Horn Lines on the Chromatic
Fri, 03/22/2013 - 16:01
David....Have been playing the Chromatic more lately and listening to the "Interview" sections as well. I have been playing in a band that plays a lot of music other than straight traditional blues; I only have small solo sections in most of the songs we play, but, there is quite a bit of room for me to play horn lines and harmony lines with the Sax and rhythm guitar. My question is, How do I approach accompaniment playing with the Chromatic? As an example, we do a A minor jam to introduce the band at most shows and when I am not soloing I would like to accompany. The Rick Estrin interview is the particular piece that got me inspired to ask this question. Thx
Hey Tommy. With a song in A Minor, I would commonly choose to use the G Chromatic Harmonica in 3rd Position. I would then find a lick that I feel sounds good with the accompaniment... either based on a lick that one of the other instruments is playing, or if there isn't one, I'll make up my own. Horn lines tend to use repetitive phrasing, such as what I teach in the Chorus Form study, so using repetition is a good way to go... this also makes it easier for the other instruments to play with you. In minor be cautious of the 4 and 8 draw, these don't work in minor. I hope this helps a little bit.