I've been working on playing Santana's "Europa", a beautiful song I've long been enamored of. I can play much of it on a Bb in 3rd, but some parts don't seem to fit. I'm a little tone deaf trying to figure out things by ear, so I thought I'd see if any of y'all have any thoughts or advice on how you'd tackle this song. Like what key/position, are there overblows needed, where are the tricky bits, that kind of thing.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Trying to take advantage of this downtime to up my game.
Thanks.
PS. I have listened to the two available videos of Europa on harp on Youtube. Looking for more insight than I've gleaned from studying them.
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Last Edited by garry on May 08, 2020 8:40 AM
A band Im in does this----lots chord changes. I play guitar rhythm on it. A few Major 7 chords and lots changes..
U have given me food for thought, as I never thought about harp on it. Usually I can hear my harp in a song or not. Some songs are extensively guitar or keys etc.
I bought the sheet music for it. Key signature is Eb, but its based off Eb relative minor “Cm”. Leads in Cm work well.
Possibilities Bb harp 3rd, F harp watch out for 3 and 7 draw. F nat minor harp. As I haven’t tried any of these yet, Im going to.
Chords r Bbsus7,Bb7, Ebmaj7, Abmaj 7, G7sus, G7 ,Cm------Theres a weird Cmaj7 thrown in somewhere.
The lead is mostly over Cm and Fm.
Towards end of lead theres a Fm9/Bb,Cm thing— Fm9 is just adding a note ”9” ---- the slash “/” means Bb on bass note called Fm9 over Bb in bass or with Bb in bass.
The reason I gave chords is this; guitar players, many times look at each chord change as “what notes work over this chord, in this key as well”
If I wrote something wrong, it will be corrected “as it shoukd be” That’s how we learn.
I was forced to learn some theory, I have 2 badly arthritic fingers on my left hand and had to learn different fingerings for a lot of of chords.
For everything we loose ,we gain something- The theory I learned helped me a lot when I reached a super stagnant plateau on harp years ago. I was forced to apply what I learned too harp. I still have stagnant periods, but I just play n practice through them.
Believe me-- The people who know a lot more than me, will comment on this, cuz its challenging. Good question
Last Edited by snowman on May 08, 2020 10:54 AM
Hi Garry, this doesn't seem that straightforward. Bb harp in 3rd does work quite well though requires a lot of accurate 3 draw bends and all three come into play.
Laurent Mulot does a good version on Youtube but you've probably seen it and he uses a Bb harp.
I've had a go at tabbing the start and there are lots of nuances which sound cool but you could probably ditch some of them for simplicity.
Nice lead off note here! first phrase -3**-4+5, +5-5+5,-4+4-3**/-3*________ 2nd phrase-3*+4-4,-4+5-4, +4-2-3**_______ 3rd phrase -3**-3*+4,+4 -4*/-4+4, -3*-3** -2**/-2______-2**/-2_______ 4th phrase -2-3**-3*, -3*+4-3*, -3**-2/-2**______ Small run down +6-4+4-3**/-2/-2**, -3**-2**-1 then 2 chords (you could play a [-2-5] split and a [-4-6} split 5th phrase -4+5____,+5-5+5, -4+4-3**/-3*______ 6th phrase -3*+4-4,-4+5-4,+4-2 -3***/-3**______ 7th phrase-3**-3*+4,+4-4*/-4 +4,-3*/-3**-2**/-2___-2**/-2____ 8th phrase-2-3**-3*,-3*-3* -3**/-3*/-3**-2-3**_____
It gets trickier from here in places I heard one overblow on Laurent's take. Also worth noting is the fact that you sometimes can't emulate the bent guitar notes as you cannot play a release bend because the tune calls for say, a draw note followed by a blow note. It's a good challenge and should keep you busy in Lockdown!
