I'm hoping that someone can point me in the right direction.
[note: at my best I can make a short story long, so please bear with me. :) ]
I recently sold an old solid state amp to fund a 5wat tube purchase. The guy I sold the amp to contacted me today saying that he remembers me saying that I play harp. He's written a very laid back song and thanks that some blues harp would sound good over it, would I mind trying to come up with something.
He's going to make a recording of the track tonight and will email it to me, so I can listen to it yet, but I'm trying to figure out whether or not I'll be able/capable to add something to the track.
I asked him what key the song was in and this was his reply:
"it’s in G... the chord structure is G, Em, Am, D.... then there is a build up that go's Am, D, Bm, Em, C, D, G....then the chorus is again G, Em, Am, D...."
I only recently started getting into music theory, so I'm still pretty clueless, but this is what I can figure out/guess:
The above is an 1-6-2-5 progression (or is 1-6m-2m-5 more correct?).
If he wants bluesy playing over the track my first instinct is so say, OK, it’s in G, so that's 2nd pos. on a C. That's how far my knowledge takes me. With those minor's thrown in and the familiar 4 replaced by the frightening 5 and 6 I've no clue whether cross harp will work or not.
Try not playing blues. Try playing 2-nd position major, avoid (2)'' draw wholetone bend, (3)', (3)'' halftone and 1,5 tone bends, and (5), (9) draw. Focus over G major pentatonic (1) 2 (2) (3)'' (3) (4) 5 6 (6) (7) (8) 8 9 (10) Occasionally add some 4-th 4 blow, 7 bow and 7th - (2)'', 5* overblow, 9' blowbend when it fits harmony.
All those chords are from G major. A country tuned harp might work it's cross with the f# that way you don't have to avoid that hole. You might want to take an old harp and tune it up. A C harp with the f tuned to f#.
Last Edited by on Apr 13, 2010 6:29 AM
1-6-2-5 are very standard R&B changes and you will also hear these changes used in a lot of doowop tunes as well.
To kind of oversimply how these changes are, basically the 6m chord is essentially an extension of the 1 chord, and in the key of G, obviously the 1 chord is G-B-D, and the 6m chord is E-G-B. The 5 chord is the key of G is D-F#-A, and 2m chord is an extension of the 5 chord, being B-D-F#.
Have 2-5 ever been used in blues?? Absolutely!! In fact, a number of LW tunes where the guitar player is Robert Jr. Lockwood, he substitutes the 2-5 change for the 5-4 change, and much of the phrasings used over the 5-4 works with it.
Playing hole #3, 2nd bend in cross is the root of the 2m chord, and 2 blow is the root note of the 6m chord.
Once you lose your fears and woodshed with it, you will actually find it a very fun and easy progression to play.
If you start listening to jump blues horns, you'll also find these changes are used quite frequently as well. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
I'd agree to just use your ear. They're actually very easy changes in Cross Harp
Wonderful Time by the first SBW was a I VI II V A few versions I've heard use some other substitutions but that's basically it. While it's a quick swing rather than laid back you could get some ideas from it. Check out Adams youtube on Shrimp City Slim, it's the last song on the clip
That's an old friend of mine Chuck Morris working with that band, and he was up here in Boston for several years before joining them. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
while its easy to play in cross harp, I suggested the D harp because you can't use your memorized licks like you would most likely default to in cross harp.
free up your ears by getting away from the memories of cross harp.
---------- "The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are." - Joseph Campbell
Buddha. Just a bit OT question. I don't feel free playing D harp in keys other than A, Em and F#m. I often play C, Bb, Ab, G, harmonicas in 4th, 12th positions and even 11th, while Db and D harp much harder for me to control bends at 3rd hole (after all embossing, arking and gapping of course), they goes flat too easy, and I don't risk playing in such keys. E and F are bit easier for me. Bm and G on D harp is really pain in the ass for me, I practice them but it's still uncomfortable, while Am on C is one of my favorite position.
Thanks so much for the input everyone! It’s more than I could have hoped for!
I’ll pick up my C (and D :D ) and try to play it by ear until I get comfortable enough to try and apply some of the theory provided (Thanks Boris and Bob, super posts!).
Thanks Gambler for pointing me to the vid on YouTube. I’m sure I’ll be able to get some inspiration from there.
/free up your ears by getting away from the memories of cross harp/
Sage advice, thank you.
D isn't a key of harp I would have considered for a 1 VI II V in G, but, since you brought it to my attention and, since it chimed with a vague memory of something called 12th position, I put a harp to my lips, started on 2D bent down all the way and a 2 octave major scale ascending just about played itself.
Only 2 very familiar bends and 1 very familiar OB.
Gosh, and arpegiating the I VI II V chords - major and minor - sits really well, too.
An aside:
It seems to be a bigger universe when one's practised controlled (ish!) enough so that one thinks of a bent note as a note rather than a bend...
A virtuous cicle, too...
@GamblersHand
/I'd agree to just use your ear. They're actually very easy changes in Cross Harp/
I agree. And great fun to vamp and arpegiate too in cross harp, too.
See you at The Green Note tonight? (if this is the right GamblersHand?)
xxx
---------- I'm running a FREE 90 minute blues harp workshop @ The Blues Kitchen, Camden, London (UK) on Saturday 17th April, 3pm | BYO diatonic in C | see www.theblueskitchen.com for more info...
