/2011/01/20/the-quills-the-forgotten-american-folk-woodwind/ And here's the original.
