Latin American diatonic for the uninitiated

To witness Cuba’s musical pulse first hand and sip Mojitos in the sweat of Havana’s Bar Montserrate is privilege enough, but to sit in with the house band Sabor de Cuba, play the diatonic harmonica and get out alive? Ay Caramba! That’s the stuff of dreams.

The Montserrate is a tourist magnet for genuinely good reason. Kitsch-free, under a blanket of humidity and aromatic cigar smoke, the throb of its acoustic Latin music is quite simply mesmerising. Add a splash of Ron Cubano, a serpentine twist of Salsa dancing and you have all the ingredients of an impromptu Latin fiesta. Next time you’re in town, drop in and join the party.

During a break in the music, house vocalist Luis Franklin presented the band’s bongo drums to guests sitting at the bar. Stepping up, the Good Doctor patted a rhythm across the skins which drew a nod of approval from Luis. Followed by an offer of sale. Sadly a shortfall in funds and luggage space forestalled business and in broken Spanish the Doc explained he too was a poor musician. What do you play? Luis asked. The Doc produced a lone Lee Oskar diatonic from his bag.

Yo soy un hombre sincero

Luis insisted on hearing the harp, however the ensuing blues riffs failed to impress. While Latin grooves feature strongly in rhythm and blues, evidently the reverse is not true in Cuba. With a rapid volte-face the Doc broke into Cherry Pink (Apple Blossom White).

A grin blossomed on Luis’ face. He pointed to a picture of Perez Prado hanging on the wall and invited his British hermano to sit in with the band during the next set. Luis walked back to the stand. Holding up his harp, the Doc called after him, ’Key of C….Charlie….uh Carlos!‘ He carved a C in the air. Luis gave a thumbs up.

So can the diatonic harmonica cut it in Cuba?

Si claro! But beware. While they are natural and instinctive players, Cuban musicians are wonderfully disciplined. With all due respect, this ain’t no blues jam. So if you are prepared to join in (preferably by invitation), it is advisable to have a Latin standard up your sleeve. Or else the confidence to play over Latin rhythms and song structures.

At the appointed moment, the Doc joined the band, directed his harp towards the ceiling and took the lead on Cherry Pink (Apple Blossom White). Three minutes later, the room erupted with applause. The Doc pinched himself and privately gave thanks for a Kodak moment – Cuban style.

There is a slight danger that, in the wrong hands, the ’blues’ harp could be regarded as an American intruder. At the time of writing, the embargo (el bloqueo) that has existed between the two nations since October 1960 is still in place. 

Fortunately however, Cubans wear their hearts on their sleeves. If you are willing to speak their musical language rather than impose your own, you will almost certainly be made to feel welcome. Good music is the currency that eclipses politics.

Una más vez!

Later in the set Luis invited the Doc to rejoin the band. Momentarily thrown, the Doc discreetly blew a whisper through his C major harp from the bar. The song was in D minor. He drew hole four and ghosted a few third position licks. Venga!

Conclusion. Third position (Dorian Mode) works fabulously with Latin music. It frees up some really juicy jazz notes, and in the acoustic environment of the Bar Montserrate, against string bass, piano, congas, bongos, trumpet and percussion, the humble diatonic harp seemed to play itself.

After hours

The Doc and his friends returned to the Montserrate for a repeat performance the following evening and as the bar closed, Luis invited everyone to join him for some after hours music and rum a short walk away at the Oasis Club. The Oasis charges a modest entrance fee, but it is worth it. Here the house band uses microphones and a PA, and the bongos and congas are substituted by the timbale.

The music was pumping. The Doc was invited up again, this time sharing the lead spot with a Latin Jazz flautist. Somehow the diatonic harp held its own and, while it may not enjoy any precedent in traditional Cuban music, its novelty factor and some reasonable musicianship ensured it was accepted. 

