Red Bullet Boogie

Hello Bluesharmonica.com! 

If anyone is interested behind my inspiration for this tune "Red Bullet Boogie." Read on!

This was recorded live at one of my gigs this past weekend with my duo called "Jukebox Manouche." 

After watching many of the Gary Smith contributor videos regarding his songwriting process I thought I'd write a tribute song to his "Chrome Bullet Boogie." In his videos with David, Gary talks alot about how he likes to borrow various choruses from different harmonica insturmentals. He talks alot about using Little Walter choruses, sometimes just exactly as Walter would play them or he would come up with his own interpretation of a chorus or combine different choruses together. I thought I would attempt to do a similar thing using some of my own ideas, some of Gary's choruses and of course some from Little Walter. 

A side note regarding the name. Red is my favorite color and I recently picked up a great Shure 9824a Bullet that has been customized by Johhny Ace. Both the shell and the grill are painted a beautiful race red color and it has a white label controlled reluctance element inside which sounds pretty killer to my ears. I simply traded "Red" for "Chrome" because I'm assuming Gary wrote Chrome Bullet Boogie for his Chrome Bullet microphone. 

I'll break down the choruses as follows

Chorus 1:

"Head"

A A(sequence) B

This I chord idea came from a book that some of you are probably familar with called "100 Authentic Blues Harmoncia Licks." The IV chord lick is from another lick out of the same book. The V IV section is from "Gary's Blues" which is one of the study songs on the website. The turnaround idea is something I came up with, you will hear this repeated a few times throughout the tune.

Chorus 2:

A B C

This whole chorus is from the 7th chorus in the classic "Juke."

Chorus 3:

A A(with variation) B

This chorus is a mashup of a few different ideas. The main idea behind it is from the first solo chorus in "My Babe" by Little Walter. The V IV section is an idea based of the Gary Smith contributor videos called "movement exercises." The turn around idea is something I came up with, you also hear this idea repeated a few times throughout the tune. 

Chorus 4:

A A B 

The I chord and IV chord licks are an idea that I created, kind of a jump swing thing and I wanted to get some chugging going in the tune. The V IV lick is again from "Gary's Blues" and the tunaround is the same as chorus no. 1

Chorus 5:

A A(sequence) B

This I and IV chord lick is an idea based of a chorus in the study song "Jimmy's Reed (ver. 2)" and again I used some chugging to add more rhythmic effect. The IV chord is just a sequence of the same lick. The V IV and turnaround are from the 1st solo chorus of "My Babe." 

Chorus 6:

A B A C

The I Chord idea comes from the study song "Buffet Line" and the IV chord idea is from "The Split." The V IV and turnaround idea is something I came up with using decending chord arpeggios landing on the 3rd. The turnaround is a lick Little Walter used all the time, going up draw holes 1234 and then a shake on draw 4/5. 

Chorus 7:

A A A

This is the opening chorus to "Chrome Bullet Boogie." This is a tribute song so I thought I'd put this great line in here. Gary talks about how he took this from a bassline in a Little Walter tune. The turnaround is one of the repeated turnaround ideas that I use in the tune. 

Chorus 8: 

A B A C 

This is a Snooky Pryor lick idea that I got from his tune called "Judgement Day." The IV chord idea is a bassline pattern going up  two octaves. The V IV lick is an orginal idea and the turnaround is again one of the repeated ones I use thoughout the tune. 

Chorus 9: 

A B C 

I wanted to use some ideas from Little Walter's "Juke Alternate Take" everyone knows the orginal "Juke" so well that is easy to overlook this great version, I especially like the intro to this tune and I may borrow it for a future instrumental.

The I and IV chord sections are from the 4th chorus of "Juke alt take" and the V IV and turnaround is from the 6th chorus leading into a break. He does a pretty interesting thing here, landing on the draw 6. That is the V of the V chord, sounds cool, almost sounds like a mistake but if you know, you know. 

Chorus 10: 

A B C 

This is a slightly modified verson of the 7th chorus of "Juke Alternate Take." It is interesting to note here that the lick over the IV chord and I chord in bars 5 thru 8 is very similar to the lick I used in the 2nd chorus which is from "Juke." The turnaround is again a repeated idea. 

Chorus 11: 

A A(variation) B

This is another chorus from "Chrome Bullet Boogie." I really lick the V IV lick idea from this chorus, probably something I will be putting in many other tunes and improv sections. 

Chorus 12: 

A B C 

This is from the 3rd chorus of "Juke Alt Take." Very cool IV chord triplet lick, something you hear Walter do quite often. The V IV section is something I improvised and the turnaround is one of the repeated ideas. 

Chorus 13: 

Repeat of the "Head" 

Same idea as chorus 1. 

If you've made it this far.. Thanks for reading and listening! I think that one of the greatest parts about Bluesharmonica.com is all the interview and contributor videos. There is so much content and information, truly no other harmonica website can provide you with so much blues harmonica knowledge at the press of a button. 

Thanks!

Peter Allen Jensen