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Harmonica Lessons › Community Forum › Harmonica Q&A › Need song suggestions
Hey all! I’m very glad I found this forum!
Recently started learning how to play the harmonica and I can already do draw bends. I still have very little knowledge on this topic and I googled, but couldn’t find the answer to one of my questions. We are going on a trip where I can take my harp and I somehow saw that there are songs (blues?) in which the performer sings a couple of lines and then plays a couple of notes and so on and on. Can you recommend me such songs for my C harmonica that I can find tabs on the Internet?
Cheers in advance
Hey, Dina! So ya got the draw bending down, aeh? That’s awesome! That’s where all the really juicy blues resides! Try to holding those bent frequencies longer and work on presenting each note as pretty as possible. You’ll hear yourself sound better and better just by playing more and experimenting with your tone (oral cavity shapes).
As far as Call and Response within the Blues, there are a ton of blues songs shaped that way, so it’d be lengthy to simply name a few artists, nevermind songs. Just a matter of finding them and attempted them. Not many or even decent enough tabs exist for harmonica, mostly because microintonation isn’t clearly defined within classical music notation. I’d be happy to lay out a few tabs if you gave a song, but being able to pick out the key of a song by ear is the foundation of ear training, and is ultimately what you seek. You should first try to pick out the final resolution tone (the tonic) from a song to get the key which the band plays in. Then, it’s up to you as the harmonica player to choose which position to play in. Become very familiar with 2nd position. In general most people do, or at least historically have, play in 2nd position and most recorded harmonica songs are in 2nd position too. So in 2nd position, the tonic is on an unbent 2-draw, and the same for 3, 6, and 9 (all unbent) blows.
Mitch has included some Play-a-Long songs, all in C, and all w/ harmonica tabs simultaneously with the appropriate sheet music. There’s “Great Lakes Blues.” If you wanted to explore different breathing techniques and styles, theres a supplemented song in 1st position and another in 3rd position: https://harmonicatime.com/play-a-long-harmonica-tunes/.
I’d be more than happy to churn out some tabs for you if you gave me a song with harmonica in it :)
Enjoy your trip and the trip that is the pocket full of soul journey!
Cheers
Hey Dina,
To add to what Ryan shared… here’s the first two that come to mind. I haven’t listened to them in a while but re listened to them when I looked them up for this post… man these songs are so simple in sound but wow are they filled with so much fire… they blow me away every time I listen to them!
Happy travels
Yes Shawn! I like it! Those are some really great greats!
Let’s keep the C blues rollin’!…
“Kansas City” (…here we come!)
Jerry Portnoy on C harp, w/ some honky 1st position => key of C
from Muddy Waters Live, Chicago, 1979
“I’ll be standing on the corner. Twelfth Street and Vine…”
“Act Like You Love Me”
Mark Hummel on C harp, 2nd position => key of G
from Rusty Zinn – Last Train To Bluesville
“Baaaby that’s all right, That’s allll right for youuu (x2) You treats me mean. That’s the way you do.”
“Daaaaaar-lin’ ACT like you love me/Why don’t you call me on the phone sometimes?…”
A tribute from the original from Jimmy Rogers (w/ Little Walter on harp), but this take is personally my favorite :)
Also there’s apps out there that can transpose your audio files, so you can play any song in whatever key you want. Udo had shared one which he uses, but I forgot which it was. Audacity offers that functionality.
Have fun!
Oh I am so glad you posted “keeping the”c” blues rolling “ Ryan….I completely forgot that piece!! I totally feel like I’m back in school and got through the whole assignment and realized I read the instructions wrong!😂😂😂. Ha I heard call and response and just ran with it lol! Ok i think you can play your “c” harp with Hoochie Coochie man… but you’ll need a “D” harp for mannish boy.
Haha but I feel like you totally Aced the call & response portion. Keys be damned!
What up, beautiful people!
Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5YiUfR9O92NM2FAVczAjYtQuRSwpXn5E
And that’s a wrap! LOL!
Thank you very much sir!
I didn’t know what this technique was called Call and Response, and I learned a lot from your answer.
In the coming days I will try to learn more of these songs with your advice
Warm regards
Thank you! This is what I was looking for
Hello Dina,
I’m glad our responses were useful to you. More than happy to help.
Cheers!
Ryan that was a perfect 🎤 drop! And thanks for that list of songs! I scrolled to see how long it was and stubbornly just kept scrolling because I knew there had to be an end… for a minute I actually wasn’t sure if there was.. and then it randomly ends with Bella Fleck and the Flecktones. I also play the banjo so I was pleasantly surprised!
And Dina I’m so glad this all was helpful!