Some starter Latin licks

Of course Fifth position (Phrygian Mode) would work too, if you are fluent in its application. Using blow 2 or 5 as your root note, on a C harp for example this gives you E minor. Fifth is often referred to as Spanish tuning. Alternatively you can purchase Spanish tuned harps. But more of this in our future posts.

Meantime here are some simple Latin licks to try out. Remember you have to get with the groove. Percussion and rhythm are the heartbeat of the Latin musical treasure trove. Oh, and by the way, Luis is now the proud owner of a C major Lee Oskar harmonica. It would have been rude to leave without saying thank you. We’re on a C major diatonic..

Lick 1

2D   3D..2D

4B..5B..4B

4D   5D

4D..4B

5B   (..4B)

Lick 2

2D

2D”

2D..1D

1D..2D”..2D

NB: Avoid 2B. Breath around it. It’s not a Latin note.

 Lick 3

2D   2D   2D”   1D

2D   2D   2D

2D”..1D  

(2D”..1D)

Lick 4

4D   6B

4D   4D’   3D’   4D’

4D   6B   4D   4D’

Lick 5

4D   6B

4D..4D’   6B

4D’..4B   6B

4B   3D

3D   4B   4D’

Repeat

Joe Filisko is visiting Brighton & Hove (UK) at the end of this month in preparation for the annual Blues Week at Northampton University. He will be playing on the evening of  Friday 30.July at The Brunswick in Hove. Tickets can be bought in advance from the venue website.

Old school confidential

Those who saw Joe play last year will know what a fabulous event this is. Big love. This year he is supported once again by The Shoestrung, an excellent young UK beat group, redolent of the early Kinks and Rolling Stones. Also on the bill are The Blackjacks featuring Wanderin’ Wilf Taylor on harps. The band has newly reformed with it’s original members specially for the show.

Action replay

Here’s our report on Joe’s visit in 2009. You can also read about Elwood’s chat with Joe after the gig, and his epilogue. Hopefully no alcohol abuse this year – that’s what we call a spilled pint!

Writing about Jason Ricci has been on my agenda more or less since I started blogging on the Harp Surgery. It’s odd, really, that he doesn’t get much airtime here, considering he’s one of the most phenomenal players alive AND his unsolicited praise adorns our sidebar. In fact, the first gig review Wilf ever did for this website was Jason Ricci but that was years ago. It’s high-time we checked in on him again.

So today I’m finally going to review Jason’s album, Done with the Devil. What finally got me off the couch (figuratively anyway) was the news that he’s had a bad run of luck recently. We saw reports in June, and a great deal of speculation, that there had been some reshuffles in, or departures from, his (very very good) band, New Blood – and that all engagements were on hold ‘til August. On top of that his website is down, he’s in hospital with a punctured lung and no health insurance, and a series of financial calamities seem to have come calling at just the wrong time.

And because Jason Ricci is to 21st century harmonica what sliced bread was to sandwiches, I’ll make a suggestion of what you can do to help.

It’s pronounced Jay-son Rih-chee
First, let’s introduce the man, just in case you haven’t had the absolutely terrifying experience of Jason Ricci’s sonic samurai style. He combines the old-school Chicago sound of your Little Walters with rapid-fire Pat Ramsey licks, then shoots them to pieces with rapid-fire machine gun overblows and then drags ‘em to Jazztown. If that sounds like a confused description, it’s because listening to Jason Ricci can provoke very confused emotions.

Simply put, give him a harmonica and Ricci is a dangerous man. Check this out:

When he saw him in 2007, our own Wilf wrote:

He has planted his flag on the ramparts of Fort Radical. His appearance and his persona is that of an edgy Punk. His energy is arresting. His playing is simply astonishing. If I had to credit specific harmonica players and bands for redefining the blues’ boundaries, Blues Traveler, Alabama 3, Little Axe, Lee Sankey, Lee Oskar and Sugar Blue readily come to mind. Jason Ricci vaults them all.

That about sums it up.

Done with the Devil
Many moons later, after reading much effusive praise for Ricci and watching many of his killer videos, I finally got ‘round to purchasing his latest album, Done with the Devil.

