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David's Tip of the Day: Just Your Fool, Part 2 (Full Chart) - Blues Standards

Posted Wed, 01/13/2016 - 16:45 by David Barrett Admin
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Okay, let's see if you figured it out correctly. Below are the three different chord progressions found in the song, as well as the chorus with the error.

Harp Solo (12)
I I I I
IV IV I I
V7 IV I V7

Verses (8)
I I7 IV IV
I V7 I V7

Bridge (8)
IV I IV I
IV I V V

Chart
Harp Solo (12) | Verse (8) x2 | Harp Solo (12) | Bridge (8) | Verse (7.5) | Verse (8) ||

See if you can figure out where the two beats were dropped in the verse following the bridge and how you could approach the vocals to change this to be a standard 8 bars.

David's Tip of the Day: Just Your Fool - Blues Standards

Posted Tue, 01/12/2016 - 11:17 by David Barrett Admin
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Before I outline "Just Your Fool" by Little Walter I think you should take a listen to it for yourself first. Listen careful to the form and see if you can figure out what's going. Your clue is that it has both 12 and 8 bar forms, with two different types of 8 bar forms present. There's also a deviation (i.e., mistake) in the form in one of later verses.

David's Tip of the Day: Key to the Highway - Blues Standards

Posted Mon, 01/11/2016 - 10:03 by David Barrett Admin
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This song is on the School of the Blues House Band Standards List simply because of its form. There is no standard 8 bar blues chord progression, unlike the 12 bar blues which is expected to be a specific way (with small variations every now and again). In my experience "Key to the Highway" provides the most common version of an 8 bar blues used. If you use this as your reference point, when doing a different 8 bar blues you can say to yourself, "It's like Key to the Highway, but it changes like this..."

The chord progression is...

I V IV IV
I V I V continue reading...

What's New: Bending Study 13 - Overbend Study 6, Study Song 4

Posted Fri, 01/08/2016 - 17:23 by David Barrett Admin
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In this study song, titled “Moanin’ After Midnight,” we’ll work your overbending in the context of 1st Position blues, utilizing the expressive techniques you learned in Study 5. You’ll need a Bb Harmonica for this study. You can find this lesson here http://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/bending_study_12_overbending_study...

David's Tip of the Day: Tramp - Blues Standards

Posted Fri, 01/08/2016 - 12:35 by David Barrett Admin
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"Tramp" provides our most common rock beat (straight-eighths) in the blues. You can hear derivations of this groove in William Clarke's "Pawnshop Bound" and my recent "Here We Go" on the It Takes Three CD. This song also provides a good challenge of dealing with what's basically a 12 Bar Blues in nature, but with an irregular length (some of the chords are double in length and it's not consistent from chorus to chorus). The band's challenge is to turn the form into a consistent form. continue reading...

David's Tip of the Day: Filisko Tongue Block Trainer

Posted Thu, 01/07/2016 - 09:19 by David Barrett Admin
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Anyone working on tongue blocking techniques will benefit from the use of the Tongue Block Trainer. I use the TBT in my lesson videos at BluesHarmonica.com so that students can see what I'm trying to get them to do. I also give the TBT to each of my private students at School of the Blues so that I can ensure that their tongue is doing the techniques properly. You can see more details about the TBT at the Filisko Store here: http://www.filiskostore.com/page/480389598

David's Tip of the Day: Rock Me Baby - Blues Standards

Posted Wed, 01/06/2016 - 08:34 by David Barrett Admin
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Let's get back to the School of the Blues House Band Standards List. Rock Me Baby is our next song listed and is a good example of a standard shuffle (bordering on slow blues) made cool with the simple addition of a hook. The hook on the harmonica is below.

2nd Position (F Harmonica)
I7 = 2 2" 2 or 6+ 5 6+
IV7 = 4+ 3' 4+
V7 = 4 4+ 4

3rd Position
I7 = 4 4+ 4
IV7 = 2 2" 2 or 6+ 5 6+
V7 = 3" 2 3" or 6 6+ 6

David's Tip of the Day: Want to become great at playing the high end of the harmonica?

Posted Tue, 01/05/2016 - 07:54 by David Barrett Admin
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Simple, but powerful, tip today. Take each lick/song you learn and play it up an octave.

David's Tip of the Day: Documentary about Clarksdale with Charlie Musselwhite

Posted Mon, 01/04/2016 - 07:55 by David Barrett Admin
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A nice introduction to the area with the Musselwhite family https://youtu.be/eNKrLBzKiNc

David's Tip of the Day: Hoochie Coochie Man - Blues Standards

Posted Fri, 01/01/2016 - 09:03 by David Barrett Admin
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This song is in the School of the Blues House Band Standards list because it shows the typical approach to breaks in a slow blues. Note that this is not a twelve bar progression, but a sixteen bar. What makes it sixteen is the fact that the first line is doubled (8 bars of the I Chord instead of 4). This is a typical treatment for a song with breaks, and a player should listen carefully in bar 4 for any movement to a IV chord or if it stays static... this is an easy place to make an error if you're not aware of the fact that breaks in the beginning of a song could indicate a 16 bar form. continue reading...