Don't know if you know this but if you click on the cog icon on the youtube video you can change the playback speed from the preset Normal to 3/4 speed half speed etc.,
Just had to edit a couple of notes. Also tried it in 4th on a Eb harp which is workable but still some low end bends required, but might be worth a try.
Good Timing! I was listening to this 2 days ago, remembering that it was something I wanted to someday learn. There was a "horn band" from LA that used to come to Oregon annually and my band played a 5-day 20 band Jazz Festival with. They were the remnants of Joe Liggins Band (Pink Champagne, Honey Dripper) but, some of them had played with Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, etc. and they would invite me to sit in and the trumpet player sat-in with my band on an original song I had called "Latin Moon". This is 20 years ago but, their tenor played did a beautiful version of this Europa and I thought it would be cool on harp. You already have some great feedback above, "snowman" with the theory should really help. I also went an listened Laurent Mulot at Grey Owl's suggestion....wow, what an exercise in hole #3 bending. While beautiful and accurate, I wonder if harp switching may allow leaning into and being able to allow some of the notes to "swell" could be achieved in a different position. Usually when Jazz Tunes do this minor/major thing I often go to chromatic (Blue Skies) at least for the head. I don't play overblows and have NOT attempted this song yet but, as I hear it and read above, possibly good for using multiple harps. I was in SoCal 1977 and playing full-time, Bonnie Raitt's "My Little Runaway" was on the radio every 15 minutes it seemed.....with Norton Buffalo's multiple harp solo. I met Norton then and also someone I knew was at the studio when that was recorded, he was watching through the glass as Norton switched harps at the chord changes, mostly to stay in second position although I believe one section he plays first also. I am including a song of mine (it's chordally simpler that this tune), this is just rough recorded off the sound board 19 years ago, an outdoor concert with about 1,100 people just to listed back to. I had not heard Coltrane's "Equinox" but, some sax players have said the verses are similar. I only had the verses and a Bass player suggested a bridge ("B" part) and maybe going to Gm. The main song is in Cm and I am on Bb harp third position (Richard Sleigh Marine Band), which was how the melody came to me, before I knew what 3rd [position even was, had to have a guitar player tell me what key later when we were working it out. Anyway, the Gm on Bb harp was not going too easily (for me) so, I switch on the bridge to a Gm Natural Minor Tuned Lee Oskar. My solo is not even until 5:30 into it. I just wonder if harp switching might be cool on this song. Either way, good luck and if you post a recording later would love to hear!
Last Edited by Gabriel.Harmonic on May 08, 2020 4:40 PM
I used to play this when I sat in with a certain band in New Orleans, and I would use an Natural minor F. or what Lee Oskar would call a C natural Minor. It turned out pretty good. ----------
I went and listened to the "Gnarly" rendition above. Not a practiced and polished version (yet) but, wow, I was not expecting I would like it as much on chromatic but, that is very cool. I had always envisioned playing it on diatonic but, would be worth learning on both. Thanks for posting!
I went and listened to the "Gnarly" rendition above. Not a practiced and polished version (yet) but, wow, I was not expecting I would like it as much on chromatic but, that is very cool. I had always envisioned playing it on diatonic but, would be worth learning on both. Thanks for posting!
Yeah, I would be better if I practiced, we are all disappointed with my abilities on the harmonica. I am truly a guitar player. But Cm is a good key for the C chrom, don't forget that Fingertips Pt. II is largely Cm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3ubgVjp3CY He's playing bongos too, hence the title.
"Little Stevie Wonder"! Have seen that video many times. Folks are usually surprised when I let them know that Stevie Wonder was "discovered" as a harmonica player. On the playing, no disappointment, it served it's purpose fine, like a rough draft letter or lyrics written on a napkin, the essence is there to here it as a melody that sounds great on harp. I plan on learning it, so thanks.
I am obviously fishing, but you get the idea. Worth noting that I tune my chromatic to bebop, that provides a Bb “given”, but three flats isn’t bad on a C chrom. I might give the minor harp Harvey mentioned a go.
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