chord

For students that are interested in playing to non-12 bar blues, here's software that can tell you the chord used in a given song riffstation.com

Once you know the chords, you can use Music Theory Study 6 to help show you what to do with this information.

Thanks to fellow BluesHarmonica.com student Steve B. for sharing this information.

In Gary Smith's 53rd submission for BluesHarmonica.com we continue our series on blues bridges.

Cool video of a very good harmonica not often spoken about.

Mattie & Salty Holmes - The Harmonica Boogie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=224UBcuWZv8

P.S., starting next week Tip of the Day will move to once a week (I'll shoot for Wednesdays). I've enjoyed writing for you every weekday morning for the past 3+ years, but student submissions at BluesHarmonica.com have been increasing steadily and now my time needs to be focused on them.

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.

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I'm at my desk in the Movenpick Hotel Stuttgart, about to leave for my flight home. Today I'll start a series based on my observations from my classes, conversations with students and what I heard at the jam sessions... specifically what I saw in regards to deficiencies.

Memorize your three blues chords...

I7 (one-seven chord) = G B D F (G is the Root of the chord, B the third [third note from the root in the basic scale... G A B], D the fifth and F the flat-7th [the 7th in the Key of G is F#, so F being lowered a half step is the flat-7th)
IV7 = C E G Bb
V7 Chord = D F# A C continue reading...

Yen Ming Chen speaks of the Sirius Harmonica Ensemble and the Chord Harmonica.

Yen Ming Chen - HOHNER Masters of the Harmonica
http://youtu.be/AuNspLIWEMw

You probably already know that 12 Bar Blues is the most common form in blues. What's the second most common?... 8 Bar Blues. Listen to Little Walter's version of "Key to the Highway." Knowing that 2 Draw is the root note of the I Chord (one chord), 1+ is the root note of the IV Chord and 1 Draw is root note of the V Chord, see if you can figure out the chord progression. You'll need your C Harmonica for this (the song is in the key of G).

Hint, the first four bars is a standard V-IV-I-Turnaround, then it goes into an 8 Bar Progression.

Though the 12 Bat Blues Progression is the most common chord progression we play over, other chord progressions do exist. Some have very simple changes that can be "felt" and little to no study is needed. Some progressions introduce new chords and have unintuitive form lengths and require many hours of work in the practice room before ideas begin to flow.

Something always to keep in mind is that the chord progression for the vocals doesn't have to be the chord progression for the solos. In fact, it's a pretty common thing to do, historically speaking. continue reading...