Howlin' Wolf's riff in his song, "Nature" on Real Folk Blues album
I was a long time student of David's but havene't been an online member for a while, but lo and behold I guess I have a temporary membership, because I get a free month when I buy a harmonica from Richard Sleigh. So I wanted to post David's answer to my question for everyone's benefit:
Here's my question:
The riff in that Howlin' Wolf plays in his song "Nature" on the Real Folk Blues album seems simple, but I'm having a lot of trouble with it. (Similiar issues with smokestack) I tried it in cross-harp (G harmoinica) in the first octave, too low. Then I tried it on the 2nd octive, doesn't sound quite right. I wondered if it was on a high G harp, but other friends convinced me they didn't have high G back then. Someone suggested 1st position, then we convinced ourselves it was 556+6+ (and 456 for the V chord) in 2nd on the G harp. I shoulda tried first! Cause you can't get the same chording in 2nd position or octave opportunities.
Here's David's answer:
"Ah, positions can be challenging. He's playing the D Harmonica in 1st Po. The lick is essentially 3 3 4+ 4+, and he plays it many different ways, but the most common way is 3 draw with 4 draw, then a draw pull and then two 4+ octaves. He's tongue blocking. It's possible that he could be switching to pucker in some places, though there's no reason to think that he is, so stay in a TB."
Thanks, David! The tips on the "different ways" are espicially helpful. It gives me the freedom to try different facsimlies. And you saved a "marriage" (I live with my boyfriend who's a lead guitarist. Now ain't that a challenge! LOL! Anybody wanna hear the joke I heard yesterday to comfort me, I might be persuaded.)
One of the "different ways" I like is: 3'(2)4+4+. Still haven't figured out how to get the right amount of dirtiness in the notes, though and the tone HW has.
I had the pleasure of having a lesson with Curtis Salgado once, and he described HW's "chording" like this: "He just doesn't care! He just doesn't care!" To me it seems that it's so loose and relaxed, but just sounds so right.
BTW, Smokestack is similar because HW uses the same kind of loose style of chording, or dirty notes (double notes), but Smokestack is in 2nd position. But still it's hard to hear exactly where he's playing, for me anyway, when the notes are dirty like that, which is a big part of his sound.