My 'blues band' morphed into a Stax/Motown era R&B/occasional jump or swing blues band, with a phenomenal female singer up front, and me backing out of my familiar role as front man for the first time in 21 years. I'm digging it, because I get to play plenty horn/keyboard/accent parts, and also free my mind from the 2nd/3rd position 'comfort'zones I have primarily stayed in. We're playing several 1-6-2-5 tunes, and yes, 2nd works fine, but I've got the freedom to test the different soundscapes. I haven't delved much into 12th-I will.
When I worked in a band that had two tenors and a baritone sax, I had to work as part of the horn section and learning these progressions was absolutely mandetory. Once you get the hang of it, they're such fun. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Play 12th and use the major scale...problem solved, lol. 12th works over all the chord changes. As you get comfortable, you can start throwing in the other notes of each chord, but the easiest thing to do would be to play 12th. ----------
then you need to work on your technique. I don't know what else to tell you.
Post a video of your playing something you can't do.
I'm listening again...I see my comment, I mean good job in the sense that it's not an easy tune but I if I had posted what I really thought you would have erased it.
Your intonation sucks. Your tonal foundation and breathing mechanics suck. You have no sense of harmony. You don't know how to build solos. In other words, you're like countless other harmonica players, you worked on tricks and licks without working on the things that matter...like actually how to sound good and play music.
There ya go, no sugar. Now get to work.
---------- "The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are." - Joseph Campbell
Last Edited by on Apr 14, 2010 1:12 PM
Buddha You've recently commented my version of "All The things You Are". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LynOmzp3oG0 I can control these bends. I hardly can play the same on my D harp, it can be possible for me, but twice harder with much risk of going out of tune... ---------- http://myspace.com/harmonicaboris
Last Edited by on Apr 14, 2010 12:33 PM
Buddha Thanks for critique. It's always really hard to get adequate critique from player better than you, it usually "well done", I often tell the same for worse players than me. It's anyway still too complex tune to play with diatonic and I'll never play it live until I can play it with good intonation and tone (only for youtube). I'm still looking for another diatonic version from someone who can play it well (You? Howard Levy? Otavio Castro? Tinus Koorn?). It's too pity to hear bad words about harmony, I don't practice tricks and licks, I always practice scales, arpeggios and chord progressions of tunes.
I can hear certain little things that you obviously worked very hard on but you toss them in there as if to say "Hey look at what I can do!" Do you know what I mean? That's not control, that impulse.
Stop listening to harmonica players. Otavio and especially Tinus have intonation problems and both have weak tone. Otavio is an absolute monster but that doing everying on one harp is silly, same goes for Tinus but he doesn't have it together like Otavio.
The other issue is, while it's good to practice other instruments, you need to focus on one or the other for awhile. You would be better served to trade off with harp and piano than diatonic and chromatic. If you want to play jazz then why not just use the chromatic? It's so much easier!!
Tone is the biggest part of a player's foundation, if you're tone sucks then your music sucks. Tinus is a good example of this. Jason Rosenblatt too. Those guys can play circles around me yet their music is nearly un-listenable due to poor tone and intonation.
A guy with monster tone and great intonation but with almost no chops will always sound better than the guy that can do a million things but sounds like shit.
I know I posted this vid on another thread but this a fairly good example
John Walden is actually a good player but why is his music weak compared to Rob and I? His timing is off, he tone is weak and his intonation is poor. Musicality and being able to control your impulses is important to making good music. We had a set order of who would play first...that was Rob, me and then John. But what did John do? He cut off my turn. He explained later that he was "feeling it" and had to jump in. He played with great feeling but there is much more to music than playing with feeling.
Rob only played the head and didn't really improvise, actually he did in the context of how a classical musician would improvise. Even though he didn't do much more than play the head, his music was very engaging because of his tone and level of musicality.
John, who had a moment of inspiration heavy enough to cut me off, did what? replay the head and did a worse job than Rob. That's not being musical at all so it actually harms the flow of the tune and makes him look silly. Bad move...
My solo was melodic and simple. Listen to the control over the notes and the space between the phrases. I also totally changed the flow of the song. What I did is engaging to an audience because of the good tone, level of musicality and good intonation.
Then Rob put everything to bed with the head played with that super thick tone of his. His awesome vibrato really does it for this tune.
Anyway Boris, you need to stop listening to most harmonica players. I sound the way I do because I don't listen to harmonica players. If you want to have your own sound then you have to get out of the harmonica world.
---------- "The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are." - Joseph Campbell
You're completely right, Buddha. My "All the things you" are is just a toss (attempt to tell me I can play it), not actually a music (I think chromatic part is much better, isn't it?) I don't like chromatic as much as diatonic and I don't know why. I use chromatic for tunes which I can't play good with diatonic. I also play some jazz and blues guitar accompainment (recently in my band too) to understand harmony better.
Walden obviously sounds worse than you because lack of musicality.
The most music I listen for last 6 years is not a harmonica music (for harmonica music I just looking for fresh recordings of monsters). I mostly listen to experimental music and some jazz (my favorite players are trumpeters like Chet Baker and Randy Bracker).
By "intonation," you mean notes being in tune or something more / else?
xxx
---------- I'm running a FREE 90 minute blues harp workshop @ The Blues Kitchen, Camden, London (UK) on Saturday 17th April, 3pm | BYO diatonic in C | see www.theblueskitchen.com for more info...