What can I say? I’ve heard a lot of hardcore blues fans dismiss Ricci by saying “It ain’t blues” or that it’s “just notes”. Certainly, not all of it is blues, and there are a lot of notes. There are times when his fast runs sound a bit like Eddie van Halen, but (perhaps unlike van Halen) Ricci still knows where to leave space. Just because his harp is fast-talking doesn’t mean it’s verbose.

The title track, ‘Done with the Devil’ is a hectic rock-edged number that offers a little insight into Ricci’s own demons and his emergence from an apparently troubled past: “done with the devil, but the devil ain’t done with you,” goes the chorus. Predictably it features some high octane solos that will burn your eyebrows off if you stand too close to the speakers, so don’t.

This is an eclectic album, but there are a few tracks to satisfy the blues lovers. ‘Keep the Wolf From My Door’ and ‘How It Came To Be’ offer two great expos on electric and acoustic approaches to roots music, demonstrating how comfortable Jason Ricci is in the blues tradition while reworking it artfully.

Besides blues
‘Sweet Loving’ is a surprisingly catchy tune, considering it’s an upbeat, syrupy love song that should stick out on this album like a teenage Paul Butterfield in the south side of Chicago. I think its appeal may lie in being the first harmonica ballad to homosexual love (Ricci has been openly gay for a while now) that simultaneously shreds 3rd-position harp playing a new a****** on the lower octave.

You’ll find more emotional depth in the song “Broken Toy”, a tortured rumination on sexual identity – “not a girl nor a boy/ I feel just like a broken toy”. Our man takes a turn on the chromatic, alternating with a scorching diatonic solo that will leave any remaining harp-blowing homophobes with something to think about.

Here are some quick critical comments

1. Ricci’s vocals are serviceable, but they pale in comparison to his harp skills.

2. Not everyone’s going to swallow the punk-edged ‘I Turned Into a Martian’.

3. Even less so the just plain crazy ‘Afro Blue’. I’m guessing it’s just too avant-garde for your average blues, brews and BBQs harp player. It does, however, show why Jason Ricci is an easy contender for being the most important harmonica player of his generation.

3. The album ends on a very bizarre note: the final track ‘Enlightenment’ is a carnival-themed piece that reminds me the1920s German expressionist film Das Kabinett Des Doktor Caligari.

Help a brother out
But listen, the album’s cooking. If nothing else, every harmonica player should own it just so they know how violently a man can drag Hohner’s tiny toy into the 21st century. Overblows, overdraws, bends to the yayas: there is no territory beyond Ricci’s reach. If you’ve ever, ever considered supporting a master of our art, make it Jason Ricci. The timing couldn’t be better. Jason himself has said:

When asked, “How did a white boy from Maine get the blues?” I often answer, “If you don’t have the blues when you start playing them, you will after ten years of trying to make a living at it.”

So let me put this in even clearer terms. If you want to help Jason and yourself, buy his new album. Now.

Buy Jason Ricci & New Blood, Done with the Devil.

Some time back I got my hands on this acoustic single, “Burn The Whole Place Down” by the British country blues band Hey Negrita, which features my friend Will “Captain Bliss” Greener on harmonica. I’ve mentioned Captain Bliss once or twice here, as his approach to harmonica has taught me a great deal – without really showing me too many riffs and licks, if you catch my meaning.

Perhaps you already see why I thought it was worth consideration. First of all, it’s just a damned catchy song. But I believe there also are (at least) two lessons to be learned in their approach to this performance, and in Will’s contribution to it.

Lesson 1: Simplicity is beautiful

Will told me they recorded this album in a few hours, much in the manner you see in the video: six guys sitting in a room together, looking longingly into one another’s eyes, trading musical gestures. There’s a reason why six guys can record an album in an afternoon. (Instead of, say, a decade – I’m looking at you, Axl Rose.) Aside from learning the songs beforehand (something many bandmates forget to do), they kept the process simple and hassle free. No faffing about in laying down track after track in bits and pieces: everyone records together, and the musical relationships that exist within the band become the single most important technical tool available to them.

