In your your opinion what are the essential tunes to dig into while studying the blues chromatic? Is there a "Juke" of the blues Chro world? Perhaps a tune that made some things click for you along your journey?
SuperBee gave you the perfect choice! All the basic vocabulary for 3rd position Chromatic right there, plus a nice swingin' groove....don't lose that for wanting to learn too many notes! Plus, you really have to go with George Smith for Chromatic, especially on the octaves. Wow, I have not listened to that record in years, sweet. I like Little Walter's style without the Octaves, the partial chords he uses. "Teenage Beat" is a good one to work with. A couple other options could be One Mint Julip, Rod Piazza...for a catchy little melody. Or, William Clarke's "Chromatic Jump" (album Top of the Top). Both of these do though use diatonic on some of the soloing. Another cool one, just for a nice feel, is on the Muddy Water's album "Fathers and Sons", the song "All Aboard". There are two harps, Paul Butterfield (he plays on the whole album) is playing the "Train Whistle" on diatonic but, Jeff Carp is setting a real nice riff on Chromatic that pushes the groove along and he does some nice variations.
I have really got into Chromatic harp. There are so many great pieces and players. These are on my current learning list; I started out just playing in 3rd position and not using the button. A friend put me onto the 90’s Album “No Sweat” by Big Dave and the Ultrasonics a couple of years ago. The track that I really liked was “Letter From St Louis” Dave Morris played chromatic on this piece. It was the first piece I learned using the button and it was the track that got me deeper and keener to learn. I got sidetracked a little and had to try Rick Estrin’s version of Harlem Nocturne. It was a tough piece to learn but I got there all except the amazing corner switching right at the end on the A and E draw notes. I’d learnt to play it on a C, but he in fact uses a G instrument. It makes the A and E both draw notes. On a C the A is a draw note but the E is a blow note. I was too far into learning it on the C to swap to a G. It’s one of the things that isn’t always obvious what key instrument is being played. It pays to do the research first! I’m working on William Clarke’s “It’s Been A Long Time” I think it’s said he used a C chromatic, but it just falls out on an F chromatic in 3rd, he switches to a low F diatonic at the end. I just love this piece! The last one I’m working on is Mark Hummels version of “Where ‘Y At” which is a great swinging piece. Hope this is of some help. Good luck. Cheers JG
John MG, very cool selections. I had not heard of Big Dave and the Ultrasonics. Since I would not consider a Chromatic song of mine "essential" I added a new thread but, someone might enjoy it as a Chromatic piece. I really play diatonic more, started in Bluegrass, the country, then had a swing dance band 10 years. Have played Blues all the way through of course. Song id called The Traveler, I also added another called Latin Moon, on diatonic though.
