Blues in E on chromatic - Part 8

Sweetening the scale with C# - first of three installments

In keys like E that use sharps to create a major scale, those sharps are like sugar. And the blues needs a little sugar - a little sweet to go along with the sour and the bitter, and a little sunshine to contrast with the seductive darkness.

So far in the previous installments we've:

-- played a five-note minor pentatonic scale

--then added the flat five to make it a blues scale.

--Then we used the slide to sweeten up the sourest note- the flat 2, or F natural, turning it into F-sharp.

Now it's time to take the dark-sounding C natural and turn it into C# (C-sharp). Some notes are too dark sounding even for blues (unless it's a minor blues) and this is one of them. Changing it to C# makes it into a usable note for all kinds of blues.

C is a blow note, one hole to the left of E, the home note of the key. Press in the slide and you get C#.

So the first move to learn is moving back and forth between E and C#. But first, let's cut C-natural a little slack and let it in on the game. Try this move:

E to C to C#.

Remember the tab I'm using? Hole number, then B for blow, D for draw, and then < for notes that you play with the slide pressed in.

So the tab for E C C# is 2B 1B 1B<

Try playing this as a repeated lick over a medium-to-slow shuffle in E:

First beat, play 2B. (E)

Second beat, play 1B 1B< (C, then C#)

Then wait two beats and repeat.

Let's break down the moves.

When you go from 2B to 1B, you move the harmonica to the right.

When you go from 1B to 1B<, you press in the slide.

Then you stop breathing, release the slide, and move the harmonica one hole to the left to start over.

One you've got the hang of that lick, try the next one:

2B 1B< 2B 1B< 2B

(Play the fist four notes for 1 beat each, then hold the final 2B for most of the next four beats, then repeat.)

Here' you go directly between a slide-out note and a slide-in note one hole to the left. This takes some practice to coordinate. But there's a trick to make it easier:

As you move the harmonica to the right to move from 2B to 1B, keep your finger on the slide button and don't let it move. As you move the harmonica, the slide button automatically gets pressed in, raising 1B to 1B< (C to C#).

Again, use the lick above with a medium-to-slow shuffle to gain coordination of this move.

TIP: Try the same move an octave higher, in Holes 6 and 6, and also in Holes 10 and 9.

Now, let's connect three neighboring blow notes - 1B<, 2B, and 3B.

Start on 2B (E, the home note).

Move one hole to the right to 3B (the minor 3rd, a blue note, which happens to be G).
Move back to 2B.

Move one hole to the left, pressing in the slide for 1B< (C#).

Finally move back to 2B.

So the whole lick is: 2B 3B 2B 1B< 2B

Play the first four notes on Beats 1, 2, 3, and 4, then hold the last note for the next bar, then start over. Try it with a backing track.

Two more licks to end this segment. Last time we focused on F#, the second degree of the scale. So let's include both F# and C# in a lick:

2B 2D< 2B 1B< 2B

Again, play the first four notes on Beats 1, 2, 3, and 4, and ride the last note over most of the next 4 beats.

Now, that if you move directly between C# and F#?

This is easier than it might seem, because you hold in the slide for both notes and just change hole and breath direction:

1B< 2B 1B< 2B< etc.

Try just making that move. When you add 2B (E) into the mix, you have to remember to let the slide out:

(1 beat each): 2B 2D< 1B< 2D< 2B (2 beats) 1B<

Try that as a repeated lick.

Next segment, I'll guide you through connecting C# to other notes that can create more new licks.