Greetings Sonic Junction Harpsters!
I’m glad to be back here to bring you my new study piece entitled “Scaled Down”. This is in the key of D, using a G harmonica in 2nd position, and with a straight Rock & Roll groove. Also, I have “scaled down” the note choices so we will only be using notes that are in the blues scale for this entire song. So not only will this be a new song in a new groove to practice, but it will help you get more familiar with the blues scale, and start you using it more in the context of a song.
Check it out and have some fun!
- Dennis Gruenling
Topics and/or subjects covered in this lesson:Technique
Dennis Gruenling
Dave Gross
Scaled Down
Print Chords & Tab
G Harp in the Key of D.
Loop 0:39 Introduction to Series
Loop 2:23 Whole Song
Loop 2:23 1st Verse
Loop 2:43 2nd Verse
Loop 3:01 3rd Verse
Loop 3:19 4th Verse
Loop 3:37 5th Verse
Loop 3:54 6th Verse
Loop 4:12 7th Verse
Loop 4:30 8th Verse
Loop 4:48 9th Verse
Loop 5:05 10th Verse
Loop 5:23 11th Verse
Comments
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Hi Dennis !! it is right to say ?? If I m not on the right time or beat , but the phrase is on the groove in the right chord ,is it still good ?? for instance , rather than start on the 4 beat , I start on the one on the next bar and it sound ok ... still good ??
Starting on a different beat, even if in time changes the whole feel of a phrase. It's good if it is in time of course, but it must be starting on the right beat to really work as it should. Thanks!
Thank you Dennis ! "Only" two weeks of practice, next one will be better.
...even more impressed now!!
Nice work as usual Klaus!
Most of those runs are pretty fluid, but there were some places where either you run out of breath or the phjrasing gets off track slightly (usually with the chord accents). Pay attention to the phrasing when I play the chord accents (the phrasing is particularly important for those parts as well). Nice work on the entire peiec though, and I know by your hisyory, this will only be getting better very soon!
Please bring back the android app, much better navigation. Dennis you are a genius !
Thank you!! Hope you are enjoying the new lessons as well! : )
Wow. This is so great. I feel like, if a guy learns this song, he'll really know how to improvise with the blues scale. You clearly have a solid background in theory and I love how you sneak it into the lessons in a painless way.
I appreciate the double V, too. This comes up fairly regularly with the guys I play with, because they like to do some Stones and other rock tunes.
Thanks Marc! Yes, the double V is common in rock & roll and some jump blues as well.
Sneaking in a good lesson while making it fun is all part of being a good tecacher, thanks for noticing!! :)
Dennis you are an awesome teacher, really enjoy all of your tunes on here. Sorry I couldn’t stay when you were here in Madison, I was so tired. You guys were really rocking.
Thanks so much! We'll be back again...hope you're doing well with these songs!
Hey, it worked! The embossing brought my 2-hole draw reed back from the dead, good as new. Thanks.
Glad it worked!!
Thanks for the tip. I'd never heard of embossing before. There's lots about it on line. I'm going to experiment with some old reeds and then give it try on this one. There's definitely a difference between the way this reed responds and other low 2-hole draws I have. The G harp is my lowest but I have an A-flat and an A and don't have this problem with those, so it's at least worth a try.
Thanks also for this lesson. Such simple licks make getting the tone, rhythm and articulation key. Just what I needed to work on.
Bill
Glad you are digging the lesson and the song. So many of the great players are using the same notes we all are...but it's all about the attack, the tone, the phrasing, the textures...the LIFE that you breathe into these notes which makes it music that speaks to others. Happy New Year!
Hi Dennis,
This is a question about harp maintenance/adjustment. Maybe it's just my technique - if that's the case it would be good to know- but on my G harp the 2-hole draw doesn't feel right. The offset of the reed looks just like the others but it feels leaky, like I'm sucking a lot of air and there's none of the resistance you feel normally that gives you a kind of grip on the air stream. I've experienced this with other harps on other holes. It's making my work on the 2-hole TB bend pretty frustrating. It's a little better when I pucker but not much. It's hard to sustain a note. Do you think it's my technique or could there be a something wrong with the harp?
