David's Tip of the Day: Learning Bass Line to your Song

Whether you're presenting a new song to your band or getting ready to jam and "make it happen" at your local nightclub, it's a wise idea to learn the bass line to your song. Include playing a piece of it in your speech... "G"... "Shuffle"... look to the bass player and play "2 2 6+ 6+ 5 5 4 4" a couple of times... "From the V" and count them in. Below are some examples of bass lines from famous harmonica songs.

"Roller Coaster" Little Walter
1 2 1 2

"Easy" Big Walter Horton
2 2 3 3 4 4 5+ 5+ 5 5 5+ 5+ 4 4 3 3

"Blue Midnight" Little Walter
2 3' 3 5 5+ 4 2

"Sharp Harp" George Harmonica Smith
2 1 2 1 1 2" 2'

To figure out the bass line, approach it just like you would a harp part you're trying to copy, hunt and peck until you can play the pattern to the best of your knowledge. There are also bass lines presented in the Solo Harmonica Study series on the site... it's useful to get familiar with what's common.