Granted, this is pretty common in recording studios, but it’s very helpful to keep in mind when planning gigs and performances: the Negrita philosophy (at least, the Will “Captain Bliss” Greener philosophy) is to keep things as simple as possible and not get enslaved to technology. If you have a PA mic, a good soundman and musicians you can trust, amps and mics and tubes and all that stuff is sometimes less important than you’d think.

Lesson 2: You only need to play as much as you need to play

I couldn’t believe it when I first visited Captain Bliss’s Myspace page. There was no harmonica on it! “But that doesn’t make any sense,” I thought: “H-h-he’s a harmonica player, for God’s sake!”

Well, yes. But as you’ll see from this song, he only adds as much harmonica as the song really needs. He could have easily chugged along through the whole track, adding little fills and frills between the vocals. I mean, Lord knows I certainly would’ve. Instead, he just keeps his harp by his side for almost the entire song, playing three short solos that account for about 12 bars of the song, as far as I can tell. As he himself pointed out to me, “the busy-ness of Matt’s guitar tends to remain constant; much of the time, the “fill” space tends to belong to him.”

Instead of just taking up all the available space in the song, he gives it air to breathe and the solos he does take are all the more attention-grabbing for it. (Also notice that he switches between a low harp and a high harp to keep things intereresting.) Knowing when not to play: that’s something I have yet to learn, unfortunately.

So what does a harmonica player do when he’s not playing harmonica? Well apparently he just acts like a musician: joining in on the chorus, dancing like a bit of a ninny, and just enjoying the damned song. I’ve seen more than a few harp players who, when they’re waiting for their solo, look more like they’re waiting for a bus that’s five minutes late.

Without further ado, please enjoy Hey Negrita’s “Burn the Whole Place Down”. You can buy it for a pittance at Amazon.

From time to time a harmonica can stop doing what it should do. Instead of playing clear notes, one reed sounds a bit strange. It may rattle, it may not play at all or, as one of our junior players recently discovered, a duck had climbed inside his harmonica. Blow hole 4 made a beautiful quack!

Since the 4 hole Hohner Speedy does not come in its own case, the problem is usually caused by a piece of dust or a small flake that has become trapped under the reed. Occasionally a reed can just get stuck. Sometimes it goes out of tune because the metal has started to fatigue – it’s too tired to carry on and it’s ready to snap off.

Here’s what to do

You need to open up the harmonica and look inside. This is not as hard as you might imagine. In the following video, HarpsCool’s Ben Hewlett shows us how to lift the cover on a 4 hole Hohner Speedy harmonica and fix a trapped reed. He also shows how to fix a flattened reed and what happens when it’s fatigued.

If the problem is a just piece of fluff, or a small flake that has wedged under a reed, a pair of tweezers and a short blow will normally sort things out. You can also try cleaning the reed plate with a mild detergent and a soft cloth. Use a very gentle touch on and around the reeds though. And make sure you rinse and dry the reed plate thoroughly afterwards.

If none of these fixes work, as Ben says in the video, it’s time to buy a new harmonica.

Mmm…come to the Harp side you have!

One of our junior players asked if he can learn the Star Wars theme on his harmonica. We asked our good friend Chewbacca the Wookiee for help.   

Chewy says you can play the theme on your harmonica. He sent us a lovely photo of his Rebel Alliance Harmonica Belt and a recording.  

Instructions for playing the tune are below. Chewy has shown Darth Vader how to play too. You can see Vader’s dark-side harping below.  

Remember the Purple music is for four hole harmonicas, and Orange music is for ten hole harmonicas. May the harp be with you!

Too ta too ta Solo?

Each number tells you which hole to play. D means draw (breath in). B means blow (breath out). So let’s play. Click the green button under each chunk to hear how it goes.