Thanks,
Bill
Hi Bill - it's tough to say obviously without seeing it, but it does sound like a leaky hole by your description. If you have a decent grasp of the 2-hole draw on most other harps (like A or Low F) and puckering doesn't make much difference (assuming you started as a pucker player) then it likely isn't your technique. You may want to check out about embossing the reed slots, that will make a difference and is not too difficult to do...assuming it's the harp and not you.
Thanks Dennis. I've been digging through recordings and had a list of possibles. I found one recording by Arbee Stidham and he was on my list to explore further so you've prompted me to look deeper. He's more the style I'm interested in that Jimmy Ricks but I'm going to look deeper there also.
Thanks again.
Bill
Yea I figured that, but there is some later Ravens stuff with Ricks that may be more up your alley. Thanks for asking...
Peppermint Harris may also be of interest...
This is a little off topic but I know you have an encyplopedic knowledge of blues history so I wanted to ask if you could point me toward bass blues singers, especially from the 40's, 50's, 60's. Most of the deep voices one might suspect, like Muddy and Wolf, actually have baritone to tenor ranges. If you would prefer and there's a way to take this conversation off line let me know.
Many thanks,
Bill
Hi Bill - I do apologize, I think I recall getting a message about this, but it seemed to have gotten lost in the shuffle. Not many people come to mind, aside from two people who may not be stylistically what you prefer, but you never know. Jimmy Ricks who was the lead/bass vocalsit for a vocal group called The Ravens was awesome...very low voice...and for that matter, there are several other vocal R&B groups from the 40's-50's that had great bass vocalists, many were not lead as Jimmy was however. The other one who comes ot mind, not as low as Jimmy was Arbee Stidham. Chicago blues artists who did some great tunes, and you can probaly find some of his stuff online. Let me kow if that helps!
Dennis, are you tongue-blocking or puckering the 1st verse?
I tongue-block about 99.9% of what I play, including the first chorus...aside from the opening few notes of the opening riff/Head, which I articulate with my tongue (the first few root notes at beginning of phrase, each time around, of that first chorus). However, at the end of the song when I come back to the theme, I do tongue-block it.
Thanks for the insight. I have moments when I'm playing with solid rhythm accompaniment when I seem to break free of the parts I've worked out and something almost magic happens. I seem to have to play myself into that place and it doesn't happen often enough but chasing it is completely addictive Your energy, attitude, facility and imagination are really inspiring.
Thanks Bill! That is what you need to do...keep pushing yourself to get to those points, that is when it actually becomes LIVE music! Happening in the moment and it takes on a life of it's own. Better than almost anything I know. The more you practice and listen to good players, the closer you can get to that point, and the more often you get there if you keep your chops up.
Is there a backing track available for this, or any, tune? If not, do you have any plans to produce one?
Hi Raleigh --- yes, we will be releasing a backing track with the first chorus breakdown (next lesson coming out on Friday).
Hi Dennis,
Could you say a little something about what you mean when you say that you improvised this piece? Aside from the basic groove and the constraint you've imposed of using only notes in the blues scale, how does this work for you? Do you just set up the groove and let 8 choruses rip? Do you do more than one take, keep things that you like and discard things you don't? I know I'll be using this piece to work on groove and moving around that scale, but it's really facinating to know how someone with your mastery comes up with something like this.
Thanks,
Bill
Thanks Bill - good question!
For this song, yes, I just set up the groove and let these choruses rip. Literally! This one was a one-take deal. I had some ideas of some riffs I may use (the opening theme), but aside from that, it was all made up on the spot, just making myself stick to notes in the blues scale. I usually do a few takes, but we both felt it came out great after this initial take, so I listened back and that was that. Of course it takes being very comfortable and familiar with any scale to ONLY stick to those notes while improvising (and not add anything else at all), but with practice you can get there.
Being a somewhat faster song than what I normally do here, I also wanted to make sure that the licks are not too fast (or this can get very difficult)...but that also touches on another topic that is important when building up your chops...when you have a song with this type of agressive rhythm and at this tempo, it feels sometimes like you should be playing faster than you need to. Let the rhythm instrument keep that pulse going, and as the solo instrument, just "ride the wave" of the rhythm and the tempo.
YEAH BABY
Really an interesting song, I can hear parts of other songs in this. thanks very nice
Thanks Boyd - it's all blues scale riffs I improvised, so it's likely you hear riffs that are similar to other songs that utilize the blues scale. Enjoy!!