HOW TO IMPROVISE ON HARMONICA ! - Lesson 4 - BAJAN PIEDPIPER

Learn to play harmonica. MUSIC 099 We are heading towards playing Blues! So let's begin with a bit of BLUES HISTORY. Blues is the most important musical form in Jazz and Jazz-related music. It's even heard in Gospel and other genres.

The Blues started in the 19th century as a form of folk music developed by the black slaves in the United States.

Originally blues were very loosely structured songs performed by individual singers, guitarists and banjo players. The lyrics were usually sad and dealt with every day issues of slave life.

When the blues spread from the country side to urban centers, their content included more happy aspects.

By 1920 three distinct blues formats had developed: the 8 bar blues, the 12 bar blues and the 16 bar blues.
From these three the 12 bar blues quickly became the most popular form. It is still the most common blues form used by contemporary musicians.

(The above is compliments Michael Furstner) ...

Now as soon as we begin to talk BLUES we get to the area called improvisation! WHAT IS IMPROVISATION?

Improvisation is the art of creating music spontaneously, with the player inventing as s/he plays. This results in the instant creation of new melodies.




An improvisation can be many bars long or it may be only a bar or two. We can call short improvisations of a bar or two ~ riffs.

WHAT IS A RIFF? In Blues terminology a riff is a short motif or phrase which is repeated several times. Riffs can be learned before hand or invented on the spur of the moment. A riff can also form the theme of a melody. This is especially popular with the 12 bar blues, where a 4 bar riff is played three times to form a complete Blues melody.

AND WHAT IS A BAR? A bar is a measure of time in music. In a waltz there are 3 beats in a bar. In blues there are 4 beats in a bar. Tap your fingers on the table top now, tap them 4 times - you've just played a bar of music. Tap 8 times and you've played 2 bars. If a song is 12 bars long and there are 4 beats in the bar, then the whole song will be 48 beats long. Most traditional blues songs are 12 bars long.

HOW IS BLUES PLAYED? You can sit at home and just play blues on your harp! But if someone had a guitar, or keyboard (piano/organ) s/he would provide the harmony i.e. lay down some chords. To play a 12-bar blues with accompaniment, the guitarist/ keyboardist will play certain chords. One chord is played for a number of bars then another chord is played for a number of bars, then another, etc.

THE 12-BAR BLUES. 12-bar Blues is the most popular form of the Blues and 3 harmonizing chords are generally used. They are built on the 1st, 4th and 5th notes of the scale, they are called the I chord, the IV chord and the V chord. Their names are the Tonic, Subdominant and Dominant. Roman numerals are usually used to indicate them, hence: I - IV - V.

Let's see ~ Seven notes make up the diatonic or Major Scale. They have numbers and names ~ if the Scale was C Major the notes and numbers would be:

C D E F G A B Scale notes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Scale Degree numbers
I II III IV V VII VIII - ROMAN NUMERAL DESIGNATION

This notation system is universally used with all Scales.

The usual 12-bar blues chord progression uses the following pattern (there are other patterns but this one is the most conventional.) 4 beats to each bar Key: G

G7 / G7 / G7 / G7
C7 / C7 / G7 / G7
D7 / C7 / G7 / G7

Notice - It is the 'habit' of blues musicians to add the 7th to chords, (it makes the chord sound more bluesy.)

Also, sometimes, (but not always) if the song is to be played again, on the last 2 or 4 beats of the 12th bar the V7 chord will be played as this is a strong introduction leading back to the I chord. (This V7 chord is called a 'turn around.')

Flatting the notes in the scale alter the feeling of the scale and make it darker or sad sounding. In music there are what musicians call the blue notes. It is these blue notes that greatly make your improv sound bluesy.

The blue notes in any key are the 3b, 5b and 7b of the scale. In cross harp...

The flat third is the first bend in the 3 hole draw.

The flat seven is already there as a built in note it is the 5 hole draw.

The flat V is the 4 hole draw bent and the 1 hole draw bent.

There simply is not enough space to give you everything here. The best I can do is point you to links where you can get it. I strongly suggest you study http://www.jt30.com/jt30page/theory/bluenotes.html

12 bar backing track in G ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7nTvL9RrjA

Please visit my website where I have given 50 Music Prescriptions a whole lot of solid information in one place - http://sites.google.com/site/bajanpiedpiper/

Easy long play tracks - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQUvuoqMdxU

On to lesson 5 - click here -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6q7tnpukBA

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[gilbertoguru]

Hello my friend, thanks a lot for this, today i was walking in my house and i´ve remembered to go see something about harmonicas, because i have one in my house but i dont play nothing and i thinked in go and see how its done, then i´ve found you, you really inspired me thanks, im going to make a 1 year trip aroud europe and maybe the world, i just found that the harmonica can the a good instrument to carry around and a good friend. Thanks again. Peace

[BajanPiedpiper]

@gilbertoguru Roger that. Thanks. Travel well - Godspeed ...

[BajanPiedpiper]

On the other hand there are songs such as Masquerade; Let me Try Again; All the Things You Are ... and others that have lots of semi-tones and key changes that are VERY difficult to play on a diatonic harp ... impossible for a lot of players ... but are reasonably easy on a chromatic....

[surgeknight55555]

I have to say I don't agree..

to play jazz you don't have to use chromatic, you can always use valves and bend notes..

[BajanPiedpiper]

Yes, you're quite right... you don't HAVE to use a chromatic... it's just one way. Re playing 'jazz' and 'improvising' ... it's all about what works best for the particular player. There are 'diatonic' players who don't want to see a chromatic and vice versa! Thanks for sharing!

[SarahLadyPants]

Well, I am happy you're on the internet. The Yoda of harmonica you are,

[guynesg]

Received a harmonica as a gift here recently and I've been playing around with it for a few weeks just carrying it around and I decided to try and actually play it right and I found you, you're very inspiring and simple to understand, better than these others who try to teach you everything at once. I just wanted to say thank you

[3SkatingLibras]

I love how most harmonica players, have to have capacity to be humble and see their flaws... I love what music turns people in, good music, good people.

[3SkatingLibras]

I don't have the guts to mess with a chromatic :/

[sonickage]

you are a great person

[Lopee08]

i love how Original these videos are. Its like watching a Good Documentary

[Mazblues]

@BajanPiedpiper actually you can play perfectly chromatic on a diatonic harmonica by employing certain "advanced" techniques. Howard Levy fully explored this in 1980 and up to today is referred to as the "Master of the diatonic harmonica"...furthermore he's an awesome piano player as well. Check him out:

watch?v=3MtRHq8ERCE

Cheers

[Jazzwayze]

Thanks Bajan. I played Harmonica since 1955. But I just cannot improvise. I dunno why this is. I get by on guitar, but on the Chromatic Harmonica I can just 'frill' the melody a little and that's it./

Thanks for this vid.

Stay Lucky..

JW

[dayvmac]

You speak with such passion and depth. You have wonderful words of wisdom that I always seem to nod my head to and say "you know, he's right." Keep speading the world of music as your philosophy (free lessons, etc.) will surly inspire. I'm a fan!