 1B   3B

 2D   2B   1D   4B   3B

 4B   6B

 5D   5B   4D   7B   6B

 2D   2B   1D   4B   3B

 2D   2B   2D   1D

 5D   5B   4D   7B   6B

 5D   5B   5D   4D

 1B   3B

 2D   2B   1D   4B   3B

 4B   6B

 5D   5B   4D   7B   6B

 2D   2B   1D   4B   3B

 2B   1D   2B   1B

 5D   5B   4D   7B   6B

 5B   4D   5B   4B

May the Harp be with you!
Well done! Now put it all together again and show your friends, family or grown ups what you can do.

A guide to straight blues harping

In Part 1 we looked at an overview of first position. We considered why it may be something blues players put off till later. We noted that 1st position blues mainly comprises deep low end draw bends and confident high end blow bends, and that the middle octave has little to offer to those who cannot overbend.

We also recommended that blues players develop the ability to identify positional playing by ear. This isn’t as hard as you might believe. It’s like birdsong. You could probably recognise the call of an owl, a seagull or a finch right? Well the three principal blues harp positions also have their own signatures.

In this, the second part of our series, we look at the bottom end blues scale in 1st position and its trade licks. Meantime here’s more of our series theme tune from Nine Below Zero. The song is called Doghouse and it’s from their second album, Don’t Point Your Finger.

1^st position low end blues scale

Fluency in the blues scale provides a firm foundation for your repertoire of blues licks. So let’s get back to basics for a moment. 

Grab a D harp and play the 2^nd position blues scale 2D  3D’  4B  4D’  4D  5D  6B. It gives the key of A major. Now switch to an A harp and locate these same notes between holes 1B and 4B.

If you can draw bend, you’ll find most of it’s there. But you’ll also notice something is missing. That partially bent blues note in 3D’ on the D harp (the flattened third) is absent on the A harp. You won’t find it without a radical overblow in 1B+. You can play 2B on the D harp, but not 2B’.

Let’s look at it the other way. The 2B on the A harp is equivalent to a clean 3D on the D harp, albeit an octave lower. You will get away with it, but it can sound polite in isolation. We like to think of 2B in 1st position as the blues wannabe note. It almost got there, but didn’t quite make it. But it turns out this is a good thing. The clean 2B has become the hallmark of all those low end signature riffs in 1st position blues. It’s this that generates a lot of the melancholic mood. Just try this lick

4B   3D   2D   2D”..2B   2D”..2B..1B

Just in case you were wondering

While 2D and 3B both provide the same note on a diatonic harp and 2D is part of our 1st position blues scale, when it comes to playing 1st position licks, 3B is seldom used. For practical purposes we focus on 2D because 3B just makes things awkward. Trust us on this point for now. It will all become apparent when we look at some low end licks.

Mapping it all out

Here is the 1st position blues scale tab. The sound clip is played on an A major harp.

1B   2B   2D”   2D’   2D   3D’   4B

4B   3D’   2D   2D’   2D”   2B   1B

Now let’s look at a graphic of what’s going on. Click the image below to enlarge it or print yourself a copy here. All the safe notes have been highlighted in red. That blues wannabe note in 2B has also been highlighted in mauve, together with the overblow in 1D+.

The 5B an octave up from 2B has also been highlighted (the blues wannabe’s kid brother), along with the overblow notes in 4B+, 5B+ and 6B+ that complete the blues scale in the mid octave range.

8B has not been coloured in the upper octave because we have a complete blues scale here. Our flattened third is readily available as a blow bend in 8B’. More of this in part three.

Low end signature riffs
Now we’ve nailed the scale, let’s look at some low end signature licks together. We’ll start with Kim Wilson’s version of Trust My Baby (by Sonny Boy II). It’s on his Tiger Man album. Grab a G major harp and let’s get cooking.

