Classic Clapton Guitar Riff Transcribed For Harmonica

Difficulty: Single notes sound best for this melody. You can play in the upper octave without bending but if you want to play in the warmer lower octave bending will be required.

Lesson Length: 7:59

Instructor: George Goodman

Help File: The following link supplies the harmonica tabs for Wonderful Tonight

- for educational purposes only.

We have two different key harmonicas going in this one.

Both a C and G Hohner Special 20s, playing the G in first position and the C harmonica in second position.

Single notes are really needed here. The Lip Pucker technique is the way to go for that.

High notes can be challenging and you want to avoid a thin sound. Support from the diaphragm makes the higher octave versions fuller.

Bending is required for the lower octave versions.

Single notes, Bending and Breathing Techniques are all covered in Harmonica Essentials - Check out the course material here: Harmonica Essentials Course

00:00: Riff Demo

0:14 - Introduction

Hi George here. Welcome to HarpnGuitar.com, the site that helps you sound great on guitar and harmonica. Today we’re going to take a classic Clapton riff and transcribe it for harmonica.

We are going to do it in two different positions  so we’ll use two different harmonicas and we’ll do it in both the upper and the lower octaves. In the upper octave we won’t need to do any bending but in the lower octave we will get some bending involved.

00:52 Key

Wonderful Tonight is in the key of G which we’ll play in first position using a G harmonica.

If we are in the key of G, the main chord of the song is G. The song starts with a G and it ends with a G. When we’re playing in first position on a G harmonica, if we blow anywhere on the harmonica, we will sound a note in the G major chord. That’s what we’re looking for, we want to match the notes to the notes of the chord.

A G chord contains the notes G B and D.

So, first osition, we’re blowing. If we look at the tabs, our very first note is a blow. We’re going to start with the third of our G chord which is the note B which is blow 8.

1:48 – First Position Tabs Upper Octave

8 -8 7 -8

8 -8 7 -6

8 -8 7 -8 8 -9 -10 9

2:48 – First Position Tabs Lower Octave

5 -4 4 -4

5 -4 4 -3bb

5 -4 4 -4 5 -5 -6 6

3:48 – Second Position, C harmonica Upper Octave

To get to second position go up a fourth from the song key. Up a fourth from G is C so we’ll use a C harmonica. This C harmonica makes the G chord on -2 -3 -4 and that’s what we want to do right, we want to produce a G chord.

Compare blowing on G harmonica to drawing on C harmonica.

-7 -6 6 -6

-7 -6 6 5

-7 -6 6 5

-7 -6 6 -6 -7 7 8 -8

5:50 – Second Position Tabs, Lower Octave

-3 -3bb 3 -3bb

-3 -3bb 3 2

-3 -3bb 3 -3bb -3 4 5 -4

6:50 – Blow Bend on 8

When playing the riff in first position you can add a bend to blow 8.

When Clapton is playing the riff, he is bending into the first note and we can emulate that by adding a bend to blow 8.

7:05 Wrap Up

A classic guitar riff transcribed for harmonic a in two positions on two harmonicas. First position is more blow oriented while second position relies more on drawing.  We also played in both the upper and lower octaves.

Things To Note

This was recorded in Qualicum Beach, British Columbia in August 2020.

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Right on. See you in the next one.

Peace,

George