Blues Harp Chart and Cheat Sheet

Lesson Length: 4:52
Instructor: George Goodman
Learn where the notes to the I7 chord in second position are on the diatonic harmonica.

Harmonica Cheat Sheets pdf

Hohner Special 20 in C
In this lesson, as in most of the lessons, I am playing a Hohner Special 20 in the key of C.

Use the Blues Harp Cheat Sheet to Learn I7 Tabs

Let’s look at each of the chords separately using our C harmonica starting with the I7 chord.

Dominant 7th chords are four note chords consisting of the root, third, fifth and seventh.
Each column in the harmonica tabs represents one of these chord tones. The first column represents the root, the second column displays the third, the third column displays the fifth of the chord and the fourth column shows the seventh.

If we look at our Blues Harp Cheat Sheet and locate the C harmonica in the Cross Harp Key column, then look across to the I7 column, we see that the chord will be G7.
The notes that make up the G7 chord are G, B, D, and F.

The first note we see for the I7 chord, -1, is in the third column and so represents the fifth of the chord.
The next note, -2bb is in the fourth column and represents the 7th of the chord.
The second row of the I7 harmonica tabs show -2 -3 -4 and -5 which is the full four note dominant 7th chord.
The third row also shows the entire 4 note dominant 7th chord which will sound a full octave higher than the second row.
The fourth row shows a single entry in the root column, blow 9.

All the notes that are part of the I7 chord, are here on the harmonica starting on the 5th of the chord at -1:
-1 -2bb
-2 -3 -4 -5
6 -7 -8 -9
9

The Blues Progression

The I7 chord occurs in bars 1 through 4, 7 and 8, and bar 11 as can be seen in the 12 Bar Blues progression above where G7 is the I7 chord.

Wrap Up

The I7 chord is the predominant chord in our 12 Bar Blues progression and can easily be sounded over the entire range of the mouth organ.
The only bending required is to sound the seventh of the chord at the bottom of the instrument.

-1 -2bb
-2 -3 -4 -5
6 -7 -8 -9
9