3D   4B 2D”   2D

2D”..2B   1B………

2D”..2D   2D…

See what we mean by hitting 2D rather than 3B? It would become messy and you’d lose the soulfulness generated by raising 2D” through 2D’ and into 2D. Once you’ve cracked the phrasing for this lick, experiment with tongue blocking, tonal variety, hand wah-wah and throat vibrato to complete the delivery. This is low down, deep and mournful stuff.

I cry ‘nobody loves me and nobody seems to care!’

Now we’ve mapped out the principal 1st position blues notes and a classic lick in the lower octave. You’ll find countless variations on this lick in other blues songs. Next let’s check out the opening to BB King’s Every Day I Have The Blues, recorded on this occasion by Paul Lamb & The Kingsnakes on their 1995 album Fine Condition.

This example shows us how notes from the same blues scale in the lower 1st position register can deliver a lead riff and accompaniment. You’ll need an A major harp.

Riff 1

2D”..2B 1B-4B 1B-4B         Octaves!

2D”..2B 1D-4D 1D-4D        Reverse the 1-4 hole direction over the V chord

Riff 2

2D”..2D  3D

2D”..2D  3D

2D”..2D  4B …..9B’-9B

Riff 3

2D”..2B   4B   4B               Lends weight to the vocal line

2D”..2B   4D   4D               Reverse the 4 hole direction once over the V chord

Interestingly, when it comes to the harmonica solo in this particular number, Paul Lamb switches to second position on a D major harp. He might have taken the more obvious route of staying with the A harp and hitting the upper octave, however switching harps mid song is a legitimate option and can be very effective. It’s not necessarily cheating! Go see Charlie Musselwhite and you’ll find he does this regularly. Little Walter often did it as well.

I’m a home run hitter baby, and I can hit ‘em all night long!

One of the finest examples of 1st position playing listened to at the Harp Surgery is the title track of Jerry Portnoy’s Home Run Hitter album. Here’s the intro.

..4D..4D   4D..4D..4D   4D..3D..2D   2D”..2B       rpt  x 4

2D   2D”..2D   2D   2D”..2B..1B      rpt x 2

4B   3D   2D

2D”..2B

4B   4B..3D   2D

Once again it works around that familiar 1st position blues pattern in the lower octave, but Jerry uses some highly imaginative phrasing. Now listen to the clip again and note what happens over the V chord. It’s brief. Jerry breaks into a 4D-5D trill. Here’s a clip of the part we’re referring to, followed by the remainder of the intro and a fade out.

3D ..4B

4D’..4D~5D      trill

2D..3D   4B..4B   3D..2D

2D..2B..1B

..4D..4D   4D..4D..4D   4D..3D..2D   2D”..2B

..4D..4D   4D..4D..4D   4D..3D..2D

One and one makes two

You may not have noticed, but cross harp notes are being used over the V chord. Let’s spend a moment figuring this out; it’s an important concept not only in 1st position, but in others too.

Taking an A major harp in 1st position, we know that we start playing over the A major chord. It’s straight harp after all. This is the I chord or tonic. We then move to the IV chord or sub-dominant which is D major. But typically we’re digging into the same deep bending territory as the I chord. More of this shortly. However, when we move to the V chord or dominant, we’re playing over E major.

What do we know about E major on an A harp? That’s right. It’s cross harp or 2nd position. So for a brief period in straight blues harping, we can drop in 2nd position licks over the V chord because the two positions coincide. (The same is true on the turn-around if it moves back up to the V chord).

Often this takes the form of 3D  4B  4D’..4D~5D trill. But could also try a simple run down 5D 4D..3D..2D and almost any other 2nd position blues lick. How about 2D  3D  4B  4D’..4D  6B  4D..4D’  4B  3D’  2D just to be fancy? Big Walter might choose 2D 3D’..3D..4D.   

So how do we deal with the IV chord in 1st position?

Let’s take an A harp. For the IV  chord we’re looking for notes that fit over D major. Sonny Boy II often did no more than rapidly repeated switch between 3D’ with deep vibrato and 4B. In Hard Hearted Woman, Big Walter finds the D in the full 2D”. He plays 2D”..2D..2D”  2B..1B  4B.  But why not experiment? A simple sustained 5D-6D sounds kind of different, but it works.

