Rick Estrin back again on Sonic Junction. This time we'll be working with a piece I'm calling "Sonnyboy's Groove". Sonnyboy II (Rice Miller) recorded just a very few instrumental pieces. This one is loosely based on some pre-Chess era things he cut when he was on the Jackson, MS based Trumpet label.
What I'm doing here is my interpretation of Sonnyboy's feel on songs like "Boppin' With Sonny" "Sonny's Rhythm" and "Chicken" (also called "Chuck A Luck" when it was later leased to Excello and released under Baby Boy Warren's name). Sonnyboy had a groove that wouldn't quit. Hopefully after working with me on this series, you'll pick up on a version of that groove and keep it in your blues harmonica toolbox.
Rick Estrin
Topics and/or subjects covered in this lesson:
Blues
key of E
A Harp
Sonny Boy II
Sonnyboy's Groove
Rice Miller
Rick Estrin
Print Chords & Tab
A Harp in the Key of E.
Loop 0:00 Intro Verse
Loop 0:18 2nd Verse
Loop 0:36 3rd Verse
Loop 0:53 4th Verse
Loop 1:11 5th Verse
Loop 1:28 6th Verse
Loop 1:46 7th Verse
Loop 2:03 Final Verse and Ending
Comments
Log in to leave a comment
YOU RE SURE USING YOUR HANDS ALOT, WHERE DID YOU PICK THAT UP? WAS IT THE SOUND YOU HEARD OR SOMEONE YOU SAW?
Honestly Doug, I can't remember how I began using my hands, but I can say that watching and paying close attention to how other people are doing it, can be real helpful. It's really the only visible aspect of playing the harp.
GET IT RICK ESTRIN ..........GET IT WHILE YOU CAN ALL NIGHT ALL RIGHT!!!!!!!! IN DA GROOOOVE
Thanks Doug!
I made a mistake ; It s Sonnyboy s Groove Now !!
thank s for the tip !!
not bad. boost your timing accuracy by working with a metronome.
thank you all ; members and teachers , would appreciate any comments
Rick, I am enjoying this series of lessons. It's work for me but I am learning a lot. One challenge for me is to get conistent tones with those low bends similar to yours but I'm getting better at it Thank you.
Question: What do we call the accompanying guitar rift? Is there a name I can use to help a guitarist understand what I'm looking for (once I learn this song - ha ha).
Thank you.
Joe
Rick, Thanks for a great perfornance and lesson. The backup music is also very helpful. I partiularly like Sonny's Rythm. Wow!
Question: What to you call the accompanying guitar rythm being played by the man in the shadows behind you I'd like tell my guitarist to learn it
Thanks.
Joe
White Plains, NY
Boyd - scat sing, la la la, dum de dum...just choose one. Important thing is to reproduce the notes with your voice.
Ok there are no words to this tune so I guess I scat sing it
Boyd - I have always taught "If you can't sing it, you can't make the harmonica play it". As to 3rd hole inhale second bend, you also have to get that note firmly in your inner ear before you can tell the harmonica how to play it. So much depends on what you already have inside you. Once you learn basic techniques, it becomes easy to tell the harmonica what to do.
Thanks and that's what I do now sing it count it out. On the third hole I make the vowel sounds in my head. But for many years I was doing the draw notes to hard. Now I'm correcting that. Hard to get red of bad habits. Thanks for your comment that really helps. Now I know you can't just pick the harmonica and start playing it.
Wow Wow Wow, fantastic as ever. merry xmas everyone.xx
Thanks Ian - Merry Christmas to you too!
yeah man !!! ya done it again Rick, when ya touring australia mate??
I hope we'll tour Oz again one of these years! We were there in October, but we just flew in for two festivals, (Narooma & Caloundra) and left. It's a long way to go for 2 gigs!!!
Welcome back Rick. Sonic Junction is like a tour-de-force of Blues Harp teaching talent between you Dennis & Jerry...Can I quit my day job and just play harp?!
With the price of harps, probably not - Food, clothing and shelter are kinda essential too. Hopefully you're having fun playing and it relieves some of the drudgery of the day job.
ooh, time to "own" that 3 hole inale second bend as a solid note with this one!
Torture for Rick - place him in a straight jacket, nail his feet to the floor and put him on stage with a groovin' blues band.
Rick's body English is an indication that he lives/breathes/plays the groove - oops, sorry, I mean the groove plays Rick!
This is as important as learning to play blues harmonica, IMO.
Hey everyone - In case you don't already know it, here at SJ, you get the added benifit of having a great player and teacher monitoring all of us!!! The Iceman is a bad man himself on the harp AND he knows how to teach - Pay attention!
Awesome Rick !! I can hear your feet tapping away when I listen to it through my headphones.
It's cool watching it at 75% speed --- I can even start figuring out some of the riffs. Now I just need to learn how to play them.
Stick with it, let the groove in and you'll get it! Trust me - if it was really difficult, I couldn't do it.
Thats nice thanks. This may my last month on sonic junction. I don't know yet, I just can't seem to get the hang of it. Not doing that great in trying to play harmonica maybe getting to old.
Hi Boyd --- thanks for the comment and I know learning can be frustrating at times. Have you tried singing the songs as Jerry mentioned to try and separate the timing of the phrases from the mechanics of playing the harp?
Silent Night may be a nice tune to try as there are no bends and it has a familiar melody. I hope that helps.
Hey Boyd - Suggestion - Before you throw in the towel, try just feeling the beat and playing the chord sections of this piece. AND - Just like I told Mike - If it was real difficult, I promise you, I couldn't do it!