scale

This song brings two challenges to harmonica players... it's in minor and it has a chord substitution for Bars 9 and 10.

If you decide to play this in 2nd Position you'll need an E Harmonica to play in Bm (B minor). You'll want to stick to the blues scale...

Lower Octave = 1+ 1' 1 2" 2
Mid Octave = 2 3' 4+ 4' 4 5 6+
High Octave = 6+ (6' 6) 7+ 8 9 9+

If you choose to play in 3rd Position you'll use an A Harmonica. Again, the blues scale is a good scale to focus on...

Lower Octave = (1+) 1 2" 2 3''' 3" 4+ 4
Mid Octave = 4 5 6+ 6' 6 7+ 8
High Octave = 8 9 9+ 10 10+ continue reading...

The most apparent change on the high end for someone studying the note layout of the harmonica or playing scales is that at hole 7 the blow notes are higher than the draw notes. This is easily seen in the C Major Scale below. Note the change in breathing between holes 6 and 7.

4+ 4 5+ 5 6+ 6 7 7+

If you play two octaves of scale you get...

4+ 4 5+ 5 6+ 6 7 7+ 8 8+ 9 9+ 10 10+ (10'+ B is also available if you want to throw it in there, but it's rarely used)

Now the entire range...

1+ 1 2+ 2" 2 3" 3 4+ 4 5+ 5 6+ 6 7 7+ 8 8+ 9 9+ 10 10+ continue reading...

Though only one of the blue notes in the blues scale is available from holes 6+ to 9+, it's still a viable way to play, especially when you add the 6 and 6' to round out the scale. Put on a more bluesy jam track (a "Box" is a good choice) and give it a try.

Upper Octave Blues Scale (Modified): 6+ 6' 6 7+ 8 9 9+

Now that you've dialed in playing up and down the scale, put on a jam track and improvise to it, ONLY playing the notes within the scale. It will be a challenge to stay within the scale, especially for those with more improvising experience (muscle memory will pull you out of the scale, so make sure to choose a moderate tempo jam track). Take mental note as to which notes within the scale sound really, and where, so we can further explore how to choose notes within this scale that will interact well with the three chords of our 12 Bar Blues progression.

The passage I had you practicing Friday (6+ 6 7 8) contains the first four notes of the ascending G Major Pentatonic Scale. Those notes, in this order, represents one of the best licks to transition you into the high end of the harmonica.

Here's the complete scale...

6+ 6 7 8 8+ 9+

Add the 10 at the end and you get another usable note = 6+ 6 7 8 8+ 9+ 10

Practice this ascending and descending 100 times today and you'll be ready for our next step. continue reading...