I can’t do my homework any more

Check out Dave Barrett’s book on Exploring 1st Position. It has a heap of practice riffs to work through that will develop your bending muscles! Dave also has books which cover 2nd and 3rd position. We also recommend Winslow Yerxa’s book Harmonica For Dummies as a neat way of exploring this feature of the diatonic harp. Check out our Music Store page for both these books.

In part three, we will investigate the top end 1st position blues scale and it’s associated licks. So until then, start working on those blow bends and here’s Mark Feltham with Nine Below Zero to play us out.

Associated posts:

1st Position Blues Harp – An Introduction (part 1)

Otis the Harp Surgery postman dropped in a letter from our friend Robert Koch in France today.

Robert is organising a Blues and Roots Masterclass from Tuesday 3.August to Saturday 7.August 2010 at La Maison du Kleebach in Kleebach, France. The day offers instruction in guitar, cajón and harmonica.

The great news for harmonica players is that Hohner have kindly released Steve Baker to lead the harp session, together with their very own in-house service team. The team offers all participating harmonica players a free repair and maintenance service and will be happy to answer any further technical questions. Full details are available on line at the European Masterclass website.

Registration has been underway for a while and interest is strong, as you would imagine. There are still places available however. If you would like to participate, please contact: 

• Sunnyside Productions
• Attn. Robert Koch
• 1, rue de la Hache
• F-57000 Metz
• France
  Tel. +33 608 308659
• e-mail here

The Harp Surgery team wishes everyone involved with the Eurpopean Masterclass a fun and rewarding day.

Welcome to the Toot Suite where junior harmonica players can have fun learning to play new songs, checking out top harmonica tips and sharing some crazy harmonica facts that will amaze and amuse.

Here’s another tune you may know. It’s a Sea Shanty sung by Sailors and Pirates. It only uses three holes but there is one jump to learn if you want the song to sound right. Take your time. See how clearly you can play each note.

We have chopped the tune up into small chunks to help you. Click the green button to hear each chunk.

Purple music is for four hole harmonicas. Orange music is for ten hole harmonicas. A number tells you which hole to play. D is draw (breath in). B is blow (breath out). Let’s listen to the whole tune first.

A pretty young damsel I chanced for to meet

Now let’s play the song in chunks.

3B   3D   3B

2B   1B   1B

6B   6D   6B

5B   4B   4B

3B   3D   3B

2B

6B   6D   6B

5B

3B   3D

2D   2B   2D   1D

6B   6D

5D   5B   5D   4D

2D   2B   1D

2D   2B   1D

4D   4B   4D

5D   5B   4D

2D   2B   1D   3D

5D   5B   4D   6D

3B   3B

2B   1D   2B   1B

6B   6B

5B   4D   5B   4B

With a way, hey, blow the man down!
Well done! Now put it all together again and show your friends, family or grown ups what you can do.

A guide to straight blues harping

No force, however great, can stretch a cord, however fine, into a horizontal line which is accurately straight. Elementary Treatise On Mechanics (William Whewell)

The classic blues harmonica journey starts with a crusade to the Holy Shrine of cross harp. Whereupon, straight harp (normally in the guise of Oh Susannah) is swiftly abandoned. Drunk on the glories of success and now equipped with assault amplifiers and bullet microphones, the crusade is remobilised.

New techniques are won - including tongue blocking, vibrato, blow bends and third position blues – before a pale figure appears on the horizon; the ghost of first position. Time to go back to square one.

Playing it straight

Welcome to the first of our three part series exploring the magic of first position blues harp.

A contemporary blues harp player should be proficient in second, third and first position. There are plenty of other positions worthy of exploration and overbending has come of age, but these three positions provide the foundation of classic harmonica blues.

The bues journeyman should learn to identify each of these styles by ear and use positional playing sympathetically. 

