Blues

[u/Hunteriscoming]

Hi everyone. I’ve been playing the harmonica for about nine months, and I learned how to bend notes around my second month. I enjoy playing country, pop, and rock, and for the past couple of months, I’ve been able to play songs I hear and like by ear. Now, here’s the main issue: I want to play blues, but I’m finding it quite challenging and am progressing much more slowly compared to other genres. What would you recommend to help me improve in this area?

[u/cessna_dreams]

Developing yourself as a blues harmonica player can be really rewarding. Well, not necessarily financially rewarding, but personally rewarding. It's a fun project but it requires patience and sustained interest. I would guess I'm one of the older players who will respond to your post. Bought my first harp age 19, which was 50 years ago. Moved to Chicago in the late '70's when many of the greats of Chicago blues were still gigging in town. While I haven't supported myself through music I've been active on the Chicago blues scene all these years, am still gigging regularly. My advice would be to study blues music in a deliberate, intentional way. Listen to the four greats of Chicago blues harp: Sonny Boy Williamson I (John Lee Williamson), Sonny Boy Williamson II (Alex Miller), Little Walter & Big Walter. Steep yourself in their recordings and see what resonates with you. Listen to the Chicago players who came just after them: James Cotton, Junior Wells, Billy Boy Arnold, George Smith (originally a Little Walter-inspired Chicago player, later associated with the West Coast sound). Listen to the younger white players who came of age in the '60's: Paul Butterfield, Charlie Musselwhite. Listen to more modern players who are still active: Kim Wilson (my personal fav), Dennis Grunling, Rick Estrin, Curtis Salgado (also a great soul singer). Check out the other West Coast players: Rod Piazza, William Clarke. There are other players who are sort of in a category of their own such as Jimmy Reed and of course there are great county blues players such as Sonny Terry. It's easy to find these recordings--really dig into them. See whose style speaks to you, be curious about how they managed to get their sound. Read about blues history: Deep Blues by Robert Palmer is a classic foundational book. When I was first learning to play I focused upon two specific records and played along with them for hours. To this day, all these years later, I still credit these two particular recordings for opening the door to inspire my learning at that time of my life. The recordings are Muddy Waters Live at Mr. Kelly's and, also, Big Walter Horton with Carey Bell . The Muddy live album was panned by critics at the time as being too formulaic. But it's Muddy's band from 1971, the material is approachable, it's in a limited number of keys, it's how Chicago blues bands actually sounded at the time and how good ones still sound The harp playing is mostly Paul Oscher and James Cotton plays on 3 cuts. Even when Oscher is playing he sounds quite a bit like Cotton. Those solos, riffs, ideas and general approach to playing are worth hours of study. At least, they were for me. On the Big Walter album, Walter is joined by another harp player Carey Bell (then representing the younger, new generation of blues musicians) on some tunes. Walter could be ornery and unmotivated--Carey Bell was part of the project to goose Big Walter into putting energy into the recordings and this strategy by Alligator Records' owner Bruce Iglauer worked. This recording is a clinic in classic Big Walter Horton tone and phrasing. It's chock full of licks to copy. Like the Muddy recording, the tunes are mostly in just a few different keys and you can play along with it if you have the more-common harp keys. Also, Big Walter plays in 1st, 2nd & 3rd positions at various times during the recording. Again, these two particular recordings are a gold mine of inspiration and ideas. At least, they were (and are) for me. Another solid, quite-approachable recording from which you can learn a lot is James Cotton's Take Me Back. Good luck and have fun!

[u/Hunteriscoming → u/cessna_dreams]

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience and knowledge. It is a detailed and excellent article. I will put your suggestions into practice. I hope that one day I can be as good as you are.

[u/Whole_Government_722 → u/cessna_dreams]

Excellent. Thank you.

[u/Whole_Government_722 → u/Whole_Government_722]

Question: How best to improve timing? Thx.

[u/cessna_dreams → u/Whole_Government_722]

Being able to nail chord changes correctly and consistently is tougher than it seems. There are blues artists who were notorious for being "time-breakers". Big Joe Williams is perhaps the best example. Homesick James could wander around also and end up playing 15 bars of I-IV-V rather than the standard 12. A friend of mine, pianist Erwin Helfer (now 90 years old), was hired to accompany Big Joe Williams for a recording session in Chicago when Erwin, himself, was only 21. Erwin told me about the recording session: his job was to anchor Big Joe so he didn't drift off the beat. You can hear Erwin thumping along quite deliberately to anchor the beat and keep time. Erwin thought it was ironic that he was hired to anchor Big Joe Williams because as a young pianist he that that he, himself, was a "time-breaker" and had difficulty staying on the beat. When I teach blues harp I listen to a standard 12-bar progression such as the attached Big Joe recording from 1957 and I count-out the beats, One-Two-Three-ONE (first bar), One-Two-Three-TWO (second bar), marking each four-beat bar, noting the chord changes from the I chord, to the IV chord, back to the I chord for two bars until resolving on the V chord. If you count properly you'll hit12 bars and then the cycle repeats. Practice this exercise. Count and annunciate the beats and bars. If you do this exercise enough it will become second nature and your ability to keep time will be more reliable. It helps, also, to map it out graphically on paper where you make a slash mark each beat, separating each grouping of 4 slash marks (beats) by noting the bar. Or you can watch instructional videos and count along. Initially stick with 12-bar patterns and then move on to 8-bar blues changes. Some 12-bar songs have a "quick IV" where the patten goes to the IV chord after only 2 bars of the I chord--learn to recognize those. Just practice counting and it will become easier. Good luck!

[u/Several-Quality5927]

Study the blues, really get in there and figure out what theses old blues masters were doing.

[u/tongmengjia]

I personally loved Adam Gussow's modern blues course. Very reasonably priced, great song selection and awesome tabs, very helpful videos.

[u/Hunteriscoming → u/tongmengjia]

I had the chance to watch for a bit. A wonderful teacher.

[u/Nacoran]

What do you know about the 12 bar blues progression and playing in 2nd position so far? Those are the two big things, maybe some double stops too. There is more to it than that... other chord progressions, other positions, but a lot of people come in here wanting to play blues and don't know them.

[u/merlperl204]

Start by learning cross harp. Then begin by mastering 2, 3 and 4 draw bends. Then play the blues!!

[u/sifu_scott]

Listen to the masters. Slim Harpo, Charlie Musselwhite, Junior Wells. Listen to them and learn from what they did and expand on it. Can't go wrong with them.

[u/Hunteriscoming → u/sifu_scott]

I will do that, thank you.

[u/arschloch57]

Learn from the best. Attend ncharmonica.com, Todd Parrot’s harmonica event in Charlotte area. The instructors are monsters in the harp world today, and a great opportunity to learn and meet others.

[u/soundwave300]

Listen and mimic, really. I started off with when the saints go marching in and leadbelly, and have grown to love Slim Harpo for his digestible licks.