How To Play The Blues On Guitar And Harmonica
An Introduction To The Blues On Guitar And Harmonica
This is the main teaching video of the series. We begin our sojourn with a review of selecting the right key harmonica for second postion.
That’s followed with the structure and chords of The Blues progression as well as The Blues scale.
Playing time: 8:39
Picking The Right Key
The following table can be used to choose the correct key harmonica for playing in second position.
Two questions:
Q1. I know the Blues song key, now which harmonica?
A. Go up a fourth from the Blues Key. If playing a Blues in G, go up a fourth to find the harmonica key. G A B C – C is the fourth note in the key of G and so is a fourth above G. C is the key harmonica to use when playing a Blues song in the key of G.
Q2. I have a harmonica, but what Blues key is that good for?
A. Go up a fifth from the harmonica key to find the Blues to key to use that harmonica for. If you have a harmonica in the key of C, go up a fifth (C D E F G) to G. A C harmonica is good for Blues in G.
Blues Chords
A standard blues progression uses three chords that usually take the form of dominant 7th chords. Recall that a dominant 7th chord is formed by adding a flatted 7th note to a major triad. These three chords consist of dominant 7th chords built on the root note, I7, the fourth, IV7, and the fifth, V7 or shortened to I, IV, V. First let’s look at how this fits with our C major diatonic harmonica.
I – When playing in second position on harmonica, the root chord or I chord is the dominant 7th chord, G7 on the C harmonica. The notes in the G7 chord are G, B, D, and F and are found here on the harp: -2 -3 -4 -5 6 -7 -8 -9 9. So the I chord in second position is equal to the V chord in first position.
IV – go up a fourth from the I chord. The IV on the C harmonica in second position where G7 is the I chord is C – any blow notes. It is not possible to play all of the notes of the IV7 chord in second position without using bending or overblowing techniques because the 7th of our chord is not on the harmonica. For C7 the 7th is Bb which is not normally on our C harmonica though we can get a low Bb with a single bend on draw 3 or a higher Bb by overblowing hole 6.
So again, all blow notes are good for our IV chord. The IV chord in second position is equal to the I chord in first position.
V – Go up a fifth from the root note or a second from the IV chord. In second position on the C harmonica the V chord is D. The guitar plays D7. The harmonica can’t play D7 because that would require F#. In this case, the harmonica can play the notes to a Dm7 chord which are here on the C harmonica: -4 -5 -6 7 -8 -9 -10 10. The V chord in second position is equal to the ii minor in first position.
Blues Progression
Blues typically takes the form of a 12 bar progression. Here is the typical outline broken up in 4 bar segments.
I | I | I | I |
IV | IV | I | I |
V | IV | I | V
Some variations to this progression are common. For example, the second bar is often changed from I to IV. Another variation is to stay on the I chord in the 12th measure.
Blues in G
Replacing our chords with the progression above results in:
G7 | G7 | G7 | G7 |
C7 | C7 | G7 | G7 |
D7 | C7 | G7 | D7 |
Guitar Chords For G Blues
The following exercises bring the guitar and harmonica together. Learn chord tones, scales and licks on harmonica while providing rhythm guitar accompaniment.
Good times. See you there.
The Blues On Guitar And Harmonica Series
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The Blues Chords On Guitar And Harmonica
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