Honking away in an alternative position for the sake of it might be impressive momentarily, but it may also demonstrate more about musical immaturity than harp technique. Call it blues graffiti. As artists our responsibility is to share a canvass, not deface it. This means respect for fellow musicians, the audience, the song and the mood.

Why do we leave first position harping till later?

Probably because the first sound to catch our ear is cross harp. The bulk of harp music is played in cross harp and naturally we want to imitate what we hear. So second position is a very convenient portal for entering the blues arena.

Secondly, playing in first position demands strong use of deep draw bends at the low end of the harp. This takes muscle and not everybody can cut it. Proficient use of high end blow bends is also essential. But it is hard to master. We may feel it is unachievable and shy away.

Finally, the options for expression in the middle register are extremely limited - unless you can overbend. So for most of us the middle octave remains barren. With blues licks each side and nothing in between, you will understand why we call it the Grand Canyon of harping. Newcomers are ill-equipped to traverse the gap.

As an afterthought, since cross harp licks fit perfectly over the V chord in first position playing, there’s a chance this might fool novices into thinking they are hearing a cross harp number. Alternatively they may just be unaware of alternative positions.

First position basics. All you need to know on a postage stamp

Here are the essentials of first position blues harp:

• It has certain signature licks which make it instantly identifiable
• It usually has a melancholy feel
• It is found in deep low end draw bends
• It is found in high end blow bends
• It often switches between low and high end licks
• It offers very little in the middle register – unless you can overblow
• Cross harp licks work perfectly over the V chord in first position

What’s the Mode?

In musical theory, we call first positon the Ionian mode. The Ionian scale is the one we are brought up on in the west. Anyone who has seen The Sound Of Music will know the song Doe - A Deer.  This is what we are talking about. Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do. In theoretical terms, the important information lies in the interval, or distance, between each note. An interval can be counted in whole or half steps. We call these tones and semi-tones.

For the simplest example of the Ionian mode on a piano we would start on a C key and move up one white note at a time until we complete an Octave and arrive at the next C. The sequence of intervals we have covered runs like this: Tone-Tone-Semi-tone-Tone-Tone-Tone-Semi-tone.  In short hand this would be T-T-s-T-T-T-s.

A step of one tone (T) comprises two semi-tones. We can see this clearly on the piano keyboard. The journey from From C to D starts on C, passes over C# (also called Db) and finishes on D. A step of one semi-tone does what it says. So between E and D, or B and C, there is no black key. You can only move a half step.

The blues scale

The blues scale is the foundation of blues harping no matter which position you decide to play in. All principle blues positions use notes from the blues scale so it’s important to develop some fluency in this pattern. It helps to locate the sweet notes you need, avoid the sour ones, and express yourself confidently in the blues idiom.

For 1st position blues, we have to find the blues scale using 1B 4B 7B or 10B as our root notes. For now try playing the cross harp blues scale on an F harp (2D 3D’ 4B 4D’ 4D 5D 6B), then match these notes on a C harp between holes 1B and 4B. It should be easy enough, although you will notice that you cannot flatten the second note of the scale on the C harp (without an overblow in hole 1). Try the same with second position on a D harp, then first position on an A.

For our third installent you’ll need blow bends. If you have yet to find these, roll your sleeves up and visit our Harp Skills page. In the meantime let’s hear that clip by Nine Below Zero again. The song is called Doghouse and you’ll find it on their Don’t Point Your Finger album. It’s played in first position using a B harp.

 
 
In parts 2 and 3 we explore

• Low end blues scale
• Low end signature riffs
• High end blues scale
• High end signature riffs
• Bridging the middle octave
• Some handy little extras

Musical examples will be drawn from Paul Lamb & The Kingsnakes, Sonny Boy Williamson II (by way of Kim Wilson), Jimmy Reed, Charlie Musselwhite, Winslow Yerxa and Jerry Portnoy.

Associated posts:

First Position Blues Harp – An Introduction (Part 2)